Win2k Outlook Express/Explorer problems

[NISDadmin]

Hello I am a network admin for a school district. I have recently come
across a problem on 2 PC's that has baffled the entire IT staff. Here
are some (hopefully relevant) details:

The computers are Dell GX-270's
The OS is Windows 2000 SP4 Rollup 1
McAfee 8.0i is installed (distributed via EPO)
IE 6 is installed

The problems we are having are as follows:

In outlook express, when trying to create, reply to, or forward any
message, the following error occurs:

"There was an error (opening, replying to, forwarding) this message.
There is not enough memory."

The system has 256MB of RAM and just as a precaution the pagefile was
set to 1GB with no results. Other problems that have arisen in
connection to this are:

Add/Remove programs comes up with a blank screen and only has small
text at the top that reads:

"Change or Remove ProgramsAdd New ProgramsAdd/Remove Windows
ComponentsSet Program Access and Defaults"

Control Panel will display all icons on the left pane of the window
(where the "web content" would normally display) the only way to
resolve this is to turn on classic folders.

c:\winnt is completely blank when web content in folders is enabled.
Again, turning on classic folders remedies this problem.

When I try to access http://www.windowsupdate.com I get a blank page.
It will attempt to load the page then the "globe" will stop spinning
and the status bar will read "Done."

This seems like an Active Desktop or Active Server Pages issue but I
don't know what part of the OS controls that. Any ideas, suggestions,
or answers are greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Josh

 

[Dave Patrick]

These may help but probably much easier to re-image the machines.

How to Perform an In-Place Upgrade of Windows 2000
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;[LN];292175

What an In-Place Windows 2000 Upgrade Changes and What It Does Not Change
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;[LN];306952

Be sure to apply these to your repair install before connecting to any
network.

http://download.microsoft.com/download/E/6/A/E6A04295-D2A8-40D0-A0C5-241BFECD095E/W2KSP4_EN.EXE
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/bulletin/MS03-043.mspx
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/bulletin/MS03-049.mspx

--

Regards,

Dave Patrick ....Please no email replies - reply in newsgroup.
Microsoft Certified Professional
Microsoft MVP [Windows]
http://www.microsoft.com/protect

:
| Hello I am a network admin for a school district. I have recently come
| across a problem on 2 PC's that has baffled the entire IT staff. Here
| are some (hopefully relevant) details:
|
| The computers are Dell GX-270's
| The OS is Windows 2000 SP4 Rollup 1
| McAfee 8.0i is installed (distributed via EPO)
| IE 6 is installed
|
| The problems we are having are as follows:
|
| In outlook express, when trying to create, reply to, or forward any
| message, the following error occurs:
|
| "There was an error (opening, replying to, forwarding) this message.
| There is not enough memory."
|
| The system has 256MB of RAM and just as a precaution the pagefile was
| set to 1GB with no results. Other problems that have arisen in
| connection to this are:
|
| Add/Remove programs comes up with a blank screen and only has small
| text at the top that reads:
|
| "Change or Remove ProgramsAdd New ProgramsAdd/Remove Windows
| ComponentsSet Program Access and Defaults"
|
| Control Panel will display all icons on the left pane of the window
| (where the "web content" would normally display) the only way to
| resolve this is to turn on classic folders.
|
| c:\winnt is completely blank when web content in folders is enabled.
| Again, turning on classic folders remedies this problem.
|
| When I try to access http://www.windowsupdate.com I get a blank page.
| It will attempt to load the page then the "globe" will stop spinning
| and the status bar will read "Done."
|
| This seems like an Active Desktop or Active Server Pages issue but I
| don't know what part of the OS controls that. Any ideas, suggestions,
| or answers are greatly appreciated.
|
| Thanks,
| Josh
|

 

[NISDadmin]

Just as a curiosity, would anyone happen to know the file(s) that get
corrupted or replaced in order to cause these errors?
Thanks,
Josh

 

[George Hester]

It may not be a file that is corrupted but a file you have in the machines
that is causing the problem which is not natice to Windows 2000. From what
you are descibing I think Dave's suggestion is the one that will save a lot
of time and headache.

It might be an Active Desktop issue it is that which allows your Web View.
As for an Active Server Page issue no that is only a text file wich only has
meaning in a folder you are using on your Web Server. Otherwise it is no
different than a txt file.

If you do not want to image new operating systems try uninstalling IE 6
reboot and see if the behavior is still there.

 

[NISDadmin]

Well it seems that one of the IE6 updates was causing the problem. I
manually removed ALL of the IE6 updates under the WINNT folder and that
allowed all of the active desktop/web view problems to disappear and
then I "removed" IE and Outlook Express and all associated Outlook
Express registry keys, renamed C:\Program Files\Oultook Express to
C:\Program Files\Old Outlook Express and force re-installed IE6
SP1/Outlook Express and all of the problems were fixed. I then
re-installed all of the updates and the problem never re-appeared. Hope
it stays that way.

P.S. I didn't lose any email. Hooray!!

Thanks everyone for your input,

Josh

 

[George Hester]

No you won't lose any email. The way uninstalls usually work is that
anything in a folder that was made by the install that was not put there by
the install wiill not be deleted during the uninstall.