Ye Olde Network Password problem

[Guest]

I see a lot of posts about this subject, and have tried many solutions from
them, but nothing works for me. I'm running Outlook 2003 on a Windows XP-Pro
machine, using several different POP3 email accounts. On a very frequent
basis, I keep getting that little message window come up that asks me to
enter my Network Password. The thing is, it already has the correct password.
So I click the option that says to Save Password (which is already selected
in my settings) and click OK and it goes through. But it doesn't retain it
and I get the same message again for the same account or a different one,
anywhere from seconds later to days later (I have Outlook set up to check
automatically for email every 2 minutes).

The email account that comes up will vary, and how often this happens also
varies from every couple of days to dozens of times a day. There doesn't seem
to be any rhyme or reason to why or when it does this. I've tried following
the instructions on this page
(http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;290684) but it
didn't change anything. I also tried changing the security settings to log me
in automatically (can't remember off-hand where that was, but I got the idea
from one of the discussions here in the forums), but it didn't change
anything either.

It started doing this after I upgraded from Office 2000 to Office 2003 in
December 2005, and it transferred my email accounts into the new version. So,
thinking it might be an upgrade problem, I tried creating a new email account
from scratch in Outlook 2003, but it still does it.

This is driving me nuts! Could someone please help me with this? Thank you.

Jo

 

[Guest]

Jo - if you get any kind of helpful response to your question, could you
please let me know? I'm having the same problem and it's getting terribly
annoying. I tried the registry fix, too, and it did nothing. I've also
contacted Microsoft, but they told me that I needed to contact Dell. 'Did
that and they said to contact my ISP. 'Did *that* and they said it's a
Microsoft issue. I've even tried paying the $35 to talk with a Microsoft
technician, but they were of no help. They're the ones who told me to contact
Dell.

Susan in Indianapolis

 

[Guest]

Hi Susan,

I'm so sorry to hear you've been given the runaround so badly. I was
considering the MS support route but it sounds like a lost cause. :-( It's
not about Dell, since my machine is not Dell. Plus, I never had this
particular problem with Office/Outlook 2000; only since I upgraded to 2003.

I don't see how they can deny the problem. If you do a search for "password"
especially in the Outlook forums, you see tons of posts about the same
problem. It's infuriating!

I'm having other annoying problems with outlook too, where the reminder
windows that come up are totally inconsistent about whether they pop up or
under or foreground or background. If it pops up as foreground, whatever I'm
typing is now typed into that window, so if I happen to be hitting Delete, I
wind up deleting reminders and I don't even know which ones!! (This problem
was also in Outlook 2000, even though the reminders are handled a bit
differently.) The same often happens with the Password windows -- I wind up
typing into the password area. It's crazy-making!!!

I'm so frustrated with this that I'm seriously considering looking for
another calendar/reminder program because this is getting to be more
agravation than it's worth. I don't want to do that, but unless MS is
prepared to do something about this, I may have no other choice. :-( I keep
waiting for the next Office to come out, but it's months overdue now.
Sigh.....

If I find any other solutions, I'll post it to this forum.

Jo

 

[SSG via OfficeKB.com]

Hi Susan,

I'm so sorry to hear you've been given the runaround so badly. I was
considering the MS support route but it sounds like a lost cause. :-( It's
not about Dell, since my machine is not Dell. Plus, I never had this
particular problem with Office/Outlook 2000; only since I upgraded to 2003.

Are you getting an actual error message - like 0x800CCC92? Or is it just
asking for your password then accepting your response when you click OK? I
started getting the error message and was unable to send email - did some
digging, and was able to figure out the problem was directly related to the
download of the latest updates from Norton Internet Security. Did a system
restore, and it worked for a while then went nuts again. Finally disable
Norton IS for 5 minutes - long enough to do a Send/Receive in Outlook and
reestablish the POP3 connection. That seemed to take care of it.

I would definitely look to any automatic software updates you've downloaded
recently as being the culprit - especially any security stuff. I've had this
same problem before - Norton IS can be quirky.

Hope this helps...
Shelley

 

[Guest]

Hi Shelley,

Thanks for your reply. In my case, it is not an error message with an error
number. It is a window that asks me for my "network password." The strange
thing is that the password is already there. All I have to do is reclick the
"save password" button (which by default is always clicked, but which is
uncliced in the popup window) and then click "OK" and it goes and checks the
email. So it's not like it's missing any information. Very weird.

I don't use Norton, but I do use Trend Micro's PC-cillin, which I've used
for years. It checks for updates every 3 hours. I'll have to watch to see if
it goes strange after any automatic downloads to PC-cillin. That's an
interesting theory. Maybe they collide when they both try to access the
Internet at the same time or something. Thanks for the tip! I'll post any
results here after I've had a chance to try it out. It might be a setting
I've got in PC-cillin too, which I'll check out. Actually, I've wondered
sometimes if the screensaver might trigger the password thing too, since I'll
sometimes find that window on the screen after I bring it out of the
screensaver (not a fancy one either; just a simple one).

Jo

 

[Guest]

UPDATE: So far the problem doesn't seem to be related to any updating of my
antivirus. It still might be related to the screensaver coming on, but that's
not the only factor even if it is one of the factors.

Anyone else have any ideas or insights about this problem?

Jo