Fax service no longer working

[Guest]

I'm using Microsoft Fax Console Version 5.1 (SP2), with Microsoft Shared Fax
Driver. It came bundled with XP on my computer and has worked fine until just
recently. I updated to SP2 some years ago when it first was announced by
Windows Update, and the fax feature worked fine for a long time after I did
that. I don't use it that often, but the last fax I seem to have received was
in Sep 2006, and the last one I successfully sent was in Feb 2007.

Now when I try to fax from within outlook or Word, or I try to receive using
the Fax Console, I get "Error message: Fax server information cannot be
retrieved. The Fax wizard will close now." If I try Configure Fax from the
Console it chugs away for many minutes before displaying "A connection to the
fax server cannot be found." At the bottom of my Console window it says "All
fax printers are inaccessible." (I don't have a fax "printer" as such - I
just send and receive documents from my desktop)

I have a phone line hooked up to my computer which works fine, and I'm using
a Lucent Win Modem as I have all along since I bought my computer in 2001.

Can anyone help?

 

[Hal Hostetler [MVP P/I]]

It is likely you have security data base corruption as documented here:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/884018/EN-US/
You cannot add a Windows component in Windows XP

You can either:

1. Get the hotfix mentioned in the KB article and install it. Microsoft
usually waives any charges for support calls to get supported hotfixes
listed in Knowledge Base articles.

2. Try this procedure using the Esentutl.exe utility mentioned in the KB
article to recover from security database corruption:

http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/genericDocument?lc=en&cc=us&docname=c00270202
HP and Compaq Notebook PCs: Unable to Install Windows XP Fax Software

I can report that the Esentutl utility has corrected the problem in a number
of cases, HOWEVER, note that Microsoft does NOT recommend that you use the
utility and would prefer you try the hotfix.

Hal
--
Hal Hostetler, CPBE -- (e-mail address removed)
Senior Engineer/MIS -- MS MVP-Print/Imaging -- WA7BGX
http://www.kvoa.com -- "When News breaks, we fix it!"
KVOA Television, Tucson, AZ. NBC Channel 4
Still Cadillacin' - www.badnewsbluesband.com

 

[Guest]

Thanks, Hal. I've emailed MS requesting the "hotfix," but I must say the
information in that Knowledge Base article was completely mystifying to me. I
hope they will provide simplified instructions.

 

[Guest]

....Darndest thing, Hal. Today my fax software is working! I emailed MS for
the hotfix, they replied saying it was free but they needed more details. I
went to the software to double-check the error messages, and everything was
working fine. Only thing different is I'd uninstalled Ad-Aware and AVG
Anti-Spyware yesterday because I was getting low virtual memory alerts (and I
have Spybot on my system anyhow). Can you see a possible connection there?
(The fax problem had been consistent for at least a month up to today.)

 

[Lem]

...Darndest thing, Hal. Today my fax software is working! I emailed MS for
the hotfix, they replied saying it was free but they needed more details. I
went to the software to double-check the error messages, and everything was
working fine. Only thing different is I'd uninstalled Ad-Aware and AVG
Anti-Spyware yesterday because I was getting low virtual memory alerts (and I
have Spybot on my system anyhow). Can you see a possible connection there?
(The fax problem had been consistent for at least a month up to today.)

You should not be getting low virtual memory alerts because you have
Ad-Aware and AVG Anti-Spyware. I suggest that you do a thorough check
of your computer for malware (including viruses). See
http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/page2.html#Removing_Malware for some
excellent suggestions.

 

[Guest]

Thanks, Lem. I've done everything conceivable to inspect and protect my
system, including consulting with the team at Safer Networking. I'm clean.
But I only have 512 MB RAM and apparently I had heaps of software running in
the background - all stuff I'd installed. I was advised to remove those two
because I already adequate protection with Spybot.

 

[Lem]

Thanks, Lem. I've done everything conceivable to inspect and protect my
system, including consulting with the team at Safer Networking. I'm clean.
But I only have 512 MB RAM and apparently I had heaps of software running in
the background - all stuff I'd installed. I was advised to remove those two
because I already adequate protection with Spybot.

OK. But note that you don't have to have multiple anti-spyware apps
actually running (some don't have any running all the time). If you
leave Ad-Aware and AVG Anti-Spyware installed and just run them
periodically you might be better off. The received wisdom is that "no
single anti-spyware app detects all malware."

 

[Guest]

Yes, I was thinking along the same lines, that more than one anti-spyware
application would make me safer. But in fact my HijackThis log indicated that
even though I wasn't scanning, both those programs were operating in the
background. Since I uninstalled them I haven't had the low virtual memory
alert.

 

[Lem]

Ad-Aware has a "real-time monitor" that it calls "Ad-Watch." This isn't
even available in the free version. If you have a pay version that
includes Ad-Watch, you can turn this feature off. Similarly, the pay
versions of Ad-Aware 2007 have a scheduler. I'd turn that off too.

I don't know AVG Anti-Spyware, but I assume it is similar.

It sounds as if you're pretty conscientious about checking your system,
so if it works better now, keep it as is and perhaps periodically do an
on-line malware check.