Outlook 2000 Inbox appears empty but isn't!

[Tony Welsby]

Hi,

I've got a customer who has a strange problem in Outlook
2000. His PC was running Win XP and Outlook (Office) 2000
SP1 when I first investigated this problem.

When he opens Outlook, "Outlook Today" is displayed, but
when he looks at his Calendar it is empty. Also when he
opens his Inbox he sees the list of emails for a few
seconds, but cannot do anything with them (because the PC
seems to be waiting or processing something). When he can
eventually click on them, all of the details disappear
(i.e. No summary of emails listed!). He can highlight
where the emails should be and read some of the mails, but
it's obviously not right.

He claims his PC was infected with "a virus", but he
managed to get rid of the virus himself. There is
evidence of a virus infection (RPC service set to reboot
PC on failure etc.) which I have corrected.

So Far I have tried the following:
1. Full Virus Scan with McAfee/NAI Stinger tool.
2. Full Virus Scan with Customer's Prog. (Norton AV 2003)
3. Full Virus Scan with my Prog. (McAfee v7.0)
- All as a precaution, but No Viruses Found.
4. Tried Inbox Repair Tool.
5. Tried Office Repair Mode.
6. Re-Installed Office 2000 SP1 from original CD.
7. Installed all up-to-date Office Updates.
8. Installed all up-to-date Windows XP Updates.

The problem still exists, but is less troublesome now.
However again it is still not right and my customer is
losing confidence in his Email system.

NOW... When he opens Outlook, he gets "Outlook Today" and
when he clicks on Inbox etc. he gets the same empty
listing. BUT... when he clicks on something else, (i.e.
not "Outlook Today") and then back into Inbox - Hey
Presto! his mails appear, and he can use his email
normally (until he either goes to Outlook Today, or closes
and re-opens Outlook!).

Now I'm running short of ideas and don't want to upset the
customer by telling him to just "put up with it".

After looking through the Knowledgebase I'm considering
using the Inbox Crop Tool, although he doesn't have that
many emails. OR... I've also considered re-installing
MAPI etc. Maybe even exporting all of his data, removing
Office altogether and re-installing it from scratch???

Anyone got any ideas???

Any Help would be Greatly Appreciated!
Many Thanks,
Tony Welsby (UK)
T: +44 (0)7770 978043
E: (e-mail address removed)

 

[Pat Garard]

G'Day Tony,

Try to set Outlook to Open with the Inbox already
selected.
(Tools>Options>Other (Tab)>Advanced>'Startup
in this folder:')

If that comes up ok, swap folders at random, but
DO NOT select 'Outlook Today'.

If that's ok, consider replacing the 'Outlook Today'
File - it may be Corrupt.
--
Regards,
Pat Garard
Australia

______________________________________

 

[Milly Staples [MVP - Outlook]]

Did you look at this article?

OL2000: You Cannot Receive New E-mail Notifications in Environments That Use
the Network Address Translation
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;304849&Product=out2K

--
Milly Staples [MVP - Outlook]

Post all replies to the group to keep the discussion intact. Due to
the (insert latest virus name here) virus, all mail sent to my personal
account will be deleted without reading.

After searching google.groups.com and finding no answer, Tony Welsby asked:

| Hi,
|
| I've got a customer who has a strange problem in Outlook
| 2000. His PC was running Win XP and Outlook (Office) 2000
| SP1 when I first investigated this problem.
|
| When he opens Outlook, "Outlook Today" is displayed, but
| when he looks at his Calendar it is empty. Also when he
| opens his Inbox he sees the list of emails for a few
| seconds, but cannot do anything with them (because the PC
| seems to be waiting or processing something). When he can
| eventually click on them, all of the details disappear
| (i.e. No summary of emails listed!). He can highlight
| where the emails should be and read some of the mails, but
| it's obviously not right.
|
| He claims his PC was infected with "a virus", but he
| managed to get rid of the virus himself. There is
| evidence of a virus infection (RPC service set to reboot
| PC on failure etc.) which I have corrected.
|
| So Far I have tried the following:
| 1. Full Virus Scan with McAfee/NAI Stinger tool.
| 2. Full Virus Scan with Customer's Prog. (Norton AV 2003)
| 3. Full Virus Scan with my Prog. (McAfee v7.0)
| - All as a precaution, but No Viruses Found.
| 4. Tried Inbox Repair Tool.
| 5. Tried Office Repair Mode.
| 6. Re-Installed Office 2000 SP1 from original CD.
| 7. Installed all up-to-date Office Updates.
| 8. Installed all up-to-date Windows XP Updates.
|
| The problem still exists, but is less troublesome now.
| However again it is still not right and my customer is
| losing confidence in his Email system.
|
| NOW... When he opens Outlook, he gets "Outlook Today" and
| when he clicks on Inbox etc. he gets the same empty
| listing. BUT... when he clicks on something else, (i.e.
| not "Outlook Today") and then back into Inbox - Hey
| Presto! his mails appear, and he can use his email
| normally (until he either goes to Outlook Today, or closes
| and re-opens Outlook!).
|
| Now I'm running short of ideas and don't want to upset the
| customer by telling him to just "put up with it".
|
| After looking through the Knowledgebase I'm considering
| using the Inbox Crop Tool, although he doesn't have that
| many emails. OR... I've also considered re-installing
| MAPI etc. Maybe even exporting all of his data, removing
| Office altogether and re-installing it from scratch???
|
| Anyone got any ideas???
|
| Any Help would be Greatly Appreciated!
| Many Thanks,
| Tony Welsby (UK)
| T: +44 (0)7770 978043
| E: (e-mail address removed)

 

[Tony Welsby]

Hi Pat,

Many Thanks for your advice/fast response.

Changing Outlook to open into the Inbox Directly worked a
treat. As predicted everything else worked fine except
directly after selecting "Outlook Today" again!

You suggested that the Oulook Today "file" may be
corrupted, but I can't seem to find "the file". The user
isn't using a custom file, and from all I can tell he is
just trying to use the default one.

How do I replace a corrupted Outlook Today file?

I did some investigation myself, and discovered the
symptoms described in this article:

Microsoft Knowledge Base Article - 270060
OL2000: How to Restore the Default Outlook Today Page
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-
US;270060

Unfortunately this fix did not work for me - I even tried
it a second time, but the problem remains and the buttons
(mentioned in the article) are still disabled/dimmed out.

I also found this article, which describes symptoms of a
similar nature and explains how to replace
the "Outlwvw.dll" file:

Microsoft Knowledge Base Article - 284926
OL2000: Outlook Today is Garbled After You Apply the
Office SR-1
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-
us;284926&Product=out2K

Unfortunately this "fix" had no effect either! I also
tried copying the Outlwvw.dll file from an almost
identically set-up PC which was known to be working -
Again no joy!

I even completely uninstalled and reinstalled Office 2K to
no avail.

Any further suggestions??

I have little enough hair on my head as it is, but I'm
pulling the remainder out as I type!!!

Many Thanks for your help so far.

Best Regards,
Tony

 

[Tony Welsby]

Hi Milly,

Many Thanks for your advice/prompt response.

Unfortunately this fix did not work either. I gave it a
try even though there were several other PCs set-up in the
same way and were working. The problem is just isolated
to this PC, although I don't know if it is directly
related to the previous virual infection.

Another user posted a suggestion, which seems to be "down
the right track". He suggested that the "Outlook Today"
file may be corrupt and suggested a basic test procedure
which proved to be useful. Please see other Response to
my original posting.

The trouble is I don't know how to replace a corrupted
Outlook today file! Again please see my counter response
to the other user's posting to see what I have tried so
far.

Any help you could offer will be greatly appreciated.

Many Thanks again,
Tony Welsby

-----Original Message-----
Did you look at this article?

OL2000: You Cannot Receive New E-mail Notifications in Environments That Use
the Network Address Translation
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en- us;304849&Product=out2K

--
Milly Staples [MVP - Outlook]

Post all replies to the group to keep the discussion intact. Due to
the (insert latest virus name here) virus, all mail sent to my personal
account will be deleted without reading.

After searching google.groups.com and finding no answer, Tony Welsby asked:

| Hi,
|
| I've got a customer who has a strange problem in Outlook
| 2000. His PC was running Win XP and Outlook (Office) 2000
| SP1 when I first investigated this problem.
|
| When he opens Outlook, "Outlook Today" is displayed, but
| when he looks at his Calendar it is empty. Also when he
| opens his Inbox he sees the list of emails for a few
| seconds, but cannot do anything with them (because the PC
| seems to be waiting or processing something). When he can
| eventually click on them, all of the details disappear
| (i.e. No summary of emails listed!). He can highlight
| where the emails should be and read some of the mails, but
| it's obviously not right.
|
| He claims his PC was infected with "a virus", but he
| managed to get rid of the virus himself. There is
| evidence of a virus infection (RPC service set to reboot
| PC on failure etc.) which I have corrected.
|
| So Far I have tried the following:
| 1. Full Virus Scan with McAfee/NAI Stinger tool.
| 2. Full Virus Scan with Customer's Prog. (Norton AV 2003)
| 3. Full Virus Scan with my Prog. (McAfee v7.0)
| - All as a precaution, but No Viruses Found.
| 4. Tried Inbox Repair Tool.
| 5. Tried Office Repair Mode.
| 6. Re-Installed Office 2000 SP1 from original CD.
| 7. Installed all up-to-date Office Updates.
| 8. Installed all up-to-date Windows XP Updates.
|
| The problem still exists, but is less troublesome now.
| However again it is still not right and my customer is
| losing confidence in his Email system.
|
| NOW... When he opens Outlook, he gets "Outlook Today" and
| when he clicks on Inbox etc. he gets the same empty
| listing. BUT... when he clicks on something else, (i.e.
| not "Outlook Today") and then back into Inbox - Hey
| Presto! his mails appear, and he can use his email
| normally (until he either goes to Outlook Today, or closes
| and re-opens Outlook!).
|
| Now I'm running short of ideas and don't want to upset the
| customer by telling him to just "put up with it".
|
| After looking through the Knowledgebase I'm considering
| using the Inbox Crop Tool, although he doesn't have that
| many emails. OR... I've also considered re-installing
| MAPI etc. Maybe even exporting all of his data, removing
| Office altogether and re-installing it from scratch???
|
| Anyone got any ideas???
|
| Any Help would be Greatly Appreciated!
| Many Thanks,
| Tony Welsby (UK)
| T: +44 (0)7770 978043
| E: (e-mail address removed)


.

 

[Brian Tillman]

You suggested that the Oulook Today "file" may be
corrupted, but I can't seem to find "the file". The user
isn't using a custom file, and from all I can tell he is
just trying to use the default one.

How do I replace a corrupted Outlook Today file?

Outlook Today is HTML contained within the Outlwvw.dll. Pull a copy off
your installation CD and replace the copy on disk.
--
Brian Tillman
Smiths Aerospace
3290 Patterson Ave. SE, MS 1B3
Grand Rapids, MI 49512-1991
Brian.Tillman is the name, smiths-aerospace.com is the domain.

I don't speak for Smiths, and Smiths doesn't speak for me.

 

[Tony Welsby]

Hi Brian,

Many Thanks for your suggestion. Unfortunately I have
tried that and it didn't solve the prob. I did mention
that in my last reply to Pat's posting.

Any other Ideas?

Many Thanks.
Tony.

 

[Pat Garard]

Ok Tony!

Let's take this step by step:

He opens Outlook - sees 'Outlook Today'
Clicks Inbox - sees email, but cannot touch (busy)
- (not Busy) clicks, email disappears
Have I got THAT right?

If he now clicks - one or more 'selected' e-mails
appear?
Is THAT right?

What happens if he double-clicks at this point??

Is there any possibility that he has stuffed up screen
fonts?? i.e. font is white - emails are there, but are
visible only when 'selected'?
--
Regards,
Pat Garard
Australia

______________________________________

 

[Tony Welsby]

Hi Pat,

Many Thanks for your Help/Patience with this problem.
Apologies also for my slow responses - I work away from my
office for extended periods and have to catch-up every now
and again.

I think I'm beginning to think that I'll never get this
problem fixed!

I have ruled out your suggestion about the screen fonts,
since the mails appear OK if you just simply click on
another section (i.e. Calendar) and click back on Inbox
again.

To take things one step at a time, here is what happens in
full detail:

1. User opens Outlook. Default page to open is Outlook
Today. No calendar entries or email summaries are shown
(even if there are any for today etc.)

2. User clicks on Inbox. A list of emails shows (in the
normal black text) for about 5 seconds, but user cannot
select any mails because Outlook seems busy.

3. When Outlook has finished whatever it is doing the list
of emails turns invisible (i.e. emails are definitely
still there, but no details are visible in the Inbox). By
this I mean that the user is able to click where the
emails should be and Outlook Highlights an "empty" entry
where the email summary should be, but doesn't display any
text (i.e. Date, Sender Subject is not shown etc.) If the
user does click on one of these blank entries he can view
the body of the email in the preview pane. Also if the
user Double-Clicks on one of these entries it opens the
mail as normal.

4. If after opening Outlook the user waits long enough
(about 7 mins) the list of mails does actually appear, but
it does operate very erratically (i.e. you can use the
Inbox, but sometimes you have to wait ages for a response
to your commands etc.)

5. If the user clicks on another section of Outlook (eg.
Calendar or Tasks) and then clicks back on to Inbox it
shows all of the email summary properly and the Inbox
functions totally as normal.

6. If the user clicks back on Outlook Today and then back
into the Inbox the problem re-occurs until he clicks first
on Calendar and then back on Inbox etc.

7. I followed the instructions from your earlier posting
and set Outlook to open at Inbox, and this bypasses the
problem. I even removed Outlook Today from the user's
Outlook Shortcuts so he doesn't accidentally click on it
and trigger the problem off again. The user is now able
to use Outlook, but he is unhappy because in all fairness
he should be able to view the Outlook Today page and he
can't. So in his mind I haven't fixed the problem -
merely avoided it which I can agree with to a point!

I have now tried all of the measures in my ealier postings
with the addition of :

Exporting the user's data and...

a. Removing all Outlook components from his Office 2000
installation, then re-installing them again.

b. Completely removing Office 2000 and re-installing it.

Strangely enough after I had re-installed office the
problem still occured even before I imported the user's
data back into Outlook!

So I'm completely stuck with no other ideas to try, and
now I've even got another Usergroup User writing to me
from elsewhere in the UK claiming to have the same
problem! As you've probably guessed I'm unable to help
him!

I'm just thankful that I use (dare I say it here?) Lotus
Notes/Domino for My own company's mail!!!

Any help anyone could offer me would be greatly
appreciated. Please help to nurse an insane man back to
sanity!

Many Thanks in advance,
Tony Welsby (UK)
T: +44 (0)7770 978043
E: (e-mail address removed)

 

[Pat Garard]

G'Day Tony,

Ok the Client needs to understand that we have a REAL

Problem here - one that is not recorded in the KB!

Please consult the references at the end of this message -

They DO NOT address this problem, but they DO validate as

being reasonable the procedures that I recommend.

I am sure that I don't need to tell you to keep backups

of the files mentioned below.

The problem is in one of four areas:

The Installation.

The Configuration Files.

The Data File.

File Maintenance.

I strongly recommend that you complete ALL the procedures below.

INSTALLATION

============

The installation itself can be ruled out, but be aware that Un-installing
any software almost always leaves various Initialization Files &
Configuration Files lying around - especially when they may be outside the
Application Folder. There is also the main Data File.

CONFIGURATION FILES

===================

Close OUTLOOK

Locate the Office installation CDs - they may be needed.

Perform a search of the Clients System Disk for files

having the following names:

Outcmd.dat

Extend.dat

Frmcache.dat

DELETE ALL INSTANCES (OF ALL) OF THESE FILES.

Run OUTLOOK

Help > Detect and Repair.

Select "Restore my shortcuts while repairing" (check box)

click "Start"

The procedure may ask for the CD, and will create fresh instances

of the deleted files.

DATA FILE

=========

A. Locate the Data File.

------------------------

You are looking for a file with a name like:

!!! outlook.PST !!!

This is the 'Personal Folders' file.

1. The most likely location (Win Xp) is:

C:\Documents and Settings

\<USERNAME>\Local Settings

\Application Data\Microsoft

\Outlook\Outlook.pst

2. You can also check this with:

Start OUTLOOK

Display the 'Folder List'

At the top of the Folder List, Right-Click

'Personal Folders - (Outlook Today)'

Click on 'Properties for "Outlook Today" ...'

"General' (tab)

'Advanced' (button)

Check and NOTE 'FileName'

'Cancel' your way out without changing anything.

and close OUTLOOK.

B. Repair the Data File.

------------------------

Close OUTLOOK

You need the 'Inbox Repair Tool' which can often

be found in 'Start>Programs>Accessories>System Tools'.

If it is not there then you will need to Search/Look

for it in the 'Program Files' Folder.

(Mine is in:

C:\Program Files\Common Files\System\Mapi\1033)

It is named 'SCANPST.EXE'.

Run SCANPST

Select 'Browse' (button)

Point to the location from A.2. (above)

Keep thumbs crossed, and click 'Start'

Maintenance

===========

This section will help to avoid the Problem (assuming

that it gets fixed!).

Be aware that if the PST file approaches 1GB, there is

An increased likelihood of it becoming corrupted.

Data should be moved OUT of the file (be archived) AT

LEAST once per year - usually at the end of the 3rd

Month of the NEW financial year and moving out (or

Deleting) the previous financial year into an appropriately

Named PST file (say 98FIN99.PST for the 98-99 year).

SCANPST should be run BEFORE and AFTER archiving.

Depending on the turnover of data, the data file should

be compacted regularly.

Regular backup of the Data file should be carried out -

See:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/...3A-B7D0-4B16-B8AF-5A6322F4FD01&displaylang=en
for an MS (free) solution.

REFERENCES

==========

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;[LN];Q319045

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;[LN];Q195922

:

:

:

PHEW!! - Ye Gods and Little Fishes!!

Hell's Bells and Buckets of Blood!!

Let me know how things go.

--
Regards,
Pat Garard
Australia

______________________________________