Outlook 2003 can't open exchange mailbox

[Justin]

Hi, I just installed the evaluation edition of Office 2003
(upg from OL2000) but I cannot open my Exchange 2000
mailbox. The error message says "Unable to open you
default mail folders. The Microsoft Exchange Server
computer is unavailable. Either there are network problems
of the Microsoft Exchange Server computer is down for
maintenance."

I have removed all mail profiles and re-created one with
just Exchange Server mailbox (name resolution was fine).
No joy. I can open Outlook if the profile is set to
personal folders, so it's not Outlook per se. I can open
my mailbox through Outlook Web Access, so it's not server
connectivity (and the same problems occur under another
mailbox name). A colleague also installed the trial
software at the same time on the same network and has the
same problem. The problem does not occur on OL2000 or XP.

In case it helps, if I open to Personal Folders but have
Exchange Mailbox in the profile, Outlook opens. If I try
to then open the exchange mailbox I get the following
error: "Unable to expand the folder. The set of folders
could not be opened." If I click Show Help, I get:

"This error usually appears if the OST or PST file you are
using is:
* Unavailable
* Protected with file permissions
* On a share on a server and the network is down
* Corrupt
To correct this problem, store the OST or PST file on the
local computer.
You may also want to run the scanost.exe and scanpst.exe
tools to verify file integrity."

There are no OST files involved here and the PST is the
one that opens!

I can see that this error has been posted on a few other
sites but nobody seems to have a fix. Microsoft won't help
us because it's evaluation software (so how are we
supposed to evaluate it???).

Anyone have any ideas?

Thanks,
Justin

 

[neo [mvp outlook]]

Are you logging into the domain exchange is in or with a local account?

 

[Justin]

I am logging in to the domain, FWIW I am also a domain
administrator (the other account tested with was not).

Thanks,
Justin

 

[neo [mvp outlook]]

Try starting Outlook with the /rpcdiag command line switch. This should
bring up a dialog to help diagnose if Outlook is hanging up on establishing
a connection to the global catalog server(s) or Exchange.

 

[Justin]

Hi, have done that, not really sure what it is trying to
tell me. The status is "established" over TCP/IP and the
req/fail column reads 1/0. However I still get the error
dialog "unable to open default folders" which closes
Outlook (and the rpcdiag window) upon clicking OK.

As I said before, Outlook can resolve my name from the
address book and I can access Outlook Web Mail (thank
God), so it doesn't appear to be a connectivity issue.

Thanks,
Justin

 

[neo [mvp outlook]]

how many entries are listed in the rpcdiag box? you should get 1 or 2 to
the global catalog server and 2 or 3 to the Exchange box providing Exchange
is not on a domain/global catalog server. what that dialog shows is how you
are connecting (tcp/ip vs http) and which might be hanging you up since the
global catalog server provides the directory (Global Address List) and the
Exchange server provides the information store (mailbox).

what i would do at this point is dialup diagnostic logging on the exchange
server and review the event logs to see if you are getting any permission
errors. by the way, don't rule out name resolution errors. i've found that
even putting in the fqdn of the exchange server in the profile properties,
that it is still possible to have odd name resolution issues when the
workstations fqdn doesn't match the exchange server. (this is especially
true if the dns server can do wild card matching)

 

[Justin]

Thanks for working through this one. The Exchange Server
is a Global Catalog Server and we have only one domain. I
got one line of response as mentioned earlier. The fqdn of
the PC is identical to the exchange server.

FWIW, there are currently 90 people connected successfully
to this exchange server through Outlook 2000 and XP. I'm
not sure what you mean by dialup diagnostic logging but
this info may negate the need for it? If you want me to
use OL2003 to configure a dialup connection to this
exchange server, that will be a problem as there is no
modem in this (corporate lan) PC, nor a phone line nearby.

I take it this is not a problem others are facing....

Thanks,
Justin

 

[Justin]

We have done some more research and found some interesting
results. But first let me tell you a little about our
network.

We have a single domain spanning 13 WAN sites connected by
frame relay. Each WAN site has a server which is a domain
controller and exchange server, all are v2000 SP2. The
head office box is also a global catalog server, as are 2
or 3 others. Every desktop in the company is running
Windows 2000 professional, and aside from the trial they
are using Outlook 2000 without problems.

We installed 2 copies of the evaluation of Office 2003
which have the connection problems. But get this - if we
log on to our computers as a user from another
geographical site, we CAN open their mailoxes. If we log
on as someone in head office, we cannot. I instlalled the
trial on another computer that is not in the IT department
and only logged on as a regular user (in case it was
somthing about domain admins) and could not connect
either. I then drove to another WAN site nearby and
installed it there. I could access the mailbox no problems
as one of those users but not if I logged on as myself or
anyone else in head office (NPO).

So basically it seems there is something about the NPO
email server that is preventing the connection, and it's
not about local vs. WAN routed traffic (one of our
desperate theories). Only thing is, there really isn't
anything unusual about the setup of the NPO server. The
Service pack is the same, same security build, it's not
the only global catalog server, they are all on the same
domain, the NPO user names are being resolved when you set
up a mail profile, the same computers work with OWA and
everyone else is still getting email.

I ran the /rpcdiag test on a connection that did work to
compare results. The succssful one has 4 lines, all with
the same server, with the type column reading "directory,
mail, directory, mail" for the four responses. The failed
attempt has one line with "directory" but as it runs I can
see it very briefly flashing something about the "mail"
but it disappears too fast to read it properly.

I really appreciate your help so far and if you can think
of anything that you think is worth trying I'm ready to
hear it!

Thanks muchly,

Justin