Outlook Address Book Causing Outlook To Hang

[dln]

Hello all,

I'm running into a peculiar problem when I try to open the Outlook Address
Book in that it hangs Outlook, forcing me to forcibly kill the application
via Task Manager. I'm running a fully patched Outlook 2003 on Windows XP
SP2 (also fully patched), communicating with an Exchange 2003 Server. I can
download the latest OAB from the Exchange server without error, but when I
either bring up the OAB directly, or attempt to open it by clicking on the
"To" button in a new mail message, Outlook just hangs and never comes back.
If I manually type in the outgoing email address in a new message, the mail
is sent just fine, regardless if the contact is external or internal to the
organization. The problem just started today and is limited to one
computer. I haven't had an opportunity to try the account on a different
system, so I don't know yet if it's a user account problem. Does anybody
have any hints, tips, or suggestions?

Thanks,

DLN

 

[Russ Valentine [MVP-Outlook]]

Do not confuse the Offline Address Book with the Outlook Address Book. I
assume you meant only the latter.
Have you tried any routine maintenance such as removing the service,
restarting Outlook and adding it back?
Tried a new profile?

 

[Milly Staples - MVP Outlook]

In addition to what Russ said, the Offline Address Book is the sync of your
Exchange GAL. What do you have set as the first address book to look up
contacts? (Hint - Address Book - Tools - Options)

--
Milly Staples [MVP - Outlook]

Post all replies to the group to keep the discussion intact. All
unsolicited mail sent to my personal account will be deleted without
reading.

After furious head scratching, dln asked:

| Hello all,
|
| I'm running into a peculiar problem when I try to open the Outlook
| Address Book in that it hangs Outlook, forcing me to forcibly kill
| the application via Task Manager. I'm running a fully patched
| Outlook 2003 on Windows XP SP2 (also fully patched), communicating
| with an Exchange 2003 Server. I can download the latest OAB from the
| Exchange server without error, but when I either bring up the OAB
| directly, or attempt to open it by clicking on the "To" button in a
| new mail message, Outlook just hangs and never comes back. If I
| manually type in the outgoing email address in a new message, the
| mail is sent just fine, regardless if the contact is external or
| internal to the organization. The problem just started today and is
| limited to one computer. I haven't had an opportunity to try the
| account on a different system, so I don't know yet if it's a user
| account problem. Does anybody have any hints, tips, or suggestions?
|
| Thanks,
|
| DLN

 

[dln]

Thanks for the responses - it turns out the problem was with the graphics
chipset. The user has two monitors at work but the system wasn't picking up
that the second monitor was nonexistent when she was traveling with her
laptop. The last time she left the office, the Address Book was displayed
on the secondary monitor and that was where it continued to be displayed,
even after her laptop was undocked. It seems though that the Address Book
is the only window that displays this behavior so I'm not sure if it's a
Microsoft problem or an Intel Graphics problem. I have a little more work
ahead me I guess. Thanks again for help.

DLN.

 

[Russ Valentine [MVP Outlook]]

Probably a little bit of both. Invoking the Outlook Address Book has caused
screen freezes for years. Microsoft has claimed they cannot "repro" the
problem, but it has been posted here countless times. My guess is that that
view creates some sort of stress that many graphic chipsets simply can't
handle.