Outlook Hangs

[offwego]

We have four Outlook accounts on our family PC and the problem only occures
on my (administrator) account. I can open Outlook and download email from my
ISP. If I try to reply to an email or open a new email, Outlook just hangs
there. I can delete messages and save them OK.

The task manger shows the application as 'running' but nothings happens! The
only error message I seem to get is when I shut down XP and it says: DDE
server window - not responding but I don't know if this error message is
connected in any way.

I have tried searching the forum and generally through a Google search but
can't find a solution. I have tried running the Outlook 'detect and repair'
but it doesn't fix the problem.

Info: Outlook 2002 (10.6838.6854); XP Pro SP3; POP/SMPT; Event log =
'Application Hang' (101) event 1002.


Any ideas please?

 

[DL]

Search for and run scanpst.exe, the repair tool, against your data file, the
*.pst. With outlook closed

 

[offwego]

Many thanks for the suggestion. I downloaded it (and paid for the
'registered' version) but unfortunately, it has not fixed my Outlook
problems! Anything else I can try?

 

[Alias]

Many thanks for the suggestion. I downloaded it (and paid for the
'registered' version) but unfortunately, it has not fixed my Outlook
problems! Anything else I can try?

You downloaded scanpst.exe and paid for it? Where did you download it
from? I ask because the program is a part of Office and need not be
downloaded from anywhere and DL meant for you to search your computer,
not the Internet.

Alias

 

[offwego]

....OK more hast less speed! I downloaded and paid for 'RegCure' which I ran,
obviously by mistake ...but it picked up lots of stuff I'm sure!

I have found scanpst.exe and run it for the folders named 'outlook' (and I
had one called outlook2). It found some errors which I 'repaired' but I've
still got the hanging problem. Is there something else I should be running
scanpst.exe on? These *.pst files from DL, will they be somewhere else than
the 'outlook' folder?

Many thanks

 

[Brian Tillman [MVP - Outlook]]

...OK more hast less speed! I downloaded and paid for 'RegCure' which I
ran,
obviously by mistake ...but it picked up lots of stuff I'm sure!

Aaugh! Registry cleaners often do more damage than solve problems. Get your
money back, if you can.

I have found scanpst.exe and run it for the folders named 'outlook' (and I
had one called outlook2). It found some errors which I 'repaired' but I've
still got the hanging problem. Is there something else I should be running
scanpst.exe on? These *.pst files from DL, will they be somewhere else than
the 'outlook' folder?

There is nothing else on which you should run scanpst, since it will work only
on PSTs. Were I you, I'd try a new mail profile.
http://www.howto-outlook.com/faq/newprofile.htm

 

[Brian Tillman [MVP - Outlook]]

Thanks for your response. I created a new profile called OutlookA and tried
replying to a test message. Unfortunately, the old problem was still there.
It just hangs! I haven't deleted the old profile (following the
instructions
in the link so far) but should I do this?

If a new mail profile also hangs, there's no need to use the new profile. Go
back to the old one because the problem lies elsewhere.

Is just re-installing MS Office an option?

I'm not convinced this will help. Help>Detect and Repair should do as much.
What hapens if you start Outlook in safe mode (hold Ctrl while you start
Outlook)?

 

[offwego]

Brian,

Thanks for getting back. I've deleted the 'new' profile but just before I
did I tried clicking reply again whilst in 'safe' mode and it gave me an
error message about '..needs Word as your email editor but Word is busy or
can't be found...' I don't kow if this helps the diagnosis?

I opened Outlook with my original profile in safe mode and it all seems to
work OK. I was able to reply to an email. Is there a solution that will
enable me to come out of safe mode?

Many thanks.

 

[Brian Tillman [MVP - Outlook]]

I opened Outlook with my original profile in safe mode and it all seems to
work OK. I was able to reply to an email. Is there a solution that will
enable me to come out of safe mode?

This indicates you have a misbehaving add-in. Start Outlook normally, click
Tools>Options>Other>Advanced Options>COM Add-0Ins and Add-In Manager, uncheck
everything, restart Outlook and begin to reenable the add-ins one at a time
(with a restart between each) until you find the culprit. It will the add-in
most recently enabled. Uninstall that add-in.

 

[offwego]

Brian,

OK, here we go with the results!

I unchecked all (4 of them) the add-ins and built back up restarting each
time.

With no add-ins checked the emails still hung on 'reply' and gave me the
message 'Starting Word as your email editor' but the message just hung there
so I quit through task manager.

For the two add-ins under add-in manager added one at a time I got the same
result as above for one and then two checked.

For the add-ins under COM add-ins (with the two add-in manager ones checked
already) I didn't get the message about Word but the emails still hung on
'reply' and I had to quit through task manager.

 

[Brian Tillman [MVP - Outlook]]

I unchecked all (4 of them) the add-ins and built back up restarting each
time.

With no add-ins checked the emails still hung on 'reply' and gave me the
message 'Starting Word as your email editor' but the message just hung there
so I quit through task manager.

For the two add-ins under add-in manager added one at a time I got the same
result as above for one and then two checked.

For the add-ins under COM add-ins (with the two add-in manager ones checked
already) I didn't get the message about Word but the emails still hung on
'reply' and I had to quit through task manager.

Safe mode probably does more than just keep add-ins from loading, but I'm not
familiar with all it does. It may not be an add-in, but that's usually the
most likely cause. Log into the Microsoft Knowledgebase and look for more
troubleshooting steps or your particular error message. I don't recall ever
seeing your particular issue.

 

[offwego]

....thanks for your help Brian. I'll give the knowledge base a go.