Outlook stops sending/receiving mail after 1-4 hours

[LurfysMa]

For the last couple of weeks, Outlook has been unable to continue
sending and/or receiving mail for more than a few hours. When I first
reboot my laptop (HP Omnibook 6000 running Win 2K and Office 2K, all
of the latest updates), everything is fine for anywhere from an hour
to as much as 5-6 hours. But at some point in the day, I will notice
that an outgoing email is still in the Outbox and no mail is coming
in. If I reboot the system, everything is fine again for 1-5 hours.

What might the problem be and what can I do about it?

 

[Vince Averello [MVP-Outlook]]

Do you receive any errors? Are you able to web browse after Outlook stops
working?

 

[Diane Poremsky [MVP]]

Are you using the MSN search toolbar or Google's? When they index outlook's
mail, they can cause this behavior.

--
Diane Poremsky [MVP - Outlook]
Author, Teach Yourself Outlook 2003 in 24 Hours
Coauthor, OneNote 2003 for Windows (Visual QuickStart Guide)

Need Help with Common Tasks? http://www.outlook-tips.net/beginner/

 

[LurfysMa]

Do you receive any errors? Are you able to web browse after Outlook stops
working?

Sorry, I should have mentioned that.

The only errors I get is if I try to exit Outlook and there are any
unsent messages. Then the little "sending" graphic with the letters
going bakc and forth pops up and sits there for anywhere from 30 to
120 seconds, then I get an error saying something like "The TCP/IP
connection has been lost...". I can capture the exact message is you
need it. Easy to recreate the problem.

Everything works just fine except Outlook. IE works, usenet works, our
LAN works -- everything but email. And a reboot always fixes it
immediately -- albeit briefly. Even after receiving the TCP/IP error
message, I can still access the internet.

 

[LurfysMa]

Are you using the MSN search toolbar or Google's? When they index outlook's
mail, they can cause this behavior.

Do you mean in IE or in Outlook?

In IE, I do have the Google toolbar installed.

How can I tell if that is causing the problem?

More importantly, how can I fix it?

In Outlook, I don't think I have anything from either MSN or Google
installed.

I have never used MSN as far as I know - at least not on purpose.

 

[Vince Averello [MVP-Outlook]]

If you could post the message, that would be great. Also, do you have any
sort of virus scanning / firewalling software?

 

[Diane Poremsky [MVP]]

Do you mean in IE or in Outlook?

Either. Is it configured to search your email?

In IE, I do have the Google toolbar installed.

How can I tell if that is causing the problem?

Did the problem start after it was installed or before? If after, uninstall
it and reboot. See if it goes away.

More importantly, how can I fix it?

If it's the cause, you'll need to uninstall it or reboot more often.
Disabling Outlook searching is worth a try but may not help.

In Outlook, I don't think I have anything from either MSN or Google
installed.

If you have the desktop search installed, it's likely working with outlook
whether you know it or not.

 

[LurfysMa]

If you could post the message, that would be great.

OK, I'll grab it the next time it happens. But the gist of it is that
the TCP/IP connection with the host has been lost.

Also, do you have any sort of virus scanning / firewalling software?

Yes, I have both. They were installed by the company we lease our
computers from. Both have been running unchanged (other than updating
the virus fingerprints) for over 4 years. The Outlook problem started
1-2 weeks ago. I have checked with the leasing company and they cannot
figure it out either.

 

[LurfysMa]

Either.

There is a Google toolbar in IE. I think I installed it about 6-8
months ago.

I don't think there is anything related to Google on the Outlook
screen. How can I tell for sure?

Is it configured to search your email?

I don't remember doing any custom settings other than the autofill and
the pop-up blocker. This is in IE, not Outlook itself.

I have heard that the Google toolbar cna be configured to search my
hard disk and my Outlook database. I have never used it for either. I
still use the slow Outlook search and the slow Windows search.

Of course, that doesn't mean that the Google toolbar isn't doing some
indexing. I checked the toolbar options and couldn't find any place to
enable or disable searching. Where are those options? Or are they
always on?

But I installed the Google toolbar months ago and the Outlook problem
only started a couple of weeks ago.