Repair Tool Crashes?

[Ergobob]

Hello,

This is a continuing problem.

Outlook 2002 starts to work and crashes when I try to open a large Sent
Items folder. I can start a new outcmd.dat file to get it running but it
continues to crash when I try to open that large folder.

I tried to run the Repair tool and it analyzes the pst file and says there
are errors. But as soon as I say Repair, the Repair Tool crashes.

I am running WinXP SP2 and the pst file is just over 1 gig.

Does anyone have a suggestion for getting this going again?

Thanks a lot,

Bob

 

[Milly Staples [MVP - Outlook]]

Have you tried a new mail profile? Or a new .pst file and drag/drop your
items from the old to the new?

--
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 furious head scratching, Ergobob asked:

| Hello,
|
| This is a continuing problem.
|
| Outlook 2002 starts to work and crashes when I try to open a large
| Sent Items folder. I can start a new outcmd.dat file to get it
| running but it continues to crash when I try to open that large
| folder.
|
| I tried to run the Repair tool and it analyzes the pst file and says
| there are errors. But as soon as I say Repair, the Repair Tool
| crashes.
|
| I am running WinXP SP2 and the pst file is just over 1 gig.
|
| Does anyone have a suggestion for getting this going again?
|
| Thanks a lot,
|
| Bob

 

[Ergobob]

Hello Milly,

No, I have not tried either of those methods. Could you say a word or two
about how to do that? How can I drag and drop from the pst file when I can't
open it? And, would changing the profile permit me to retain the data in the
pst file?

Also, I noticed that after renaming the outcmd.dat file, I can no longer
find a new file when I search the drive. Could this be the problem?

Thanks Milly,

Bob

 

[Brian Tillman]

No, I have not tried either of those methods. Could you say a word or
two about how to do that?

"How to create a new e-mail profile in Outlook 2003"
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;829918

How can I drag and drop from the pst file
when I can't open it?

You said that Outlook will run until you try to open the Sent Items folder.
So, run Outlook and create a new PST with File>New>Outlook Data File.
Choose "Office Outlook Personal Folders File (.pst)", browse to the folder
where you want it (or accept the folder Outlook chooses), pick a file name
(one that isn't the same as any other PST name in that folder) and click OK.
Now, for all the folders except for Sent Items, since you're having trouble
with that one, right-click and choose Copy. In the browse window you get,
select the new PST you just created and click OK. Once this is done for all
folders, click Tools>E-mail Accounts>Next. At the bottom left, in the
"Delivery new e-mail..." drop-down, choose your new PST and click Finish.
Stop and restart Outlook. You will lose the contents of your Sent Items
folder.

And, would changing the profile permit me to
retain the data in the pst file?

Yes. When you create your profile, you will be able to point it at the old
PST (or, it you followed my above instructions, at the PST you created and
to which you moved all your data).

Also, I noticed that after renaming the outcmd.dat file, I can no
longer find a new file when I search the drive. Could this be the
problem?

Searching your hard drive and the existence of Outcmd.dat have no
relationship to each other.

 

[Ergobob]

Hello Brian,

I did not state the problem fully. There was a point in time where I could
open Outlook and it would crash when I opened the Sent Mail folder. However,
Outlook will not open at all at this point. When I run the Repair tool it
crashes as soon as I hit Repair. This is true for three different pst files
that I have as backups. It is almost like the Repair Tool is not working.

Given a pst file with errors, if I create a new Profile and point to the
same pst file, won't that still have the original problems? Is there a way
to create a new Profile from Control Panel/email and then get to the
individual folders in the original pst file?

On the outcmd.dat file, I thought it would show up on a search so you can
rename it and force a new one to be built. I do have my system files
showing. I did this before and it permitted Outlook to open - that's how I
discovered the Sent Email folder problem.

Thanks a lot Brian,

Bob

 

[Brian Tillman]

Given a pst file with errors, if I create a new Profile and point to
the same pst file, won't that still have the original problems? Is
there a way to create a new Profile from Control Panel/email and then
get to the individual folders in the original pst file?

Yes. Creating the profile will give you a chance to add a data file to it
and you can browse to the old one. It may or may not have trouble with the
old one.

 

[Ergobob]

Hello Again,

OK, I created a new profile and Outlook opened with the new pst just fine.

However, when I try to import or open/new the original pst file Outlook
crashes. So I can't see how to get into the old pst file either via import
or new.

How can I access individual folders within the original pst file? I think I
am missing something here.

Thanks a lot,

Bob

 

[Brian Tillman]

However, when I try to import or open/new the original pst file
Outlook crashes. So I can't see how to get into the old pst file
either via import or new.

How can I access individual folders within the original pst file? I
think I am missing something here.

If you can't even open it without having Outlook crash, I think your plain
out of luck.

 

[Ergobob]

If you can't even open it without having Outlook crash, I think your plain
out of luck.

Ouch. You know, I have tried the Inbox Repair Tool of earlier versions of my
pst file that were saved and the Repair Tool crashes with every file. I
wonder if something might be wrong with the Repair Tool itself. Do you know
if there is any alternative strategy for fixing a pst file?

Also, you mentioned that not seeing the outcmd.dat file in my file structure
does not mean it is there. But I was successful in the past with renaming
that file and fixing the problem. Is there some way to get access to that
file? Just pulling at straws here.

Bob

 

[Ergobob]

Ouch. You know, I have tried the Inbox Repair Tool of earlier versions of
my pst file that were saved and the Repair Tool crashes with every file. I
wonder if something might be wrong with the Repair Tool itself. Do you
know if there is any alternative strategy for fixing a pst file?

Also, you mentioned that not seeing the outcmd.dat file in my file
structure does not mean it is there. But I was successful in the past with
renaming that file and fixing the problem. Is there some way to get access
to that file? Just pulling at straws here.

Bob

I solved the problem and discovered a couple of things that might be useful
for the next person that has trouble with the Repair Tool.

1. If the pst file is large, the Repair tool may show a busy icon and the
Task Manager will say Not Responding. However, if you just let it run and
ignore the Not Responding, it will complete the job and show a Complete
lable.

2. If Outlook opens and appears to crash when you try to open a large folder
like Sent Items, just let it run even if the Task Manager says Not
Responding.

This seems to be a quirk of how Outlook operates in these situations.

At any rate, I was able to get my pst file up and running. The first thing I
did was Auto Archive the whole thing.

Thanks for all the help.

Bob

 

[Brian Tillman]

At any rate, I was able to get my pst file up and running.
Great!

The first thing I did was Auto Archive the whole thing.

That doesn't necessarily mean you have a backup. Archive works on a date
that us usually not visible to the mail client. Your best bet for making a
backup of a PST is simply to copy it to another folder while Outlook isn't
running.

 

[Ergobob]

That doesn't necessarily mean you have a backup. Archive works on a date
that us usually not visible to the mail client. Your best bet for making
a backup of a PST is simply to copy it to another folder while Outlook
isn't running.

Hi Brian,

Yes, my copies of the pst file are all direct copies from the file manager.

I was thinking of reducing the size of the pst file by Archiving. But I have
another question for you.

When I archived, it set up an archive of only my Sent Items and a couple of
other folders but none of the folders that I created. How do I get Outlook
to archive all my individual folders that I created under Personal Folders?

Thanks,

Bob

 

[Brian Tillman]

When I archived, it set up an archive of only my Sent Items and a
couple of other folders but none of the folders that I created. How
do I get Outlook to archive all my individual folders that I created
under Personal Folders?

If you don't have archive set up to archive everything, then you'll have to
right-click each folder individually, choose Properties, then the
AutoArchive tab, and establish the archive attributes.

 

[Ergobob]

If you don't have archive set up to archive everything, then you'll have
to right-click each folder individually, choose Properties, then the
AutoArchive tab, and establish the archive attributes.

Thanks Brian. I can do that but can you tell me how to set up the archive to
do everything?

Thanks,

Bob

 

[Brian Tillman]

Thanks Brian. I can do that but can you tell me how to set up the
archive to do everything?

Use Help and have it look for AutoArchive

 

[Ergobob]

Use Help and have it look for AutoArchive

Thanks for all the help Brian. Very much appreciated.

Bob