30 second hang in office apps

[eddo1de]

Below is the description of a problem I have on all
workstaions on our network. I'm totally baffled so any
assistance would be greatly appreciated:

Workstation OS: Windows 2000 professional, SP4 with
KB824146 security update. Also experience this problem
without KB824146 and at SP3.

Server OS: NT 4.0 Server, SP6. Server runs all network
services (authentication, file storage, DHCP, Exchange
5.5, web proxy)

Applications affected: Outlook 2000, Excel 2000,
Powerpoint 2000 all installed as Office 2000 Std package.
Project 2002

Symptoms experienced: Applications will hang for a period
of approximately 30 seconds. If you switch to other
applications during this time they will be ok (ie. if
outlook hangs, excel will be ok and vice versa). If you
wait within the hung application, any mouse
clicks/keystrokes while it is hung will be remembered
after it resumes.

Hang can be initiated by any number of actions including:
Outlook - Selection of email from folder, attempt to send
email, selecting menu options
Excel - formatting selected cells, selecting menu options
Powerpoint - selecting menu options
Project - selecting menu options

On affected workstations, CPU/Memory usage during hang is
static and less than 10% of available resource. Resource
also seems unaffected on server.

Server also appears largely idle. Server is running all
network services (authentication, file storage, dhcp,
exchange, web proxy)

Virus scans on server and workstations have identified no
problems evident.

 

[Martin]

Below is the description of a problem I have on all
workstaions on our network. I'm totally baffled so any
assistance would be greatly appreciated:

Workstation OS: Windows 2000 professional, SP4 with
KB824146 security update. Also experience this problem
without KB824146 and at SP3.

Server OS: NT 4.0 Server, SP6. Server runs all network
services (authentication, file storage, DHCP, Exchange
5.5, web proxy)

Applications affected: Outlook 2000, Excel 2000,
Powerpoint 2000 all installed as Office 2000 Std package.
Project 2002

Symptoms experienced: Applications will hang for a period
of approximately 30 seconds. If you switch to other
applications during this time they will be ok (ie. if
outlook hangs, excel will be ok and vice versa). If you
wait within the hung application, any mouse
clicks/keystrokes while it is hung will be remembered
after it resumes.

Hang can be initiated by any number of actions including:
Outlook - Selection of email from folder, attempt to send
email, selecting menu options
Excel - formatting selected cells, selecting menu options
Powerpoint - selecting menu options
Project - selecting menu options

On affected workstations, CPU/Memory usage during hang is
static and less than 10% of available resource. Resource
also seems unaffected on server.

Server also appears largely idle. Server is running all
network services (authentication, file storage, dhcp,
exchange, web proxy)

Virus scans on server and workstations have identified no
problems evident.

Could it be the virus scanner scanning the document or application DLL's?

 

[eddo1de]

-----Original Message-----



Could it be the virus scanner scanning the document or application DLL's?

Unfortunately no, problem is still evident with virus
protection disabled.

 

[SA]

Two things I would look at:

1.) The following KB articles describe certain things that can impact
response, especially in file related activites; note that if the Auto Save
is turned on in the applications to create interim saves during work in
process you' ve got file activity going on constantly from each workstation
back to the server for working files. The fact that "fresh launches" appear
responsive suggests that there's a network related issue:

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;319470&Product=ofw2k

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;814112&Product=ofw2k

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;305949&Product=ofw2k

2.) Look at your network interfaces; you may have a bad router or network
congestion occuring if you've got a lot of say database activites going on,
large print jobs spooling, or a bad router etc.

Steve Arbaugh
MS Access MVP