Can send but not receive Outlook messages (settings test works)

[JacquelineCanada]

Hi! Thanks in advance for any help you can provide!

I am using Outlook 2003 (part of the Office Professional edition), and my
computer is running Windows XP Home Edition 2002 Service Pack 2.

I am having problems receiving mail via Outlook. It is connected to a pop
account (my work server, as I work in a different city than the office), and
it worked fine for 6 months, and then 4 days ago stopped receiving mail. The
main office hasn't changed any settings. However, I can still send email.
And my email is still going to the server, because I can read it if I connect
to webmail - it just doesn't download to my Outlook. Other weird things:

1) outlook used to automatically send/receive, and the progress box would
pop up, and that stopped happening (although I went in and made sure it was
enabled to still pop up). Now when I press send/receive the button flashes
orange (it is activated), but then nothing pops up, although mail in the
outbox will go.

2) I tested the Outlook settings again, and the test worked fine, including
connecting to the incoming mail server. However, I never receive the test
messages in my Outlook inbox, although they are visible in my webmail inbox.

3) I wanted to make sure that the send/receive groups settings were set to
check often for mail, but if I go into send/receive options and try to click
on "define send/receive groups", it highlights orange (ie it is activated),
but nothing will pop up - I can't get into those settings.

I've read through all the other posts I can find, and tried various things,
such as:
-checking all of the incoming/outgoing settings
-creating a new profile
-turning off the virus checker for email

No luck! any suggestions???? I don't know if it's a coincidence, but it
seemed to stop working after I took my laptop to a different office and
connected to their wireless network. I've done that many times before (to
different offices, hotels etc), but this time, when i got home I couldn't
connect back to my own wireless network and Outlook wouldn't receive. I've
since got the wireless working again, and the Outlook settings appear to be
correct, but I still can't receive mail.

thank you so much for any help you can provide!

 

[Kooster]

If you are confident all your mail settings are solid (ports, too), then
possibly it could be the anti-virus. One way to find out is to uninstall and
reinstall the AV. Do you have a firewall on this machine? Make sure that only
one firewall is active (most people turn off the Microsoft Firewall and use
their AV firewall). If you are running Norton, use the automated assistant on
their Web support to check the condition of your install.

P.

 

[JacquelineCanada]

Thanks Kooster. I have AVG Free virus scanner software on my computer, and I
turned the email scanner part off last week, but after turning it on again
today so that I could then try to uninstall the software, my outlook
proceeded to download every single message I've ever received, including all
the new ones I haven't gotten in the last two weeks - so that's the good
news. Unfortunately, in the process, it erased all my sent mail, address
book, and calendar! Ack!

Does anyone have any suggestions on any way to recover this, or any way to
make sure it doesn't happen again?

Thanks! I'm still not sure what went wrong with this in the first place
Outlook didn't malfunction immediately after installing the anti-virus
program - it was at least a week later.

cheers
Jacqueline

 

[JacquelineCanada]

Alright, think I figured out how to fix part of my 'everything erased'
problem and just wanted to post in case it helped someone else. For some
reason turning my email scanner off and then back on created a second email
file, calendar file, contacts file etc, and the new ones showed up when I
opened outlook. However, when I went to the Calendar tab, there were two
options with checkboxes: Calendar and Calendar in Personal Folders.
Unclicking Calendar, and checking Calendar in Personal Folders displayed my
original calendar. Same idea in Contacts.

I can't figure out how to find the sent email though, at least not from the
same method. Perhaps if I link Outlook up to the original Outlook (versus
the new Outlook1) file (in my Outlook folder on my hard drive) that would
restore everything, and put everything back in its original folders, but I'm
worried that I will lose all my new email by doing that. Still - sorting
through every email I ever received to put everything back in the correct
folders or delete it is going to be a pain in the butt. Any thoughts?

thanks!
Jacqueline

 

[Brian Tillman]

Thanks Kooster. I have AVG Free virus scanner software on my
computer, and I turned the email scanner part off last week, but
after turning it on again today so that I could then try to uninstall
the software, my outlook proceeded to download every single message
I've ever received, including all the new ones I haven't gotten in
the last two weeks - so that's the good news. Unfortunately, in the
process, it erased all my sent mail, address book, and calendar! Ack!

You apparently created a new mail profile and a new PST. Your old data is
still on your hard drive in your old PST. Change your new profile to use
your old PST.

 

[JacquelineCanada]

Hi Brian,
Thanks so much for your tip! Can you tell me how to go about changing my
new profile to use my old PST? I looked around in outlook and figured out
how to change the Personal Folder my email is directed to (my options were
two identical Personal Folders and an Archive Folder), but I don't know where
I change what folder my Outlook is drawing from.

thanks so much for your time!
Jacqueline

 

[Brian Tillman]

Thanks so much for your tip! Can you tell me how to go about
changing my new profile to use my old PST? I looked around in
outlook and figured out how to change the Personal Folder my email is
directed to (my options were two identical Personal Folders and an
Archive Folder), but I don't know where I change what folder my
Outlook is drawing from.

The way I prefer is using Control Panel's Mail applet. Use Data Files>Add
to add the old PST to your profile. Use E-mail Accounts>Next>Delivery new
e-mail to the following location to make the old PST your default delivery
location.