Can't Open MS OL 2003 - Please help

[AJ]

Help !!! We have no idea why we can't open our Microsoft 2003 Outlook
today. We've used it for about 3 years without a hitch.

We shut the system down as normal last night, no windows were open. Today
when we attempted to check our mail we got a popup window with the
following:

* Cannot start MS Outlook
* Unable to open the Outlook Window
* The set of folders could not be opened
* The server is not available
* Contact your adminstrator if this problem persists.

The outlook.pst file is less than 1MB.

Fearing the worst, we copied and pasted the outlook.pst and the
archive.pst files to an external drive. We also backed up all of our "My
Documents" folder and files.

Like everyone else we really rely on email and really need some help. What
should we do?

The computer is a Dell Dimension 8400 - 3 yrs old. Our OS is XP-SP2.

We're considering reinstalling MS Office 2003, but that seems very drastic.
If we re-install should we first uninstall what's on the system.

We are very concerned - any help would really be appreciated. Thank you.

 

[Diane Poremsky]

1 meg seems awfully small for a pst that has any amount of mail in it.

what type of email account do you use? have you tried making a new profile?

reinstalling won't help - detect and repair (Help menu) may.

 

[thesloop1]

1 meg seems awfully small for a pst that has any amount of mail in it.

what type of email account do you use? have you tried making a new profile?

reinstalling won't help - detect and repair (Help menu) may.

 

[thesloop1]

I have essentially the same problem. Outlook will not open in either regular
or safe mode and I don't know why? I have had prolems with my inbox getting
corrupted and have fixed that a couple of times by running "scanpst.exe". The
last time I did it the inbox came back but not as the inbox but "rescued
data" folder. I moved copied it and made it the new "inbox" folder. Probably
the start of my current troubles. The next time I turned on the computer,
Outlook would not open because "the network was in use" and something about
an ".ost" file. I then compounded the error by running the "scanpst.exe"
program again. The program reported that it successfully corrected the inbox
issue, but now I can't get into "Outlook" at all. and just get a message that
the last time I tried to open it, it wouldn't and would I like to open in
"safe mode". Which I tried to no avail.
I then ran the repair program and again, I was given the message that the
program was repaired. However still no luck gettting the program to run.
I even tried to restore to a previous set up. Also to no avail.

I am at my wits end. Seems like the only option might be to save all the pst
files and uninstall/reinstall Outlook 2003. ANY suggestions PLEASE.

Thanks