Connection to Exchange drops and will notreconnect until I use OWA

[sicjoke]

Version: 2008
Operating System: Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard)
Processor: Intel
Email Client: Exchange

I have Entourage configured to connect to works hosted exchange and based on the fact that I am able to connect and retrieve mail from my account am assuming that the settings that I have configured are correct.

However, after being connected for a seemingly random period of time, Entourage drops the connection with Exchange and produces the following error message...

"Verification Failed: "Logon failure: unknown user name or bad password" (-17900 )" and then asks if I would like to re-enter my logon credentials.

If I put in the exact same credentials that I used to originally connect in the first place, the connection fails and the error dialog re-appears.

The only way that I seem to be able to break the cycle and re-connect to the Exchange server is by opening a browser window and logging onto the same mail account via OWA. Once I have logged onto OWA in my browser (with Entourage still running) I am able to supply Entourage with the password and it will re-connect.

The problem is that Entourage never seems to stay connected for any reasonable amount of time before I have to go through the whole charade above to re-connect it.

I have verified the keychain and there are no errors. I have deleted and re-created the account in Entourage and it continues to drop the connection arbitrarily.

One other mac user connects to the Exchange server using Entourage 2004 (with exactly the same settings) and is not reporting this issue.

Why does Entourage keep dropping the connection, why wont it remember the keychain password and why does re-authentication fail until I logon using OWA in a browser?

I moved from Vista/Outlook to this!!

 

[Corentin Cras-Méneur]

However, after being connected for a seemingly random period of time,
Entourage drops the connection with Exchange and produces the following
error message...

That sounds like a server issue.... It looks like the server didn't have
all the latest patches installed.


Corentin

 

[sicjoke]

Could you be a little more specific? What patches in particular cause only the Entourage client to do this.

OWA in multiple browsers, Outlook 2K3 and 2K7 in Windows, Mail app on iphone and Nokia N95 are all able to successfully connect and stay connected to the same account on the same server with the same credentials and settings.

That would indicate that the missing patch is fixing an issue with Exchange that impacts only a particular client platform? I am struggling to find hotfixes for Exchange that resolve an issue of this nature. Can you link me up?

 

[Corentin Cras-Méneur]

Could you be a little more specific? What patches in particular cause
only the Entourage client to do this.

I don't know. I don't have access to an Exchange server.
This has been reported before and the solution was to update the server.

OWA in multiple browsers, Outlook 2K3 and 2K7 in Windows, Mail app on
iphone and Nokia N95 are all able to successfully connect and stay
connected to the same account on the same server with the same
credentials and settings.

Oulook connects through MAPI, the iPhone through WebServices. They don;t
really illustrate well what could or could not be a problem for
Entourage.

That would indicate that the missing patch is fixing an issue with
Exchange that impacts only a particular client platform? I am struggling
to find hotfixes for Exchange that resolve an issue of this nature. Can
you link me up?

Nope. You need to ask in the Exchange group. I wish I could but as I was
saying, I'm not an exchange admonistrator.

Corentin

 

[sicjoke]

So basically you are saying that you suspect you know what the issue is but you are somehow prohibited in telling me what the resolution is simply because even though I am asking in the forum specifically regarding the application in which the issue manifests I should actually be asking in a forum dedicated to the product that until now I had no idea of being responsible.

If you know, can you not just be nice instead of asking me to go through the whole thing somewhere elese?

I have read through plenty of posts in the Entourage forum that address issues that are a result of a third party application and none suggest that we are not allowed to talk about these kind of related technologies.

I have been scouring the internet for a resolution to this for several days now and this is the closest I have come to anyone giving an indication that they know what is likely to be causing the problems I am experiencing.

 

[William Smith [MVP]]

So basically you are saying that you suspect you know what the issue
is but you are somehow prohibited in telling me what the resolution
is simply because even though I am asking in the forum specifically
regarding the application in which the issue manifests I should
actually be asking in a forum dedicated to the product that until now
I had no idea of being responsible.

Huh? Corentin said he doesn't know. He suggested asking in the Exchange
newsgroup because that's where people who know how to resolve Exchange
problems are reading messages.

If you know, can you not just be nice instead of asking me to go
through the whole thing somewhere elese?

Unfortunately, when you're dealing with two or more very different
applications that are suppose to work together experts in both can be
very rare. The end-user is often the one who must put two and two together.

I have read through plenty of posts in the Entourage forum that
address issues that are a result of a third party application and
none suggest that we are not allowed to talk about these kind of
related technologies.

Nobody has said you can't talk about Entourage and Exchange problems
here. Just understand that you're more likely to find Exchange experts
in an Exchange newsgroup.

I have been scouring the internet for a resolution to this for
several days now and this is the closest I have come to anyone giving
an indication that they know what is likely to be causing the
problems I am experiencing.

What indication have you seen? Corentin is passing along that he has
heard this may be resolved with a patch to your Exchange Server. He
never said he knew the answer. He's being as helpful as he can.

--

bill

Entourage Help Page <http://entourage.mvps.org/>
Entourage Help Blog <http://blog.entourage.mvps.org/>
YouTalk <http://nine.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/youtalk>
Twitter: follow <http://twitter.com/meck>

 

[Corentin Cras-Méneur]

What indication have you seen? Corentin is passing along that he has
heard this may be resolved with a patch to your Exchange Server. He
never said he knew the answer. He's being as helpful as he can.

Thanks Bill. I believe it summarizes the answer fairly well:
- I'm not an Exchange admin. I don't have access to and Exchange server
directly (only as a user) and I can't test any of this myself.
- I don;t know either what specific patch fixes this, but I have *heard*
from others here that patching up the server corrected the issue for
them.

I thought it was a valuable lead worth investigating. I even told you
where you ewre likely to find answers.
Did-I do anything wrong??

Corentin
\

 

[sicjoke]

As you have both taken the time to respond please let me clarify my initial response (without the aid of quote tags)and share with you recent changes in the circumstances that lead me to believe that Coretin's diagnosis of an un-patched server being responsible for my issues to be, let say, slightly knee jerk and ultimately incorrect.

My problems with remaining connected to the exchange are centric around my new MacBook. Today I had the opportunity to unbox four identical computers and deploy Office 2008 under exactly the same software and hardware environment as my original laptop.

Every single one of these new systems are able to authenticate, connect and remain connected to the exchange server. Tested over a period of 7 hours, my original MacBook, attempting to connect through the same wireless ADSL connection is unable to sustain a link with the server and retain my password in the keychain.

I can only surmise from this that the issue described in my opening post is not a result of missing hot fixes from the exchange server but an inherent software fault with the first client.

I am in the process of completely removing, reloading and reconfiguring Office 2008 on the offending system.

If I am honest, and I think I should be, You did do something wrong Corentin. Your diagnosis was not based on any clear diagnostic evidence and your subsequent reluctance to substantiate only served to further illustrate how weak your statement was. Furthermore I felt ever so slightly ganged up on with the addition of Bills comments.

It is possibly for the best if you just close the thread and I continue to resolve the issue on my own before this turns into an absurd flame war.

 

[apaulable]

I'm experiencing the same issue though my system doesn't stay open for long at all... it will send and receive at start up the latest group of e-mails and a seconds later bring up the error Logon failure: unknown username, etc.
I've deleted all my key chains with no luck
It started Thursday morning when I came to work. I turned on my computer and started getting this message. I've spoke with our network admin who took the "we can't help a mac problem" approach.
I know a service pack for Entourage came out Dec. 10 that took care of some security flaws and think this is the culprit.
It acts as if I'm unlocking the door fine before something comes in to plug up the holes

 

[apaulable]

update: this worked for me... not sure why, but it worked
go into your OWA and delete ALL your deleted files
here's the instructions
2) Test in a new Identity. During my search I found that if one of your
mailboxes contains messages in non-Roman characters - for instance, you get
spam in Chinese -- Entourage will have problems syncing with the Exchange
server and will spit back an error. Testing in a new Identity will eliminate
any emails like this. If your new Identity solves the issue, the solution is
to delete all of those non-Roman messages, and then use Outlook Web Access
via Safari -- not Entourage -- to purge your Deleted Items folder.