Outlook 2000 Locks up

[Basharat A. Javaid]

System: Windows XP Pro, SP2, Intel 2 CPUs @ 2.66 GHz each, 2 GB Ram and hard
drive partitioned into 2 drives with over 36 GBs on each sub-drives.

Using Outlook 2000 (MS Office 2000 Pro). The problem started out with
corrupted pst file (see my earlier posts). That problem was resolved with a
great deal of trouble - reducing the pst file size by 2/3rd, compacting it
and scanning with Scanpst.exe etc...

On Friday, Outlook took forever to start (initialize) even with a much
smaller pst file. After exiting/restarting Outlook numerous times and
restarting the computer a few times in between when it eventually did start,
the "hourglass" won't go away - Outlook would lock up. After
exiting/restarting Outlook/restarting the computer a few more times, the
outlook eventually started and email folders displayed with new emails in
the In Box. But when I clicked on any of the "read or unread" emails,
Outlook would lock up!

After more exiting/restarting, I was able to open an email (read/unread) but
when I went to print the email, the usual Print dialog box would not show
and Outlook would lock up!

I thought it may be something to do with my Internet and or LAN and/or
Network printer at work so I brought the computer home and connected to a
modem directly (no router in between) and a printer to it directly. Outlook
would still lock up at the printing stage without showing Print dialog box!?

Finally, I took the computer to the Geek Squad at Best Buy and when they
tested it, Outlook locked up at the printing stage! They told me it will be
5 to 7 days before they can have it fixed - which is far too long to be
without a business computer!

So that's where things stand right now - Outlook locking up at the printing
stage. But who knows when it may start locking up at the launch stage?

Thanks for your help.


Basharat Javaid.

 

[Milly Staples [MVP - Outlook]]

Close Outlook, then find and rename outcmd.dat to .old.

--
Milly Staples [MVP - Outlook]

Post all replies to the group to keep the discussion intact.
How to ask a question: http://support.microsoft.com/KB/555375


After furious head scratching, Basharat A. Javaid asked:

| System: Windows XP Pro, SP2, Intel 2 CPUs @ 2.66 GHz each, 2 GB Ram
| and hard drive partitioned into 2 drives with over 36 GBs on each
| sub-drives.
|
| Using Outlook 2000 (MS Office 2000 Pro). The problem started out with
| corrupted pst file (see my earlier posts). That problem was resolved
| with a great deal of trouble - reducing the pst file size by 2/3rd,
| compacting it and scanning with Scanpst.exe etc...
|
| On Friday, Outlook took forever to start (initialize) even with a much
| smaller pst file. After exiting/restarting Outlook numerous times and
| restarting the computer a few times in between when it eventually did
| start, the "hourglass" won't go away - Outlook would lock up. After
| exiting/restarting Outlook/restarting the computer a few more times,
| the outlook eventually started and email folders displayed with new
| emails in the In Box. But when I clicked on any of the "read or
| unread" emails, Outlook would lock up!
|
| After more exiting/restarting, I was able to open an email
| (read/unread) but when I went to print the email, the usual Print
| dialog box would not show and Outlook would lock up!
|
| I thought it may be something to do with my Internet and or LAN and/or
| Network printer at work so I brought the computer home and connected
| to a modem directly (no router in between) and a printer to it
| directly. Outlook would still lock up at the printing stage without
| showing Print dialog box!?
|
| Finally, I took the computer to the Geek Squad at Best Buy and when
| they tested it, Outlook locked up at the printing stage! They told me
| it will be 5 to 7 days before they can have it fixed - which is far
| too long to be without a business computer!
|
| So that's where things stand right now - Outlook locking up at the
| printing stage. But who knows when it may start locking up at the
| launch stage?
|
| Thanks for your help.
|
|
| Basharat Javaid.

 

[Diane Poremsky [MVP]]

Did you try a new profile and a new pst? Delete outlprnt and outcmd.dat?

--
Diane Poremsky [MVP - Outlook]



Outlook Tips by email:
(e-mail address removed)

EMO - a weekly newsletter about Outlook and Exchange:
(e-mail address removed)

You can access this newsgroup by visiting
http://www.microsoft.com/office/community/en-us/default.mspx or point your
newsreader to msnews.microsoft.com.

 

[Basharat A. Javaid]

Thanks Milly. I did that and although Outlook launched much faster and I
was able to open my emails, it locked up at the printing stage!

Anyway, it occurred to me that perhaps I should run a complete virus scan
with the antivirus software. I did that including Disk Optimization utility
of Norton's Antivirus (NAV). The system became much more stable after that
and Outlook has been working fine.

I should add that I had run Window's Disk Cleanup and Disk Defragmenter (at
least twice) before I gave up and posted my original question. So I don't
know why that didn't resolve the problem but NAV's disk optimization did?
Perhaps it was the complete scan & fix of NAV that did it and not the disk
optimization? Anyway, for a good measure, I ran Window's Defrag again.

While I am at the subject of Window's Defrag utility, I found my c drive
before and after defragmenting looked exactly the same (well, at least I
could not tell that there was a difference!) - and it looks extremely
fragmented - not much of solid blue segments!

I know this question belongs to another user group, but how come Window's
Defrag does not really defragment the drive? Is there a work around it? I
would hate to reformat my drive and then restore my files from my backups.
Incidentally, if I have backed up files which are defragmented and I then
reformat the hard drive and restore my backed up files, wouldn't I still
have a drive full of defragmented files?


Close Outlook, then find and rename outcmd.dat to .old.

--
Milly Staples [MVP - Outlook]

Post all replies to the group to keep the discussion intact.
How to ask a question: http://support.microsoft.com/KB/555375


After furious head scratching, Basharat A. Javaid asked:

| System: Windows XP Pro, SP2, Intel 2 CPUs @ 2.66 GHz each, 2 GB Ram
| and hard drive partitioned into 2 drives with over 36 GBs on each
| sub-drives.
|
| Using Outlook 2000 (MS Office 2000 Pro). The problem started out with
| corrupted pst file (see my earlier posts). That problem was resolved
| with a great deal of trouble - reducing the pst file size by 2/3rd,
| compacting it and scanning with Scanpst.exe etc...
|
| On Friday, Outlook took forever to start (initialize) even with a much
| smaller pst file. After exiting/restarting Outlook numerous times and
| restarting the computer a few times in between when it eventually did
| start, the "hourglass" won't go away - Outlook would lock up. After
| exiting/restarting Outlook/restarting the computer a few more times,
| the outlook eventually started and email folders displayed with new
| emails in the In Box. But when I clicked on any of the "read or
| unread" emails, Outlook would lock up!
|
| After more exiting/restarting, I was able to open an email
| (read/unread) but when I went to print the email, the usual Print
| dialog box would not show and Outlook would lock up!
|
| I thought it may be something to do with my Internet and or LAN and/or
| Network printer at work so I brought the computer home and connected
| to a modem directly (no router in between) and a printer to it
| directly. Outlook would still lock up at the printing stage without
| showing Print dialog box!?
|
| Finally, I took the computer to the Geek Squad at Best Buy and when
| they tested it, Outlook locked up at the printing stage! They told me
| it will be 5 to 7 days before they can have it fixed - which is far
| too long to be without a business computer!
|
| So that's where things stand right now - Outlook locking up at the
| printing stage. But who knows when it may start locking up at the
| launch stage?
|
| Thanks for your help.
|
|
| Basharat Javaid.

 

[Basharat A. Javaid]

Thanks for the tips Diane, which leads to new questions:

1) Now, when I delete or rename "outcmd.dat" and then launch Outlook,
another "outcmd" is created but when I delete "outlprnt", a new "outlprnt"
is not created when Outlook is launched or printing is attempted? So what
is the function of "outlprnt" anyway?

2) How do I create a new profile and pst and transfer my Address Book from
"supposedly" bad pst file?

Thanks for your help.


Basharat.

Did you try a new profile and a new pst? Delete outlprnt and outcmd.dat?

--
Diane Poremsky [MVP - Outlook]



Outlook Tips by email:
(e-mail address removed)

EMO - a weekly newsletter about Outlook and Exchange:
(e-mail address removed)

You can access this newsgroup by visiting
http://www.microsoft.com/office/community/en-us/default.mspx or point your
newsreader to msnews.microsoft.com.

System: Windows XP Pro, SP2, Intel 2 CPUs @ 2.66 GHz each, 2 GB Ram and
hard drive partitioned into 2 drives with over 36 GBs on each sub-drives.

Using Outlook 2000 (MS Office 2000 Pro). The problem started out with
corrupted pst file (see my earlier posts). That problem was resolved
with a great deal of trouble - reducing the pst file size by 2/3rd,
compacting it and scanning with Scanpst.exe etc...

On Friday, Outlook took forever to start (initialize) even with a much
smaller pst file. After exiting/restarting Outlook numerous times and
restarting the computer a few times in between when it eventually did
start, the "hourglass" won't go away - Outlook would lock up. After
exiting/restarting Outlook/restarting the computer a few more times, the
outlook eventually started and email folders displayed with new emails in
the In Box. But when I clicked on any of the "read or unread" emails,
Outlook would lock up!

After more exiting/restarting, I was able to open an email (read/unread)
but when I went to print the email, the usual Print dialog box would not
show and Outlook would lock up!

I thought it may be something to do with my Internet and or LAN and/or
Network printer at work so I brought the computer home and connected to a
modem directly (no router in between) and a printer to it directly.
Outlook would still lock up at the printing stage without showing Print
dialog box!?

Finally, I took the computer to the Geek Squad at Best Buy and when they
tested it, Outlook locked up at the printing stage! They told me it will
be 5 to 7 days before they can have it fixed - which is far too long to
be without a business computer!

So that's where things stand right now - Outlook locking up at the
printing stage. But who knows when it may start locking up at the launch
stage?

Thanks for your help.


Basharat Javaid.

 

[Diane Poremsky [MVP]]

outcmd is the command bar customization file. outlprnt is the printer
customization file but its only created when you make a change the the
default settings.

If deleting those files fixed the problem, don't worry about a new profile.
But it's usually a good step 1 or 2 when troubleshooting (along with Detect
and Repair) - control panel, mail - Profiles button, Add. Do not delete the
current profile or copy it - make a new one for testing. If you have
multiple accts, add just one to it for starters. This is just a test
profile to see if the problem still occurs. (Internet mode of Outlook
98/2000 don't support profiles.)

--
Diane Poremsky [MVP - Outlook]



Outlook Tips by email:
(e-mail address removed)

EMO - a weekly newsletter about Outlook and Exchange:
(e-mail address removed)

You can access this newsgroup by visiting
http://www.microsoft.com/office/community/en-us/default.mspx or point your
newsreader to msnews.microsoft.com.

Thanks for the tips Diane, which leads to new questions:

1) Now, when I delete or rename "outcmd.dat" and then launch Outlook,
another "outcmd" is created but when I delete "outlprnt", a new "outlprnt"
is not created when Outlook is launched or printing is attempted? So what
is the function of "outlprnt" anyway?

2) How do I create a new profile and pst and transfer my Address Book
from "supposedly" bad pst file?

Thanks for your help.


Basharat.

Did you try a new profile and a new pst? Delete outlprnt and outcmd.dat?

--
Diane Poremsky [MVP - Outlook]



Outlook Tips by email:
(e-mail address removed)

EMO - a weekly newsletter about Outlook and Exchange:
(e-mail address removed)

You can access this newsgroup by visiting
http://www.microsoft.com/office/community/en-us/default.mspx or point
your newsreader to msnews.microsoft.com.

System: Windows XP Pro, SP2, Intel 2 CPUs @ 2.66 GHz each, 2 GB Ram and
hard drive partitioned into 2 drives with over 36 GBs on each
sub-drives.

Using Outlook 2000 (MS Office 2000 Pro). The problem started out with
corrupted pst file (see my earlier posts). That problem was resolved
with a great deal of trouble - reducing the pst file size by 2/3rd,
compacting it and scanning with Scanpst.exe etc...

On Friday, Outlook took forever to start (initialize) even with a much
smaller pst file. After exiting/restarting Outlook numerous times and
restarting the computer a few times in between when it eventually did
start, the "hourglass" won't go away - Outlook would lock up. After
exiting/restarting Outlook/restarting the computer a few more times, the
outlook eventually started and email folders displayed with new emails
in the In Box. But when I clicked on any of the "read or unread"
emails, Outlook would lock up!

After more exiting/restarting, I was able to open an email (read/unread)
but when I went to print the email, the usual Print dialog box would not
show and Outlook would lock up!

I thought it may be something to do with my Internet and or LAN and/or
Network printer at work so I brought the computer home and connected to
a modem directly (no router in between) and a printer to it directly.
Outlook would still lock up at the printing stage without showing Print
dialog box!?

Finally, I took the computer to the Geek Squad at Best Buy and when they
tested it, Outlook locked up at the printing stage! They told me it will
be 5 to 7 days before they can have it fixed - which is far too long to
be without a business computer!

So that's where things stand right now - Outlook locking up at the
printing stage. But who knows when it may start locking up at the
launch stage?

Thanks for your help.


Basharat Javaid.