Outlook 2003 - WinXPSP2 - Exchange 5.5 - Can't Connect!

[Michael]

Hi all,

We have an Exchange 5.5 server that we use for group scheduling and
calendering only. There are a couple of XP workstations that cannot connect
to the Exchange server. There are other identical workstations on the network
that can connect with no problem. Exchange runs on the NT 4.0 PDC and we can
authenticate and ping with no problem. Interestingly, one of the workstations
worked once, but all subsequent attempts have failed.

Symptoms are:
1. When trying to add the Exchange server in Outlook, after entering the DC
name and username, it won't resolve the alias and displays a "cannot connect"
message
2. When we add the server and username without waiting for it to resolve the
alias, when we fire up Outlook, it tries to find the Exchange server with no
luck and again, displays the error message
3. Even if we cancel the server request when Outlook fires up and we get
into Outlook, if we try to expand the public folder branch in the folder
list, we still get a 'can't expand... server cannot be connected'.

Any ideas anyone?

Thanks!

 

[Milly Staples [MVP - Outlook]]

Can you ping the Exchange server by name? By IP?

 

[Michael]

Well, I haven't tried pinging the name, but I believe I did ping the IP. I
assumed that the fact that I was able to map to shared folders on the server
and also authenticate, that connectivity wasn't the problem. (Exchange is
running on the domain controller and authentication isn't a problem, even on
the workstations that cannot connect to Exchange).
Thanks!

Can you ping the Exchange server by name? By IP?
--
Milly Staples [MVP - Outlook}
Please post all followup questions to the newsgroups only to keep the
discussion intact.

Hi all,

We have an Exchange 5.5 server that we use for group scheduling and
calendering only. There are a couple of XP workstations that cannot connect
to the Exchange server. There are other identical workstations on the network
that can connect with no problem. Exchange runs on the NT 4.0 PDC and we can
authenticate and ping with no problem. Interestingly, one of the workstations
worked once, but all subsequent attempts have failed.

Symptoms are:
1. When trying to add the Exchange server in Outlook, after entering the DC
name and username, it won't resolve the alias and displays a "cannot connect"
message
2. When we add the server and username without waiting for it to resolve the
alias, when we fire up Outlook, it tries to find the Exchange server with no
luck and again, displays the error message
3. Even if we cancel the server request when Outlook fires up and we get
into Outlook, if we try to expand the public folder branch in the folder
list, we still get a 'can't expand... server cannot be connected'.

Any ideas anyone?

Thanks!