outlook 2007 crashes on opening

[Jan]

Everything was going along just fine today when suddenly outlook crashed.
When I tried to reopen it, it wouldn't stay open. I tried
rebooting...several times...tried restoring a prior system, and tried
renaming one of the .dat files, but nothing worked. Finally was able to
stay open in safe mode. What do I do next?

 

[VanguardLH]

Everything was going along just fine today when suddenly outlook crashed.
When I tried to reopen it, it wouldn't stay open. I tried
rebooting...several times...tried restoring a prior system, and tried
renaming one of the .dat files, but nothing worked. Finally was able to
stay open in safe mode. What do I do next?

Did you try starting Outlook in its safe mode?

outlook.exe /safe

 

[JanG]

Yes....see my post .... "Finally was able to stay open in safe mode"
..

 

[Char Jackson]

Any error messages on screen, or it just disappeared from the Taskbar?
Do you have error logging enabled, and if so, what does the log say?

Any error messages on screen? If logging is enabled, was anything
logged?

Tried renaming one of the .dat files? What does that mean? Which file,
where, and why? What were you trying to accomplish?

 

[JanG]

Any error messages on screen, or it just disappeared from the Taskbar?

No error message. It just closed down.

Do you have error logging enabled, and if so, what does the log say?

Event Log sayd Event ID 30 - whatever that means !

Tried renaming one of the .dat files? What does that mean? Which file,
where, and why? What were you trying to accomplish?

In researching the problem I found a reference to renaming the outcmd.dat
file to outcmd.dat.old. (C:\Documents and Settings\%user%\Application
Data\Microsoft\Outlook). Some people had found that fixed the problem for
them, so I gave it a try, without success.

 

[Char Jackson]

No error message. It just closed down.

I meant error logging in Outlook.

Event Log sayd Event ID 30 - whatever that means !

There's more info available in Event Viewer than just an Event ID, but
you may get farther if you enable Outlook's error logging feature.

 

[JanG]

I think I solved it. I disabled 3 COM add-ins (Google Desktop Outlook
Toolbar, Timeslips Addon, and Windows Search Email Indexer ... which didn't
work anyway.... (Tools, Trust Center, Add-Ins - Manage COMS) and was able to
log in without going through safe mode. Not sure which one may have caused
the problem, but it's solved now..at least for the moment !

 

[VanguardLH]

Yes....see my post .... "Finally was able to stay open in safe mode"
.

Sorry, missed that last line. Since Outlook loads okay in safe mode,
one of the add-ons you installed for Outlook is causing the problem.
When Outlook loads, it then has to load all enabled add-ons. If one of
those add-ons hangs or crashes, so does Outlook. When Outlook exits, it
first has to unload all the loaded add-ons. If an add-on hangs or
crashes on unload, so does Outlook.

Disable all add-ons in Outlook. Start Outlook in its normal mode. Does
it load okay? If so, go to the next paragraph. If not, you have a COM
plug-in that isn't listed by Outlook's config that is causing the
problem. Safe mode does not load the add-ons and COM plug-ins. Normal
mode with all add-ons disabled will still access the COM plug-ins. I've
seen in the past where a COM plug-in was not listed in Outlook's config
GUI so the only way to attack this problem was to uninstall all Outlook
extensions using the Add/Remove Programs applet, decide which ones I
really needed, and install them one at a time until the problem
resurfaced so the last-installed extension was the culprit.

If Outlook loads okay in its normal mode but with all add-ons disabled,
enable one add-on at a time. Enable an add-on, exit and restart
Outlook, and retest. If Outlook is okay, repeat by enabling another
add-on and exiting and reloading Outlook. Continue until the problem
resurfaces. The last-enabled add-on is the culprit. Exit and reload
Outlook in its safe mode and disable the offending add-on. Then repeat
the process for the rest of the add-ons (disable add-on, exit and reload
Outlook in its normal mode) to make sure none of the other add-ons
causes a problem. When you're done, the add-ons you had to disable to
get Outlook to work in its normal mode are those you need to uninstall.
Then check for later versions of those add-ons or decide if you really
don't need them and just don't bother with them anymore.

 

[VanguardLH]

Sorry, missed that last line. Since Outlook loads okay in safe mode,
one of the add-ons you installed for Outlook is causing the problem.
When Outlook loads, it then has to load all enabled add-ons. If one of
those add-ons hangs or crashes, so does Outlook. When Outlook exits, it
first has to unload all the loaded add-ons. If an add-on hangs or
crashes on unload, so does Outlook.

Disable all add-ons in Outlook. Start Outlook in its normal mode. Does
it load okay? If so, go to the next paragraph. If not, you have a COM
plug-in that isn't listed by Outlook's config that is causing the
problem. Safe mode does not load the add-ons and COM plug-ins. Normal
mode with all add-ons disabled will still access the COM plug-ins. I've
seen in the past where a COM plug-in was not listed in Outlook's config
GUI so the only way to attack this problem was to uninstall all Outlook
extensions using the Add/Remove Programs applet, decide which ones I
really needed, and install them one at a time until the problem
resurfaced so the last-installed extension was the culprit.

If Outlook loads okay in its normal mode but with all add-ons disabled,
enable one add-on at a time. Enable an add-on, exit and restart
Outlook, and retest. If Outlook is okay, repeat by enabling another
add-on and exiting and reloading Outlook. Continue until the problem
resurfaces. The last-enabled add-on is the culprit. Exit and reload
Outlook in its safe mode and disable the offending add-on. Then repeat
the process for the rest of the add-ons (disable add-on, exit and reload
Outlook in its normal mode) to make sure none of the other add-ons
causes a problem. When you're done, the add-ons you had to disable to
get Outlook to work in its normal mode are those you need to uninstall.
Then check for later versions of those add-ons or decide if you really
don't need them and just don't bother with them anymore.

See in your other subthread that you figured out which add-ons were
causing the problem. Just disabling them leaves them installed. You
might want to uninstall them rather than leave the timebombs on your
computer.