Outlook 2007 won't start

[Dave Kramer]

I shut down my Vista Ultimate laptop yesterday and when I restarted today,
Outlook wouldn't launch. A message popped up on the toolbar saying a file
hadn't been shutdown properly, but it crashes before it can complete its
repair operation.

Safe mode is no better, and I've run the automated diagnose and repair
twice. I also ran scanpst.exe and scanost.exe - it says it fixed both. But it
still won't launch. I also tried uninstalling the recent Outlook 2007 update,
but that made no difference either. As an added twist, when I try to do
anything in the Mail control panel, I get an instant crash in the Windows
host process (Rundll32).

I'm in the process of repairing all of Office Ultimate, but doubt that will
fix it. Especially since the Microsoft Setup Bootstrapper just crashed
halfway through.

Phone support closed half an hour ago, so I'm stuck without e-mail until at
least Monday unless I can figure out a fix. Any suggestions?

Here are the error messages (no report logged for the Bootstrapper):

Product
Microsoft Office Outlook

Problem
Stopped working

Date
7/15/2007 12:21 PM

Status
Report Sent

Problem signature
Problem Event Name: APPCRASH
Application Name: OUTLOOK.EXE
Application Version: 12.0.6023.5000
Application Timestamp: 46574050
Fault Module Name: StackHash_4191
Fault Module Version: 6.0.6000.16386
Fault Module Timestamp: 4549bdc9
Exception Code: c0000374
Exception Offset: 000af1c9
OS Version: 6.0.6000.2.0.0.256.1
Locale ID: 1033
Additional Information 1: 4191
Additional Information 2: 3fbd3cdf4428304f30077a14f9078580
Additional Information 3: 15b9
Additional Information 4: cffab25d1e53b1d8a14f35aa8729d459

Extra information about the problem
Bucket ID: 465707179


=================

Product
Windows host process (Rundll32)

Problem
Stopped working

Date
7/15/2007 12:48 PM

Status
Report Sent

Problem signature
Problem Event Name: APPCRASH
Application Name: rundll32.exe
Application Version: 6.0.6000.16386
Application Timestamp: 4549b0e1
Fault Module Name: ntdll.dll
Fault Module Version: 6.0.6000.16386
Fault Module Timestamp: 4549bdc9
Exception Code: c0000005
Exception Offset: 00062086
OS Version: 6.0.6000.2.0.0.256.1
Locale ID: 1033
Additional Information 1: 694d
Additional Information 2: 737557a6bc9f9b8f3e68e56397072682
Additional Information 3: 5f4f
Additional Information 4: 497eb7c25b32d1d5f50ad6f4410049ea

Extra information about the problem
Bucket ID: 351120802

 

[Dave Kramer]

I should add a few more notes:

1) The popup error message is: "A data file did not close properly the last
time it was used and is being checked for problems. Performance might be
affected while the check is in progress." It never gets a chance to complete
though, since the crash happens in the first 20-30 seconds after launching
Outlook.

2) Each time I try to launch Outlook (safe more or otherwise) it recorrupts
the OST file (but not the PST). I learned this by running scanpst on the OST
file twice (the second time there were no errors) and then launching Outlook.
Aftert the crash, it has errors again.

3) I tried creating a new Profile but this didn't make any difference. It
still crashes.

4) I'm using Exchange via HTTP for one of my accounts, but it doesn't matter
whether I login or dismiss the login this account on start. When I created my
new profile, I used a different account (I have 7-8 total set up on Outlook)
but it still prompted me for the login for the HTTP account. Not sure why; it
was even to a new PST (since I can't launch Outlook fully to change it back
to my existing PST).

My home-based business is at a DEAD STOP until I can fix this. I am not a
computer novice (far from it, I actually worked for MS for many years and
still do projects for them).

 

[TechieBird]

Hi Dave

When you say you created a new profile, did you create a brand new one from
scratch in the Mail applet from Control Panel? When you say it crashed, do
you mean the Control Panel applet, or Outlook when you tried to use that
profile?

Have you tried renaming and rebuilding the OST file from scratch? If you
have a big mailbox and a slow link to the server then this could be an
overnight job or worse, but if you haven't already, it's a step you should
consider.

 

[Dave Kramer]

Thanks for the suggestions.

I suspected the July 11 round of Microsoft updates (which included a mix of
10-15 fixes for Vista, Office, Outlook and more) might have been to blame. I
had forgotten to try a restore point until Vista reminded me of it by
starting to make a new one when I went to reinstall the recent Outlook patch
(which I had removed when the problem started, in case that was the problem).
So I canceled that, rolled back my system to the morning of July 11, and -
yay! - Outlook worked again! It rebuilt some Personal Folders when it started
(even though I had already run ScanPST to fix everything, in theory), but
nothing seems to be lost. And now it's running fine.

Since I don't know which patch caused the problem, I'm thinking I'll just
install one per day for the next couple of weeks. That way I can run with
each patch for 24 hours before trying the next, so if the problem recurs I
can pinpoint which update caused Outlook to fail.

FYI, to answer your question: When I was having the crashing issue, the Mail
control panel crashed the Rundll32 when I selected any choice except
Profiles. So I tried to create the new profile using the control panel, per
instructions I found on an Outlook FAQs site. (Outlook wouldn't stay launched
long enough to do anything from within the app.)

I'm also not sure how to rebuild an OST from scratch or what I would
lose/risk by doing so. Fortunately, I won't have to this time.

 

[TechieBird]

Glad to hear you got it working... if you find out which update caused the
problem, be sure to post back so others can benefit from your suffering!

 

[sparky17]

Glad to hear you got it working... if you find out which update caused the
problem, be sure to post back so others can benefit from your suffering!

Thought I should reply that I had this exact problem. Only difference
is I'm using Office 2003 and vista home. From my searches on Google it
seems as though this is more prolific than I expected. It started
happening to the account a couple days ago. It looks as if when the
client tries to send/receive from the POP3 server it crashes.
Microsoft websites were no help at all. Anyway, I backed out the last
patch KB935807 rebooted and it seems like the problem has been fixed.
Not holding my breath.
Hope this info helps.

I Should of bought a MAC