Outlook Hangs - Contact List is being read - Outlook consumes CPU

[VinnieHennie]

I have outlook 2003 installed on a new XP machine. I transferred the outlook
data file from my old pc to the new. No problem on the old windows 2000 Pro
machine, but on the new machine, something is reading/accessing my contacts
list to the point of utilizing 70-80% of the CPU at times. this is ongoing
when outlook is open. I cannot use outlook because it Hangs constantly
(every 5 seconds or so) while this read/access is going on. I have a new
version of 2003 just installed from microsoft. I had MS Office XP installed
previously and I would get the message "a program is trying to access e-mail
addresses you have stored in outlook. Do you want to allow this?". I would
have to allow for 5 mins, and then I'd get the pop-up again after 5 mins. I
first saw this on my old machine when I upgraded to Norton Internet Security
2005. I removed it and the problem stopped. On my new machine, I have
removed the Norton Internet Security program, but the problem is still there.
I have scanned my PC for virus, but nothing found. I loaded another Outlook
profile with an empty contacts list, and the program will not hang, because
there are no email addresses to read. but when I add addresses/contacts to
this empty profile, I see the increase of cpu usage and outlook hangs while
something is accessing my contacts folder. Help!!!!

 

[fubar]

I have exactly the same problem. This seems to have been reported in various
permutations but I don't see any resolution.

Dell support was *zero* help on this either.

HELP!!!

 

[Steve]

Same with my machine. New Dell E1405 with Microsoft Office installed by
Dell. The CPU usage is sinusoidal. Every 7 seconds or so, CPU usage climbs
to a high percentage, then drops after a second or two, then does the same
thing 7 seconds later. The interesting thing is that when I delete most of
my contacts, the same 7 second oscillation still occurs, only the peak CPU
usage is much lower. So some utility is performing some operation on every
contact in Outlook. I repeat your sentiment: "Help". I am still working
with the folks at Dell. We'll see.

 

[fubar]

Same with my machine....

Dell is *replacing* my laptop for this issue. To me it is CLEARLY a
software/config issue. I guess I'll see...

 

[Steve]

Hi. Very interesting. Can you let me know your Dell Case# or Express Tag
number so when I call Dell back, I can refer to our "common issue". Placing
it in this Discussion group or sending it to me directly at
(e-mail address removed) (without the NOSPAM). Thanks for your help. Steve

 

[VinnieHennie]

I still have the problem. I too started with a clean profile with nothing
(no contacts, calendar items, and only some server side email). In this
configuration the cpu usage goes down to almost nothing. I added approx 50
contacts and the usage increased to the 30% range. Then I added my calendar
items and the cpu usage went much higher in the 60% range about every 7
seconds like you describe. My standard mail profile with my mail, contacts,
calendar items, etc. cannot be used because the cpu usage is in the 90% range
and you cannot do anything else but wait while outlook sucks all of the
cycles. Interesting thing while using my stripped down profile, during the
day, the amount of memory used by outlook increases hour by hour. the other
day, I noticed that after about 9 hours, Outlook and Explorer together were
eating up 85% of the cpu cycles. I closed out of Outlook, and then back to
normal. It was as if Explorer was communicating with Outlook (doing the
reading of the data), but I have not had time to look into this theory any
further. I have looked at explorer and I don't have any outlook or contacts
related plug ins. Let me know if you find anything. It would be nice to get
microsoft or someone to look at this problem. I am not convinced that it is
the Dell System unless it was shipped with a Virus that escaped Norton
Antivirus detection. I wonder if any non-Dell system users are have the same
issue with Outlook XP or Outlook 2003 running on XP operating system.

 

[Steve]

Hi Vinnie,

Good luck. I spent a couple of hours on the phone with the Dell guy.
Pretty sharp guy, but no luck. He was of course looking for all the other
applications that could be affecting this. Even though Task Monitor is
clearly pointing to something inside Outlook. I also noticed the memory
leak. It went from about 200MB to 800MB while "idling" overnight. We ended
up preventing all of the startup applications from running. I removed all of
the programs I had loaded. Still the same behavior. I've tried a couple of
times even removing Office and reinstalling it. Same thing. Our other
friend "fubar" also spent time with the Dell technician. In both our cases,
Dell is replacing our brand new machines (within the 30 days) though this
clearly feels and smells like a software issue, not a hardware issue. I am
surprised they didn't try to hook me up with someone at MicroSoft. Anyway,
we'll see what happens when the new machine arrives. I will try outlook
first thing, even before Windows updates. Is yours a Dell machine also?
What model? (mine is E1405 notebook). Again, good luck, Steve

 

[Vijay]

Hi,
tell me if you have any addins installed like Antispam software in the
outlook program? What happens when you try start ->run -> outlook /safe and
let me know.

 

[Steve]

Hi Vijay,

Thanks for the suggestion. All three of the entries in "Add-In Manager" are
unchecked. There is nothing in COM Add-Ins list. When I run "outlook
/safe", I get the same behavior as before.

- Steve

 

[Vijay]

Try a new windows user account and see if you have a similar behavior.

 

[Steve]

Hi. I've done that a number of times since every time the Outlook data base
gets hosed there's no way to recover. (I can delete many contacts at once
but I can't delete many calendar items at once.) So I have tried new user
accounts quite a few times to start a new Outlook data base. I also tried
moving over Outlook items from "my" Outlook on the old machine as well as my
wife's Outlook, thinking there might be some odd problem with a particular
item. But importing from either my wife's or mine gives the same results.
By the way, it wouldn't let me just plop the .pst file from the older Outlook
2000 system. I exported mail into a .pst file. Then I exported contacts and
calendar items into separate .csv files. Thanks again for your suggestions.
More are welcome. . . . Steve

 

[VinnieHennie]

Steve, I have a New (late Nov 2006) Dell Inspiron 9400 machine. I do not
think it is the hardware at this time but a software issue. I might be
wrong, but I think it is a "MS Office" and Windows XP software issue and not
hardware. I also have tried many of the things you describe in
loading/unloading a new mail profile. I wish we could get someone at
Microsoft engaged in this problem to determine what is going on. As it
stands now, I cannot use Outlook until this is resolved.

 

[Steve]

Hi,

If your machine is late Nov 2006, I hope you are talking with Dell about it.
They have their 30 day return policy. I suggested to my Dell customer care
person that I would be happy to talk to an expert at Microsoft if they wanted
to hook that up. But they didn't jump on that. If you can find someone at
Microsoft to work with us on this, I would be interested in participating.

- Steve

 

[Steve]

Well, bad news (or maybe it's good news). I received my replacement machine
from Dell. Did the minimum to get it to work (wireless connection to the
router). I didn't do any WIndows updates, didn't install Norton or any other
applications. It behaves exactly the same. The only thing loaded into
Outlook is the Contacts.

Fubar, did you get your replacement machine yet?

 

[Rainer]

Hope it is not too late for you all.

I had exactly the same problem, with a new Dell notebook.

I found that uninstalling the preinstalled MediaDirect software solved the
problem!