Problem with Entourage 2004 - Entourage constantly crashes

[bernadette]

Rebuilding my data base worked fine with my Mac (system 10.3.9) and microsoft Office 2004.
I had to do it twice in 2 days.
After restarting the computer, hold the alt key and go fint Entourage in the applications->Office 2004. Sitll holding the key, click twice on Entourage and then you get the tool for checking the data base and reparing it if necessary.
As far as I am concerned, I am planning to do this once a week!

 

[Diane Ross]

I also have frequent crashes with Entourage.
Mine seem to occur mostly when I open my Sent Folder and when it downloads
message from the hotmail server, it hangs for a while and then I have to force
quit.
Any ideas?

It's probably a corrupt message. Log into your account with your web browser
and look at your older messages. It's most likely a spam message. If you use
tcpflow it might identify the exact message.

Here are the short and simple instructions on using tcpflow:

1. Download the Mac OS X version here (freeware).

<http://web.archive.org/web/20020610050659/http://www2.entropy.ch/download/t
cpflow-0.20.dmg.gz>

2. When you install, you will not find a tcpflow window, nor an icon on
your dock. tcpflow is designed to work in the background.

3. To run the test for email, quit all other applications that might be
connecting to the internet like your browser, ftp client.

4. Copy/paste in this command in the Terminal or use the script ²tcpflow
activate² (see below):

sudo /usr/local/bin/tcpflow -i en0 -c

5. Now try to send an email and watch the traffic in the window of the
Terminal. You should see what is happening.

6. For an example see this page:

<http://www.entourage.mvps.org/troubleshoot/tcpflow.html#example>

Script to activate tcpflow:

Download this script and place it in your User's Script folder.

<http://www.entourage.mvps.org/downloads/scripts/tcpflow activate.zip>

Place the script here:

Users --> Library --> Script folder

If you activate the Script Menu in the Finder you can easily access the
script there. To activate the Script menu, go to your Applications folder in
the Finder. Select the AppleScript folder and open AppleScript Utility. ˆ
Show Script Menu in menu bar

Select the script to automatically start the Terminal with the correct
command. Enter your password and tcpflow will be activated. Next use
Entourage to send a test message.

Using the script makes it easy to use tcpflow for subsequent testing.

 

[Diane Ross]

I am using Entourage 2004 on a brand new MacBook Pro running Leopard.

When I am writing an email (in HTML) and click on the colour button (to choose
to highlight selected text in a different colour) it automatically "crashes"
and informs me that it had to unexpectedly had to quit. It offers me at least
the chance to relaunch and saves the email in Drafts (so kind of them) but
what gives??

I'm relatively new to Mac, figures the problems I'm encountering are still
Microsoft related!

Any help or insight would be greatly appreciated!

Always start your own thread instead of add to one in the future.

Remove this font cache file:

~/Library/Preferences/Microsoft/Office Font Cache (11)

IF you still have problems, search for solutions on this page:

<http://www.entourage.mvps.org/troubleshoot/crashes.html>

 

[Diane Ross]

Rebuilding my data base worked fine with my Mac (system 10.3.9) and microsoft
Office 2004.
I had to do it twice in 2 days.
After restarting the computer, hold the alt key and go fint Entourage in the
applications->Office 2004. Sitll holding the key, click twice on Entourage and
then you get the tool for checking the data base and reparing it if necessary.

That's Option key on a Mac.

As far as I am concerned, I am planning to do this once a week!

Definitely NOT a good idea.

It is not recommended that you rebuild your database as regular maintenance.
Rebuilding should not be considered as a substitute for an adequate backup.
You are encouraged to back up critical data on a regular basis.

Rebuilding should be avoided unless there is database corruption. Here's
what Jud Spencer [one of Entourage¹s developers] said on the issue:

There is a small benefit to compacting regularly. Entourage maintains
internal sort tables. Those sort tables are optimized on a compact.

However, you should only choose the rebuild option if your database is
damaged. Many people believe that rebuilding your database will protect you
from future corruption. That just isn¹t the case.

 

[Michiel]

Thanks, I'll check it out Dianne; keep you posted.

 

[michiel]

Dianne, that link is crap..

 

[Jason]

When I try to launch Entourage I get a window that says "entourage unexpectedly quit. I never get a change to even open the program. I have tried rebuilding the db and I have checked the hard drive for errors.

Any suggestions?

 

[Diane Ross]

Dianne, that link is crap..

Which link? The Mactopia interface is mangling URLs right now and inserting
a space in them. Is it a long URL? You should be able to copy it and remove
the space to access.

 

[bernadette]

Thank you Diane

 

[Bernadette]

Nevertheless, Diana.
When I search for repairing the data base, It checks it first and doesn’t rebuilt it if not needed.
Still a bad idea?

 

[gary jones]

I have the same problem as Jason. All was working fine until an email I sent, which was received at the other end btw, became seemingly lodged in the Outbox.

I highlighted it and deleted. Entourage crashed with the "unexpectedly quit" message.

Now i get that message every time I try and open entourage.

I've had many problems with entourage in the past. I'm about to give up, unless somebody can help. Using the new iMac.

 

[gary jones]

Yay. Forgive me for being a tech nitwit, and butting into this forum. A simple rebuild, as per a post above, has fixed it no time. Great stuff

 

[Barry Wainwright]

Yay. Forgive me for being a tech nitwit, and butting into this forum. A simple
rebuild, as per a post above, has fixed it no time. Great stuff

No apologies needed - this is why the forum is here.

Glad it fixed your issues.


--
Barry Wainwright
Microsoft MVP (see <http://www.microsoft.com/mvp/> for details)
Visit the Entourage User¹s Weblog for Hints, tips and troubleshooting
information:
http://www.barryw.net/weblog/

 

[orubin]

I was going to post a message here about hangs and beach balls in Entourage since the last updates, but reading Diana Ross' posts helped me get past the problems, so thanks in advance for the tips.

That said, why did some email messages not cause a problem before the latest set of updates, and not they DO cause a problem after?

Also, I received several "database corruption" errors from Entourage itself, but when I run the database utility, it says nothing is wrong. This has disappeared with the very latest update so far, but that was very disconcerting at best.

Any ideas?

Thanks again for all your help Diane.

 

[julia]

Hi,

I'm having problems problems with Entourage as well. I had to restore my hard drive from Time Machine because of a hard drive failure. Ever since, Entourage unexpectedly quits when I'm connected the the exchange server while I am in the office. I rebuilt the database but it still crashes. The weird thing is that it didn't crash when I was connected to the exchange server thru the VPN, only when I connect directly to the exchange server in the office (ethernet or wireless). I went to the Entourage website and deleted potentially corrupt files as suggested but it still crashes.

Any suggestions?

 

[Diane Ross]

I'm having problems problems with Entourage as well. I had to restore my hard
drive from Time Machine because of a hard drive failure. Ever since, Entourage
unexpectedly quits when I'm connected the the exchange server while I am in
the office. I rebuilt the database but it still crashes. The weird thing is
that it didn't crash when I was connected to the exchange server thru the VPN,
only when I connect directly to the exchange server in the office (ethernet or
wireless). I went to the Entourage website and deleted potentially corrupt
files as suggested but it still crashes.

You might try using "Remove Office" and reinstall Office 2004. You MUST
apply all updates, or your Entourage Identity will fail to open.

<http://www.entourage.mvps.org/downloads/mactopia_dl.html>

I suspect the problem was in the Time Machine restore process. I suggest
using Time Machine for what I call OOOPS! Individual files. For OMG
problems, use backup software like SuperDuper.

Besides being excellent backup software ---smart backups are great and
quick---one of the options in SuperDuper! is to create what the author calls
a "Sandbox". It's used to revert to pre-update state of your OS. Here's a
description of how this option works:

A Sandbox is a bootable copy of your system, stored on another hard drive or
partition, that shares your personal documents and data with the original.
With SuperDuper!, you actually use the Sandbox as your startup volume. You
can safely install any system updates, drivers or programs in the Sandbox,
without worrying about what might happen to your system. If anything goes
wrong, you can simply start up from the original system. SuperDuper! has
preserved it in its original, pre-disaster state but all your new and
changed personal documents are totally up to date. Within minutes, you're up
and running again without having to go through a difficult and
time-consuming restore process.

SuperDuper! Is $27.95. I¹m not affiliated with the product. Just a satisfied
user. <http://www.shirt-pocket.com/>

 

[jay]

so would it be best not even to start using entourage 2004?

 

[Diane Ross]

so would it be best not even to start using entourage 2004?

Jay this is your first post on this thread. It's' always best to start your
own thread with some details. I have no idea what your problem is.

 

[julia]

Hi Diane,

I've de-installed and re-installed Office and applied all updates. Entourage still crashes but I figured out a way to avoid the crashes. If I do not connect to the exchange server when I initially open Entourage and connect to it after the initial synch, it does not crash.

My current problem now is that Entourage does not connect and sync when I connect through VPN. The VPN says connected but Entourage does not connect to sync. I checked my settings and I have 2 accounts- one for home which is a pop account and one for work. The VPN address is the same one as the POP. Have I been connecting through the POP all along? I thought POP does not sync Entourage calendars and is only for mail?? Why did it connect to VPN before and not now??

Thanks again for your help

 

[Diane Ross]

Hi Diane,

I've de-installed and re-installed Office and applied all updates. Entourage
still crashes but I figured out a way to avoid the crashes. If I do not
connect to the exchange server when I initially open Entourage and connect to
it after the initial synch, it does not crash.

My current problem now is that Entourage does not connect and sync when I
connect through VPN. The VPN says connected but Entourage does not connect to
sync. I checked my settings and I have 2 accounts- one for home which is a pop
account and one for work. The VPN address is the same one as the POP. Have I
been connecting through the POP all along? I thought POP does not sync
Entourage calendars and is only for mail?? Why did it connect to VPN before
and not now??

Thanks again for your help

I Cc one of the Exchange folks on this. It's always best to put 'Exchange'
in the subject so it gets noticed by the right people.

One thing I would like you to try. When you open Entourage, hold the Shift
key down to see if the crashing goes away. If yes, then it's a schedule that
causing the crash. Disable/edit that schedule.