Vista Service Pack 1 Update Damages TCP/IP in Outlook 2007

[Steve Johnson]

An upgrade of Windows Vista Ultimate Edition to Service Pack 1 (Vista SP1)
caused Outlook 2007 to break. The problem was repeatable, and we cured the
problem by UNINSTALLING Vista SP1. Clearly this is not a long term solution,
but there is a conspicuous BUG that needs to be fixed.

Background: We use Outlook 2007 to connect to a Microsoft Exchange Server.
When you are browsing your mail folders while connected to the Server online,
Outlook apparently does a TCP/IP transaction with the server as you click
each folder in the Mail Folders Navigation Pane.

After the upgrade to Vista SP1, Outlook began to hang forever at the instant
one clicked a new folder in the mail folder list. An information dialog box
would pop up saying "Attempting to contact server xxx.xxxxx.xxx", and the
cursor would change to the rotating "in progress" circle. This process would
never end until one manually closed Outlook.

A typical event log error message looked like this: "The program OUTLOOK.EXE
version 12.0.6300.5000 stopped interacting with Windows and was closed. To
see if more information about the problem is available, check the problem
history in the Problem Reports and Solutions control panel. Process ID: 16f0
Start Time: 01c8c513f5615fe3 Termination Time: 0"

With further experimentation, we discovered that WHILE Outlook is hung,
waiting for the server tranaction that never occurs, if one DISABLES the
specific Internet adapter in use, and then RE-ENABLES it (using the Network
Connections window), the server transaction completes and Outlook unhangs.

This behavior was repeatable, and persisted even when (1) all COM add-ins
were disabled, and (2) Outlook was run in Safe Mode, and (3) when different
Ethernet adapters were used.

A complete uninstall of Windows Vista Service Pack 1 cured the problem.

 

[solon fox]

An upgrade of Windows Vista Ultimate Edition to Service Pack 1 (Vista SP1)
caused Outlook 2007 to break.  The problem was repeatable, and we cured the
problem by UNINSTALLING Vista SP1. Clearly this is not a long term solution,
but there is a conspicuous BUG that needs to be fixed.

Background: We use Outlook 2007 to connect to a Microsoft Exchange Server.
When you are browsing your mail folders while connected to the Server online,
Outlook apparently does a TCP/IP transaction with the server as you click
each folder in the Mail Folders Navigation Pane.

After the upgrade to Vista SP1, Outlook began to hang forever at the instant
one clicked a new folder in the mail folder list. An information dialog box
would pop up saying "Attempting to contact server xxx.xxxxx.xxx", and the
cursor would change to the rotating "in progress" circle. This process would
never end until one manually closed Outlook.

A typical event log error message looked like this: "The program OUTLOOK.EXE
version 12.0.6300.5000 stopped interacting with Windows and was closed. To
see if more information about the problem is available, check the problem
history in the Problem Reports and Solutions control panel. Process ID: 16f0
Start Time: 01c8c513f5615fe3 Termination Time: 0"

With further experimentation, we discovered that WHILE Outlook is hung,
waiting for the server tranaction that never occurs, if one DISABLES the
specific Internet adapter in use, and then RE-ENABLES it (using the Network
Connections window), the server transaction completes and Outlook unhangs.

This behavior was repeatable, and persisted even when (1) all COM add-ins
were disabled, and (2) Outlook was run in Safe Mode, and (3) when different
Ethernet adapters were used.

A complete uninstall of Windows Vista Service Pack 1 cured the problem.

Interesting... and, yet I am running Vista Ultimate with SP1 and
Outlook 2007 and (1) Outlook does not hang and (2) I see no unusual
events in the event log when using Outlook. There is something
different about either your Outlook 2007/Vista client or your Exchange
Server.

Did you check for MS Office updates and patches on the Exchange Server
to see it these were current?

-solon fox

 

[Steve Johnson]

There could be a thousand differences between my installation and anyone
else's. But in regards to your question, I was up to date on Outlook 2007
updates, and no update was installed at the time this problem occurred (it
occurred on first use of Outlook after Vista SP1 was installed).

In regards to Exchange, we use a commercial exchange provider, and I
_immediately_ began a dialog with their techs, since the symptom was that the
server could not be contacted. They found nothing.

Ordinarily, I would have left everything in place, and opened a tech support
ticket, but this was too painful, and the problem was interfering with my
work. So I document the issue here, and if a few more people see the same
symptoms, then perhaps Microsoft engineers will take note. One can hope...

 

[Mike Brannigan]

There could be a thousand differences between my installation and anyone
else's. But in regards to your question, I was up to date on Outlook 2007
updates, and no update was installed at the time this problem occurred (it
occurred on first use of Outlook after Vista SP1 was installed).

In regards to Exchange, we use a commercial exchange provider, and I
_immediately_ began a dialog with their techs, since the symptom was that
the
server could not be contacted. They found nothing.

Ordinarily, I would have left everything in place, and opened a tech
support
ticket, but this was too painful, and the problem was interfering with my
work. So I document the issue here, and if a few more people see the same
symptoms, then perhaps Microsoft engineers will take note. One can hope...

If you wish Microsoft engineering to be aware of your problem then report it
to Microsoft and raise a support call on it.
Only that way will it formally be triaged and eventually work its way
through the support layers for engineer resolution (if the other layers
cannot diagnose your problem),
These newsgroups are peer to peer support and formal Microsoft support is
proved by the assisted support options at
http://support.microsoft.com/

 

[solon fox]

There could be a thousand differences between my installation and anyone
else's. But in regards to your question, I was up to date on Outlook 2007
updates, and no update was installed at the time this problem occurred (it
occurred on first use of Outlook after Vista SP1 was installed).

In regards to Exchange, we use a commercial exchange provider, and I
_immediately_ began a dialog with their techs, since the symptom was that the
server could not be contacted. They found nothing.

Ordinarily, I would have left everything in place, and opened a tech support
ticket, but this was too painful, and the problem was interfering with my
work. So I document the issue here, and if a few more people see the same
symptoms, then perhaps Microsoft engineers will take note. One can hope...

I'm wondering if you had any services disabled? Maybe the problem was
with something that you weren't running?

In order to tweak performance, I sometimes disable services that I
know I don't need. Lately, it seems like I use all services - none are
disabled except for a few non-microsoft services that I know I don't
want. There are a good number are set to manual.

-solon fox

 

[Mark Harrigan]

An upgrade of Windows Vista Ultimate Edition to Service Pack 1 (Vista SP1)
caused Outlook 2007 to break. The problem was repeatable, and we cured the
problem by UNINSTALLING Vista SP1. Clearly this is not a long term solution,
but there is a conspicuous BUG that needs to be fixed.

Thank you very much for posting this, I've just had the same thing happen to
six machines that were just updated to SP1. Removal of SP1 cured the problem
immediately. How this got past testing bemuses me, Microsoft's two flagship
products not working together is a fairly huge problem.

 

[Gordon]

Thank you very much for posting this, I've just had the same thing happen
to
six machines that were just updated to SP1. Removal of SP1 cured the
problem
immediately. How this got past testing bemuses me, Microsoft's two
flagship
products not working together is a fairly huge problem.

Maybe that's just an Ultimate problem - nothing happened here to Outlook
2007 when I installed SP1 on Home Premium....

 

[Michael Tissington]

Fine here too ... do you SP1 of Office 2007 installed ?

 

[Brian Tillman [MVP - Outlook]]

Thank you very much for posting this, I've just had the same thing happen
to
six machines that were just updated to SP1. Removal of SP1 cured the
problem
immediately. How this got past testing bemuses me, Microsoft's two
flagship
products not working together is a fairly huge problem.

If it were a bug interent in the installation of SP1, everyone trying to
install it who has Outlook 2007 would have the problem. I had no problems
with the installation of SP1 on Vista Ultimate.

 

[Gordon]

Fine here too ... do you SP1 of Office 2007 installed ?

Yes.