Internet connection locks up when sending mail

[Rosario Romeo]

I run XP Home Edition. This is what happens:

- When sending mail with any of Outlook 2003, Outlook Express or Eudora the
network connection locks up, the msg stays in the outbox, no other
application using the network works
- From that moment my attempts to shut down Outlook fail, Task Manager would
not even come up, and I cannot shut down Windows nor the computer
- This has started 2-3 weeks ago
- I uninstalled the latest batch of XP security updates that came out
oaround 15 Feb to no avail
- I used system restore to bring back the PC to a previous state, but did
not work

I am at a loss. Has anybody had anything similar before?

Thanks

R2

 

[Guest]

I run XP Home Edition. This is what happens:

- When sending mail with any of Outlook 2003, Outlook Express or Eudora the
network connection locks up, the msg stays in the outbox, no other
application using the network works
- From that moment my attempts to shut down Outlook fail, Task Manager would
not even come up, and I cannot shut down Windows nor the computer
- This has started 2-3 weeks ago
- I uninstalled the latest batch of XP security updates that came out
oaround 15 Feb to no avail
- I used system restore to bring back the PC to a previous state, but did
not work

I am at a loss. Has anybody had anything similar before?

Thanks

R2

First make sure the Machine is clean, this sound like the machine really in
deep trouble and can't even say ouch.
http://www.sophos.com
http://www.avast.com

for malwares download these software and update them:
http://www.lavasoft.com/products/ad-aware_se_personal.php
http://www.safer-networking.org ; for Spybot S&D

HTH.
Let us know.
nass
===
www.nasstec.co.uk

 

[Guest]

I did run a full Ad-Aware and McAfee scan, to no avail. I also run ZoneAlarm
firewall all the time.
The computer did shut down eventually, but it took like 20 min to happen.
The funny part is that everything else works fine.

R2

 

[frodo]

so, it used to work just fine, right?

something to look at, I take it your setup is using SMTP to send mail from
outlook. Many ISP's these days lock out SMTP (port 25) traffic to thwart
spam-bots on their user's systems. These ISP typcially provide web-based
mail to their users and do not want you using SMTP at all. So check that
out, maybe a new policy? Also, check that your firewall is permitting
SMTP port 25 outbound traffic. And your router. Check your Hosts file too,
something nasty may have mod'd it on you. And of course, double check
Outlook's settings, maybe they've becomes corrupted and you need to
reenter the info for the smtp server you're trying to contact. Maybe that
server's just plain gone too, you never know...

Why would this hang a system? Well, some (dumb) apps do not do well if
their attempts to open a TCP connection fail, and appear to hang until the
whole thing finally times out, which can be many minutes. Many, if you
click their close box, will fill the title bar w/ "not responding" while
it's waiting - a sure sign of a poorly written app, so it wouldn't
surprise me if Outlook acted that way ;-).

Good Luck...

 

[Guest]

I don't think this is problem. I did verify the SMTP port settings with the
ISP (they keep port 25 as their standard setting), I tried replicating all
Outlook settings onto another computer I have on the same home network and
all works fine. So must be something else.

Thanks anyway. R2

 

[Guest]

1... First, try to clean up your caches, Internet files and delete cookies
by doing this:
Click Start >> Control Panel >> Double click Network and Internet
Connections >> Double click Internet Options.
On the IE properties windows you will see these Taps:
General | Security | Privacy | Content | Connections | Programs |
Advanced
Under General Tab clear your History, Internet Files and Cookies.
Then click on Advanced tab and scroll down to under the Browsing Option:
[&] Browsing
[ ] Enable Third-Party browser extensions (Req Rest) uncheck this box.
Then click on Programs Tab and click Manage Add-Ons and Disable all non
Verified Add-Ons (You should Renable them later one-by-one and see the
culprit and update it or remove it.

2... Open a run command and type in:
regsvr32 urlmon.dll click [OK]
netsh winsock reset Click [OK]
Reboot your Computer and try the links.
You may have corrupted Account on this machine, so better to back Up the
Address Book and all contact and Delete the Account and Create a new one,
then you can Import the contact and address book?.

Do you have any third-party toolbar installed?.
HTH.
nass
=======
www.nasstec.co.uk