Outlook 2000 Locks up

  • Thread starter Thread starter Basharat A. Javaid
  • Start date Start date
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Basharat A. Javaid

System: Windows XP Pro, SP2, Intel 2 CPUs @ 2.66 GHz each, 2 GB Ram and hard
drive partitioned into 2 drives with over 36 GBs on each sub-drives.

Using Outlook 2000 (MS Office 2000 Pro). The problem started out with
corrupted pst file (see my earlier posts). That problem was resolved with a
great deal of trouble - reducing the pst file size by 2/3rd, compacting it
and scanning with Scanpst.exe etc...

On Friday, Outlook took forever to start (initialize) even with a much
smaller pst file. After exiting/restarting Outlook numerous times and
restarting the computer a few times in between when it eventually did start,
the "hourglass" won't go away - Outlook would lock up. After
exiting/restarting Outlook/restarting the computer a few more times, the
outlook eventually started and email folders displayed with new emails in
the In Box. But when I clicked on any of the "read or unread" emails,
Outlook would lock up!

After more exiting/restarting, I was able to open an email (read/unread) but
when I went to print the email, the usual Print dialog box would not show
and Outlook would lock up!

I thought it may be something to do with my Internet and or LAN and/or
Network printer at work so I brought the computer home and connected to a
modem directly (no router in between) and a printer to it directly. Outlook
would still lock up at the printing stage without showing Print dialog box!?

Finally, I took the computer to the Geek Squad at Best Buy and when they
tested it, Outlook locked up at the printing stage! They told me it will be
5 to 7 days before they can have it fixed - which is far too long to be
without a business computer!

So that's where things stand right now - Outlook locking up at the printing
stage. But who knows when it may start locking up at the launch stage?

Thanks for your help.


Basharat Javaid.
 
Close Outlook, then find and rename outcmd.dat to .old.

--
Milly Staples [MVP - Outlook]

Post all replies to the group to keep the discussion intact.
How to ask a question: http://support.microsoft.com/KB/555375


After furious head scratching, Basharat A. Javaid asked:

| System: Windows XP Pro, SP2, Intel 2 CPUs @ 2.66 GHz each, 2 GB Ram
| and hard drive partitioned into 2 drives with over 36 GBs on each
| sub-drives.
|
| Using Outlook 2000 (MS Office 2000 Pro). The problem started out with
| corrupted pst file (see my earlier posts). That problem was resolved
| with a great deal of trouble - reducing the pst file size by 2/3rd,
| compacting it and scanning with Scanpst.exe etc...
|
| On Friday, Outlook took forever to start (initialize) even with a much
| smaller pst file. After exiting/restarting Outlook numerous times and
| restarting the computer a few times in between when it eventually did
| start, the "hourglass" won't go away - Outlook would lock up. After
| exiting/restarting Outlook/restarting the computer a few more times,
| the outlook eventually started and email folders displayed with new
| emails in the In Box. But when I clicked on any of the "read or
| unread" emails, Outlook would lock up!
|
| After more exiting/restarting, I was able to open an email
| (read/unread) but when I went to print the email, the usual Print
| dialog box would not show and Outlook would lock up!
|
| I thought it may be something to do with my Internet and or LAN and/or
| Network printer at work so I brought the computer home and connected
| to a modem directly (no router in between) and a printer to it
| directly. Outlook would still lock up at the printing stage without
| showing Print dialog box!?
|
| Finally, I took the computer to the Geek Squad at Best Buy and when
| they tested it, Outlook locked up at the printing stage! They told me
| it will be 5 to 7 days before they can have it fixed - which is far
| too long to be without a business computer!
|
| So that's where things stand right now - Outlook locking up at the
| printing stage. But who knows when it may start locking up at the
| launch stage?
|
| Thanks for your help.
|
|
| Basharat Javaid.
 
Thanks Milly. I did that and although Outlook launched much faster and I
was able to open my emails, it locked up at the printing stage!

Anyway, it occurred to me that perhaps I should run a complete virus scan
with the antivirus software. I did that including Disk Optimization utility
of Norton's Antivirus (NAV). The system became much more stable after that
and Outlook has been working fine.

I should add that I had run Window's Disk Cleanup and Disk Defragmenter (at
least twice) before I gave up and posted my original question. So I don't
know why that didn't resolve the problem but NAV's disk optimization did?
Perhaps it was the complete scan & fix of NAV that did it and not the disk
optimization? Anyway, for a good measure, I ran Window's Defrag again.

While I am at the subject of Window's Defrag utility, I found my c drive
before and after defragmenting looked exactly the same (well, at least I
could not tell that there was a difference!) - and it looks extremely
fragmented - not much of solid blue segments!

I know this question belongs to another user group, but how come Window's
Defrag does not really defragment the drive? Is there a work around it? I
would hate to reformat my drive and then restore my files from my backups.
Incidentally, if I have backed up files which are defragmented and I then
reformat the hard drive and restore my backed up files, wouldn't I still
have a drive full of defragmented files?


Close Outlook, then find and rename outcmd.dat to .old.

--
Milly Staples [MVP - Outlook]

Post all replies to the group to keep the discussion intact.
How to ask a question: http://support.microsoft.com/KB/555375


After furious head scratching, Basharat A. Javaid asked:

| System: Windows XP Pro, SP2, Intel 2 CPUs @ 2.66 GHz each, 2 GB Ram
| and hard drive partitioned into 2 drives with over 36 GBs on each
| sub-drives.
|
| Using Outlook 2000 (MS Office 2000 Pro). The problem started out with
| corrupted pst file (see my earlier posts). That problem was resolved
| with a great deal of trouble - reducing the pst file size by 2/3rd,
| compacting it and scanning with Scanpst.exe etc...
|
| On Friday, Outlook took forever to start (initialize) even with a much
| smaller pst file. After exiting/restarting Outlook numerous times and
| restarting the computer a few times in between when it eventually did
| start, the "hourglass" won't go away - Outlook would lock up. After
| exiting/restarting Outlook/restarting the computer a few more times,
| the outlook eventually started and email folders displayed with new
| emails in the In Box. But when I clicked on any of the "read or
| unread" emails, Outlook would lock up!
|
| After more exiting/restarting, I was able to open an email
| (read/unread) but when I went to print the email, the usual Print
| dialog box would not show and Outlook would lock up!
|
| I thought it may be something to do with my Internet and or LAN and/or
| Network printer at work so I brought the computer home and connected
| to a modem directly (no router in between) and a printer to it
| directly. Outlook would still lock up at the printing stage without
| showing Print dialog box!?
|
| Finally, I took the computer to the Geek Squad at Best Buy and when
| they tested it, Outlook locked up at the printing stage! They told me
| it will be 5 to 7 days before they can have it fixed - which is far
| too long to be without a business computer!
|
| So that's where things stand right now - Outlook locking up at the
| printing stage. But who knows when it may start locking up at the
| launch stage?
|
| Thanks for your help.
|
|
| Basharat Javaid.
 
Thanks for the tips Diane, which leads to new questions:

1) Now, when I delete or rename "outcmd.dat" and then launch Outlook,
another "outcmd" is created but when I delete "outlprnt", a new "outlprnt"
is not created when Outlook is launched or printing is attempted? So what
is the function of "outlprnt" anyway?

2) How do I create a new profile and pst and transfer my Address Book from
"supposedly" bad pst file?

Thanks for your help.


Basharat.


Diane Poremsky said:
Did you try a new profile and a new pst? Delete outlprnt and outcmd.dat?

--
Diane Poremsky [MVP - Outlook]





EMO - a weekly newsletter about Outlook and Exchange:
(e-mail address removed)

You can access this newsgroup by visiting
http://www.microsoft.com/office/community/en-us/default.mspx or point your
newsreader to msnews.microsoft.com.


Basharat A. Javaid said:
System: Windows XP Pro, SP2, Intel 2 CPUs @ 2.66 GHz each, 2 GB Ram and
hard drive partitioned into 2 drives with over 36 GBs on each sub-drives.

Using Outlook 2000 (MS Office 2000 Pro). The problem started out with
corrupted pst file (see my earlier posts). That problem was resolved
with a great deal of trouble - reducing the pst file size by 2/3rd,
compacting it and scanning with Scanpst.exe etc...

On Friday, Outlook took forever to start (initialize) even with a much
smaller pst file. After exiting/restarting Outlook numerous times and
restarting the computer a few times in between when it eventually did
start, the "hourglass" won't go away - Outlook would lock up. After
exiting/restarting Outlook/restarting the computer a few more times, the
outlook eventually started and email folders displayed with new emails in
the In Box. But when I clicked on any of the "read or unread" emails,
Outlook would lock up!

After more exiting/restarting, I was able to open an email (read/unread)
but when I went to print the email, the usual Print dialog box would not
show and Outlook would lock up!

I thought it may be something to do with my Internet and or LAN and/or
Network printer at work so I brought the computer home and connected to a
modem directly (no router in between) and a printer to it directly.
Outlook would still lock up at the printing stage without showing Print
dialog box!?

Finally, I took the computer to the Geek Squad at Best Buy and when they
tested it, Outlook locked up at the printing stage! They told me it will
be 5 to 7 days before they can have it fixed - which is far too long to
be without a business computer!

So that's where things stand right now - Outlook locking up at the
printing stage. But who knows when it may start locking up at the launch
stage?

Thanks for your help.


Basharat Javaid.
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
outcmd is the command bar customization file. outlprnt is the printer
customization file but its only created when you make a change the the
default settings.

If deleting those files fixed the problem, don't worry about a new profile.
But it's usually a good step 1 or 2 when troubleshooting (along with Detect
and Repair) - control panel, mail - Profiles button, Add. Do not delete the
current profile or copy it - make a new one for testing. If you have
multiple accts, add just one to it for starters. This is just a test
profile to see if the problem still occurs. (Internet mode of Outlook
98/2000 don't support profiles.)

--
Diane Poremsky [MVP - Outlook]





EMO - a weekly newsletter about Outlook and Exchange:
(e-mail address removed)

You can access this newsgroup by visiting
http://www.microsoft.com/office/community/en-us/default.mspx or point your
newsreader to msnews.microsoft.com.


Basharat A. Javaid said:
Thanks for the tips Diane, which leads to new questions:

1) Now, when I delete or rename "outcmd.dat" and then launch Outlook,
another "outcmd" is created but when I delete "outlprnt", a new "outlprnt"
is not created when Outlook is launched or printing is attempted? So what
is the function of "outlprnt" anyway?

2) How do I create a new profile and pst and transfer my Address Book
from "supposedly" bad pst file?

Thanks for your help.


Basharat.


Diane Poremsky said:
Did you try a new profile and a new pst? Delete outlprnt and outcmd.dat?

--
Diane Poremsky [MVP - Outlook]





EMO - a weekly newsletter about Outlook and Exchange:
(e-mail address removed)

You can access this newsgroup by visiting
http://www.microsoft.com/office/community/en-us/default.mspx or point
your newsreader to msnews.microsoft.com.


Basharat A. Javaid said:
System: Windows XP Pro, SP2, Intel 2 CPUs @ 2.66 GHz each, 2 GB Ram and
hard drive partitioned into 2 drives with over 36 GBs on each
sub-drives.

Using Outlook 2000 (MS Office 2000 Pro). The problem started out with
corrupted pst file (see my earlier posts). That problem was resolved
with a great deal of trouble - reducing the pst file size by 2/3rd,
compacting it and scanning with Scanpst.exe etc...

On Friday, Outlook took forever to start (initialize) even with a much
smaller pst file. After exiting/restarting Outlook numerous times and
restarting the computer a few times in between when it eventually did
start, the "hourglass" won't go away - Outlook would lock up. After
exiting/restarting Outlook/restarting the computer a few more times, the
outlook eventually started and email folders displayed with new emails
in the In Box. But when I clicked on any of the "read or unread"
emails, Outlook would lock up!

After more exiting/restarting, I was able to open an email (read/unread)
but when I went to print the email, the usual Print dialog box would not
show and Outlook would lock up!

I thought it may be something to do with my Internet and or LAN and/or
Network printer at work so I brought the computer home and connected to
a modem directly (no router in between) and a printer to it directly.
Outlook would still lock up at the printing stage without showing Print
dialog box!?

Finally, I took the computer to the Geek Squad at Best Buy and when they
tested it, Outlook locked up at the printing stage! They told me it will
be 5 to 7 days before they can have it fixed - which is far too long to
be without a business computer!

So that's where things stand right now - Outlook locking up at the
printing stage. But who knows when it may start locking up at the
launch stage?

Thanks for your help.


Basharat Javaid.
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