Thank you for being a valued part of the CNET community. As of December 1, 2020, the forums are in read-only format. In early 2021, CNET Forums will no longer be available. We are grateful for the participation and advice you have provided to one another over the years.

Thanks,

CNET Support

General discussion

Outlook 2003 cannot send or receive messages randomly

Apr 11, 2011 7:18AM PDT

I have about 20 users using Outlook 2003 SP3. Our email is hosted by Network Solutions. Outlook shows all messages as sent, and the Outbox is empty. We get no delivery errors or returned mail messages.

Everything was working fine. Now...

Some messages go through, others don't. I can send to someone on the same domain as myself and they receive it, but if I send it through a distribution list, they don't get it.

I can send to another person across the hall, but he never receves it. He tries to send me one, but I never get it.

I can send to some people some of the time and others at other times. All users are affected the same way. We can receive some messages, but not others, even from same domains.

I've talked with Network Solutions. They had me send messages via their webmail interface and all messages were received in all recipients Outlook. I tried this with other users, and all messages were delivered. They say it is either Outlook or my ISP. My ISP says it is Outlook or NS. Outlook is impossible to talk to a human, and they will just tell me to buy 2010 anyway.

I've verified that we are not being flagged as a spammer domain.

My head hurts. Any suggestions? I'm Googled out.

Discussion is locked

- Collapse -
PS
Apr 11, 2011 7:34AM PDT

I'm also not receiving the messages sent from Outlook on my Droid X.

- Collapse -
Time to have a look at the log.
Apr 11, 2011 7:59AM PDT
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/300479 says
"Microsoft Outlook supports the logging of the communications that occur between Outlook and various types of e-mail servers. These logs can be helpful when you troubleshoot problems with the transfer of messages between Outlook and the e-mail server."
and continues telling how to set it up.

Seems just what you need. Webmail surely isn't the right tool to test this problem.

Kees
- Collapse -
Log Result
Apr 11, 2011 10:10PM PDT

Thanks Kees,

I've researched the following log, but the forums are inconclusive or recommend total Office uninstall, remove all Outlook files, remove Outlook registry entries. I really don't want to do all this on 20 computers.

One forum identified Ccleaner as the culprit.

I will try a system restore to an earlier date on a machine to see what happens.

*** Starting First Run (03-14-2011 09:00:43) ***
...HrPreSplashFirstRun called.
...HrPreLogFirstRun called.
...HrPostLogFirstRun called.
..... FCheckFirstRunStatus failed reading machine value "17019"!
...deleting WAB4/UseOutlook because we're using MAPI.
...writing UUID to HKCU.
...setting Primary Client to Outlook.
*** Ending First Run (03-14-2011 09:00:44) ***

- Collapse -
That doesn't look ...
Apr 12, 2011 7:40AM PDT

like a transport log at all.

Kees

- Collapse -
Logging Not Working?
Apr 17, 2011 11:03PM PDT

The log has not changed in 6 days. No new data is being added to it. As of today (firstrun.log in %temp%\outlook logging\ ):

*** Starting First Run (04-13-2011 10:49:04) *** ...HrPreSplashFirstRun called. ...HrPreLogFirstRun called. ...HrPostLogFirstRun called. ..... FCheckFirstRunStatus failed reading machine value "17019"! ...deleting WAB4/UseOutlook because we're using MAPI. ...writing UUID to HKCU. ...setting Primary Client to Outlook. *** Ending First Run (04-13-2011 10:49:04) ***

I tried system restore to date prior to problem: no luck. I changed from AVG to MS Securuty Essentials: no change. A new profile will work for a short time then problem reappears.

To my surprise, I can send and receive in Safe Mode with Networking... so what could be loading in Windows that would cause this? I've disabled almost everything in Startup through msconfig, Run scans with MSSE, MalwareBytes, Kaspersky Virus Remover. Could it be on the servers? Runnning Server 2008 R2.

The recently de-mothballed machine with no Windows Updates (or any updates) is still working like a charm.

- Collapse -
I wonder.
Apr 12, 2011 9:39AM PDT

I found OL2003 to muck up like you wrote without that service patch noted at the top of this forum.

I wonder.
Bob

- Collapse -
Thunderbird works Ok
Apr 17, 2011 11:08PM PDT

I installed Thunderbird with same server setting and it works fine.

I would switch everyone to it, but I have an Acrobat Plug-in for Outlook that converts and/or appends messages to PDF for archiving, which is essential for legal issues. I looked for one for Thunderbird, but was unimpressed or skeptical of offerings.

I've considered Rackspace as well, but mgmt doesn't like the idea.

- Collapse -
Let me be clearer.
Apr 20, 2011 11:07AM PDT

OL2003 = Can muck up.
OL2003 + Service patches = Much better.

- Collapse -
Similar incident
Apr 20, 2011 4:13PM PDT

Hi Scott,

- Collapse -
Problem Solved !!!
Apr 21, 2011 10:58PM PDT

I transfered my mail accounts from Network Solutions to BlueHost and Outlook works fine. I hope this is not a temporary fix.

I also discovered several Javascript exploits that prevented Outlook from sending even after the transfer. I removed all entries of Java products in Control Panel and deleted all Java or Sun folders in user accounts (local settings, program files, app data, etc...) Ran Ccleaner. Restarted computer. I then reinstalled the latest Java software from Java.com. I'll be ignoring the pesky notification area java popups from now on, and only update Java via their site.

Thanks for all the help and suggestions. I hope this is finally fixed. 2 weeks with 20 users unable to effectively communicate makes for a miserable experience.

- Collapse -
Also...
Apr 21, 2011 11:15PM PDT

AVG failed to detect the javascript exploits. I installed Microsoft Security Essentials and found them. This is the first time in almost a decade that AVG has let me down.

Detected items:

o Exploit:iava/CVE-2008-5353.KE
o Exploit:Java/CVE-2008-5353.QS
o TrojanDownloadeniava/OpenCcnnection.HK
o Exploit:Java/CVE-2008-5353.DB
o TrojanDownloaderASX/WimadCi
o Exploitiava/CVE-2009-3867.JF
o Exploit:Java/CVE-2010-0094.A
o Trojan:Java/Rowindal.A
o Trojan:Java/Bytverify
o Exploit:iava/CVE-2008-5353.VZ
o Exploit:iava/CVE-2009-3867.EZ
o Exploit:Java/CVE-2009-3867.HC
o Exploit:iava/CVE-2008-5353SV
o Exploit:Java/CVE-2010-0840.CE
o Trojan:Java/Bytverify
o Trojan:Java/Bytverify
0 TrojanDownloader.ASX/Wimad.CJ

- Collapse -
Thank you
May 4, 2011 7:26PM PDT

Hi Scott skinner,

Appreciate your information provided. But we have attempted to reinstall from scratch a windowsXP machine with no application except for office suite installed.
All windows patches updated, but it still fails intermittently...

I guess we're facing a different issue here.

Thanks alot anyway. Happy

- Collapse -
Test your host
May 4, 2011 11:40PM PDT

I would suggest testing your email host. Try a few temporary gmail accounts in Outlook and see if you experience the same problem.

http://mail.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?answer=13278

My problem was mostly fixed by the switch from Net Sol to BlueHost, but some users are now reporting forwarded messages as not being recieved. Messages sent to the same address go through. Very peculiar. I have them forward and send a message to my Outlook account and my gmail account and I receive both.

I assume that our host is being blacklisted occasionally because of spamming by other customers, but they are able to rectify the the problem and get removed from the major servers blacklist within a couple days, but some corporate spam blockers are setup differently and may need to be notified that a domain is no longer needed to be blacklisted.

It could also be a ploy by MS to make us upgrade to a newer version of Office. I always like a good conspiracy.

Please keep me posted on your situation.