Outlook 2003 hangs

[bar457]

I am running XP Prof SP3 and Office 2003

In Outlook mail, I am plagued with commands hanging with egg timer icon showing. If I leave it sometimes for up to 4-5 minutes it will complete, but on the next command it hangs again. Eventually if left for some time, it will start working ok, but soon the hanging starts again.
I have the same problem in contacts, so there seems to be some process going on in the background.

Help to resolve this please.

bar457

[dmcaarlson]

Have you tried running SCANPST to repair the PSTFile? Sometimes, it will help clear this up.

Another issue can be connection quality with the email server -- if there is an interruption here, it can compromise the PST file and repair will be necessary.

[bar457]

Hello
Yes I have run Scanpst and this improves it for a short while, but it comes back each time.
This computer has an Exchange server account which I don't use, I use a Pop3 account.
I have not been able to remove the Exchange account as it tells me I must set up somewhere else to store the data held in that account first.However I have set mail receive not to search for mail for that account as it always gave an error message trying to connect to the Exchange which is no longer available anyway.
I read somewhere that Outlook synchronises the .ost files with the Exchange .pst files and wonder if it is continuously trying to do this and cannot.
It would be useful to be able to sort this out and remove the Exchange server so that I could then illiminate this as a cause, but I do not know how or if this can be done.

With regards to having a good internet connection, I believe I do have a good broadband connection, but am not sure how I can check this anyway.

[dmcaarlson]

Outlook tends to have trouble if it can't make the connections it wants, even if the user doesn't.

Disconnecting Outlook from Exchange generally needs to be initiated from Exchange.

Have you tried setting the Exchange box in Cached Mode? At least that would make it stop looking for the server until online status is reinstated.

1.From the Tools menu, select Email Accounts... .
2.In the window that opens, under "Email", make sure View or change existing email accounts is selected, and then click Next.
3.Highlight your Exchange server account, and click Change... .
4.To turn Cached Exchange Mode on or off, under "Microsoft Exchange Server:", check or uncheck Cached Exchange Mode. Click Next, and in the window that opens, click OK.
5.Click Finish. Restart Outlook for the change to take effect.

Advise if this helps.

[bar457]

Yes it is already set to Cached mode.
The Exchange connection will never be available again as the computer was previously my business machine and is now just a personal machine, I no longer have the business.

How can I stop Outlook trying to synchronise the .ost files with the exchange .pst files as I suspect this could be the problem.

[bar457]

I have now solved this issue by re-setting my Exchange server account settings. For full details of the settings please see my other thread under Windows XP titled Screensaver Freezes.

Thanks to all for your assistance in trying to solve this issue.

regards
bar457

[lewis23]

I am running XP Prof SP3 and Office 2003

In Outlook mail, I am plagued with commands hanging with egg timer icon showing. If I leave it sometimes for up to 4-5 minutes it will complete, but on the next command it hangs again. Eventually if left for some time, it will start working ok, but soon the hanging starts again. I have the same problem in contacts, so there seems to be some process going on in the background.

Help to resolve this please.

bar457

In this case I usually use other tools for work with outlook emails. But one day I ran across with one, which astonished me, reason of the software restored my old corrupted emails and maybe will help here - how to open .ost file in microsoft outlook 2003 .