Member Avatar for ggeoff

Hi,

I am trying to get Outlook 2007 to work on one account. At present three users have email accounts. Two are working properly. One is not. The not working account opens and then goes into a Not Responding state. It worked earlier in the day. The computer is a Dell 490 running Windows 7 Pro 64 bit. There is also a problem with Word 2007 which won't open document files. Detect and Repair has been used and cannot find a fault either with Office or the PC.

Microsoft's Search for a solution option pops up when Outlook as a hung program is forced to close. Ufortunately, nothing happens. I don't even think that the data is sent to Microsoft and would like to check in the Event Viewer but don't know what to look for. At least if I can establish whether the service is being blocked I might be able find a solution.

This might be a red herring but the email account that hangs on opening belongs to a user that also has an Iphone which can receive and send emails. Could there be some sort of conflict?

Edited by ggeoff because: clarity
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Dani AI

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Quick diagnostic summary: when Outlook 2007 launches but hangs only for one account while other accounts work, the usual culprits are a problematic COM add‑in (antivirus is a common example, as noted), a corrupted profile or PST/OST for that specific account, or a network resource (mapped drive or networked PST) that times out. An iPhone client is very unlikely to make the local Outlook process stop responding, so ’s comment is correct — focus on the local client, profile and add‑ins.

Practical, prioritized checks (safe, reversible, and ordered to isolate the fault):

  • Start Outlook in Safe Mode: outlook.exe /safe. If it opens normally, disable COM add‑ins (Outlook 2007 → Tools → Trust Center → Add‑ins; choose COM Add‑ins and click Go).
  • Test with a fresh profile: Control Panel → Mail → Show Profiles → Add. Configure only the problem account and start with that profile to see if the hang follows the profile or the account.
  • Repair the mailbox file: back up the PST/OST, then run Inbox Repair (SCANPST.EXE in the Office12 folder — e.g. C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\Office12\SCANPST.EXE on 64‑bit Windows with 32‑bit Office). For OST, delete the OST and let Outlook rebuild it.
  • If the hang happens while syncing, switch Outlook to Work Offline and test; network timeouts or very large mailbox folders can block startup.

What to capture in Event Viewer and Outlook logs: open Event Viewer → Windows Logs → Application and look for Error/Warning entries time‑stamped when Outlook hung (Event ID 1000/Application Error is common). Note the faulting module name and exception code — these point to the DLL or add‑in causing the harm. Enable Outlook logging (Outlook 2007 → Tools → Options → Other → Advanced Options → Enable logging), reproduce the hang, and review the generated logs for sync or MAPI errors.

Word 2007 failing to open documents suggests a shared Office problem (shared add‑in, damaged Normal template, printer driver). Test Word in safe mode (winword.exe /safe), rename Normal.dotm to force a factory template, and update or switch the default printer driver. If both apps still fail after isolating add‑ins and profiles, back up mail files and perform a clean Office reinstall or test on another machine; older Office builds can be brittle with modern AV or drivers, so proceed only after backups.

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Member Avatar for rubberman

"Could there be some sort of conflict?". Unlikely, but that may depend upon how they have configured their iPhone email client. Even if they have configured it to remove read messages from the server, it shouldn't interfere with the Outlook startup on the client Win7 machine. What about upgrading to Outlook 2010?

Member Avatar for BigPaw

I had this problem once and it was caused by an Antivirus add-on. But, because you can access the other two accounts then it could be that one user's .pst file may be corrupted. Have a look at the measures set out here and see if that sorts out the problem.

If it doesn't, please let us know... and if it does, please let us know. :-)

Member Avatar for ggeoff

thanks for that link BigPaw. I have not managed to get back to the PC yet.

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