Outlook XP 2002 Send Email Hangs Outlook

Outlook Locks Up When Sending Emails

[Banjo]

I've had Office XP 2002 for 2 years. Beginning yesterday when attempting to send an email, the outbound email and Outlook hangs up requiring me to end them via task manager. Outbound email doesn't get to Outbox. I receive emails, all Outlook functions work. My ISP is Verizon FIOS and my email server settings are correct. Reinstalled Office 2002 over original installion, didn't uninstall original version first, no change.

[vincevincevince]

Tried to delete all unsent messages?

[Banjo]

No emails get to the outbox, so I have no unsent messages. The problem went away temporarily a couple of days ago without any acton from me and I was able to send emails. Coincidentally, the verizon email servers were down for an extended period before my email normalized. The problem came back today. I am able to send emails from outlook express and from verizon central. I believe it is an incompatibility with Verizon FIOS and Outlook but no one else has reported it. Anyone else experience this?

[Monkey]

do you mean?
1. you write an email, click on send and then it does not go to the outbox,

or do you mean:
2. the email does not go out from the Outbox?

Also:
Is yr mail stored on the server or is it downloaded to a personal folder?

[edited by: Monkey at 8:26 pm (utc) on Jan. 28, 2008]

[Banjo]

when I hit send outlook hangs, the email never gets to the outbox. Incoming and outgoing email pass through a verizon server, Incoming email resides on my computer. The problem stopped on it's own since I posted the first message but the next time I tried to send an email, 2 days later, it resurfaced. I reinstalled Office on top of the original copy, same version, and that didn't work. I am going to uninstall Office and reinstall fresh and see if that corrects it. A microsoft download Outlook connector was suggested but it doesn't work with Office 2002 according to the microsoft website.

[GaryK]

Are you using any AV scanning on outbound e-mail? Are you using anything like PGP that utilizes a proxy to send/retrieve mail? If so maybe Outlook is locking up because it takes too long to scan/sign/encrypt the e-mail. I think most of those programs have a way of telling Outlook to wait x amount of time before doing anything.

If you're going to uninstall Office you might want to consider cleaning out the Registry and anything in your Windows profile. I know Office leaves a lot of stuff behind even after it's supposedly uninstalled.

Good luck. I hate trying to diagnose these kinds of problems. :)

[Banjo]

How does windows XP uninstall work? I uninstalled and reinstalled Microsoft Office in hopes it would solve my Outlook issue. When I reinstalled after uninstalling, I had to enter the product key just as though it was a new install. However, after it was completed, Outlook still didn't work and it had retained by ISP server settings, restored my inbox as it was, etc. It was as though I hadn't uninstalled it first. The uninstall process must retain all of these settings and consequently must have retained the root cause of my problem. An earlier reply suggested I clean up the registry when uninstalling and reinstalling. I didn't. Are all of the Office registry items labeled "office" TO easyILY Identify them?

[lawman]

Did you use Windows Installer Clean Up?

[Banjo]

What is Windows Installer Clean Up? I'm not familiar with it, whether it's something I have to download or on my PC.

[lawman]

Do you know how to do a google search? :)

If not try this:

[support.microsoft.com...]

[martinibuster]

You might want to back up at least a years worth of saved and sent emails. My outlook tends to stop working once a year until I back up a years worth of inbox emails.

[Banjo]

My problem has actually gotten worse. Now Outlook locks up nearly every time I open an email.

Found windows installer cleanup and it cautions that using it might require reinstalling all applications that used the installer technology originally. I'm a little concerned about that. Have you used it and what are the risks?

I routinely delete and back up my inbox and sent mail so I don't have a large quantity in them. I do have fairly large PSTs, also backed up. Could the large PSTs be a contributing factor?

Someone had previously mentioned cleaning up the registry. I'm not afraid to do that. I used McAfee to clean up orphaned registry items. Should I uninstalled Office again, edit the registry to delete any items labeled office,outlook, word, etc. and then reinstall. I'm capable of doing these things myself but not being an expert, I don't understand all of the implications. I do know that if I damage the registry, it could cause big issues.

[Lilliabeth]

Have you tried disabling your virus scanner?
Have you turned on logging?

[Banjo]

haven't disabled virus scanner, it always worked with it on in the past, i'll look for logging and turn that on if I can find it. Have narrowed the problem to an issue with Word trying to call a "remote procedure" to send the email. had a bad setting in my "email accounts" that caused the "test settings" function to fail leading me to believe it was purely an Outlook problem. It now sends test emails so I believe the issue is more with Word.

Also cleaned my registry using a tool called RegCure.

Thanks for all the replies. I'd call Microsoft if I was assured of a solution but I understand it will cost me $49 and there's no guarantees.

[lawman]

Use installer cleanup to uninstall rather than windows uninstaller. Does a better job. Then reinstall. Data should be intact upon reinstallation.

Why would uninstall/install this way scare you more than the way you did it?

[Lilliabeth]

Regarding logging:
[office.microsoft.com...]

[Monkey]

To check to see if the issue is with word:

1. Select Tools ¦ Options ¦ Mail Format
2. Deselect the Word options to edit text and use plain text

[Banjo]

was concerned about windows installer clean up because it implied that it may cause other windows apps to have to be reinstalled.

I turned off Word and am now able to send emails but developed another problem, I can't receive emails. When I click send/receive comes back opertaion failed with no error message. There's obviously something getting corrupted. I unistalled, cleaned the registry with RegCure and then reinstalled from the original disk so I don't get it. I'm going to try turning on logging.

I appreciate everyone's replies. I may have to try Microsoft

[Monkey]

Maybe am repeating what you've done but some quick checks:

1. Check the service hasn't somehow changed Tools ¦ Email Accounts
2. Check the PST file is okay by downloading to a new PST file. See Tools ¦ Email Accounts
3. Check to see if Outlook Express has similar probs
4. Check if IE is okay (there is integration between the 2 apps)

[lawman]

Run another email client and see how it runs on your computer.

[Banjo]

Outlook started working again for a short while after I uninstalled, Ran RegCure, reinstalled and installed SP3 but again just starting feezing up after loading several emails from the Verizon email server. Outlook Express works fine. That's what I'm using until I figure this out. I'm going to try what was suggested about recovering my Pst. I backed it up using Sonic "simple archive" but when I restore it, I'm getting back a few old emails only and I'm certain I didn't select to back up only what had changed since the last back up. The PST file size is 8 meg and what get back can't be 8 meg. It doesn't seem possible from the symptoms, but I'm of the belief there is some incompatibility between Outlook and Verizon FIOS however they insist otherwise. Thanks again.

[Banjo]

tried the PST again: tried importing the PST and copying it via Outlook data file and both ways I get the Outlook msg "File Access Denied. You do not have the permission required to access the file, path/file name. I created the file usine Sonic easy archive on the same computer on which I'm running Outlook. I'm the administrator. Sonic easy archive has no password protection or other security options. Searched Outlook support and can't find anything.

[Banjo]

One fact I have failed to mention about Outlook from the start is when it hangs, Task manager always shows the status as running, never "not responding" even after I let it sit for long periods to see if it frees up it never shows a status of not responding. I've also noticed that at least the last few incidents, it seemed to lock up if I left it open while out on the internet. I did check the IE6 settings and didn't see anything that looked abnormal. However I'm not sure about the appropriate check boxe settings in the internet options advanced tab.

[TigerBri]

I'm having what sounds like the exact same problem as Banjo on one of my PCs. It started at the same time as a major outage and restoration at a web host I use, the one that most of my email traffic goes through on that PC.

Here's a possible solution from MS that might fix the problem. I won't be able to try it for at least a few hours, and possibly not for a few days, but I wanted to post this for Banjo right away.

Here's the link: [support.microsoft.com...]

Hope it works for us both!

[Banjo]

Thank you very much for your reply

[Ollie]

Did you ever find a fix?

I have the exact same problem with Outlook 2002. I too use Verizon.net. The problem has started about a month ago. I tried all the stuff you tried. Nothing helps. I almost think i'll have to re-format my hard drive and start over!

[TigerBri]

Did Banjo or anyone else ever find the root cause and a fix?

I have the same or nearly the same problem with Outlook XP 2002. Outlook appears to hang when sending a message, though if I wait for a LONG TIME (10 min?), it will sometimes put the message in the Outbox. If there are incoming messages, it appears to hang, too. If there are no incoming or outgoing messages, and I click on Send/Receive, it's relatively normal.

The problem started back in March 2008, then went away, then came back about 2 weeks ago (Sept. 2008). My ISP is AT&T Yahoo.

[edited by: TigerBri at 12:54 am (utc) on Oct. 4, 2008]