Exchange / Outlook Problem

[5150]

I am having some major Outlook problems at work and none of us can figure them out. We are running Novell and NT servers and we just upgraded our Exchange server to Win 2K and all users are using Outlook 98. Apparently what happens is when the user clicks on Outlook it seems to lock up right away. If I leave the PC (laptops and dekstops running Win 95 and NT 4.0) alone, after about 5 minutes (literally) it will start working but not before then. Does anyone know why this is happening and how to fix it??????? Any and all help is greatly appreciated!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Thanks

 

[TheOtherKiwi]

Does the PC or the server lock up? What does the Exchange server utilisation appear to be doing when this happens? Ceck task manager firstly and if more detailed analysis is required (almost certainly) use Peffroamnce Monitor in Win2k to track some of the processes that seem to be usin CPU time. In task manager check to see which process is at the top of the "CPU Time" column. Is this process consistently burning CPU? Have you done an integrity check on the Exchange dbs? Have you got Exch 5.5 SP3 or greater?

 

[5150]

It's the PC that is locking up and not the Exchange server. I am not sure about the utilization is doing but I am going to check it out. I can tell you that it taxes the CPU 99 - 100%. It almost always is burning the CPU when this occurs. The funny thing is that we just changed over to Win2K servers about 2 weeks ago and that's when it started. SLowly but surely it seems that this is becoming more frequent of an issue. We had one user that was experiencing this on an NT box. We completely removed his profile and readded it but the same issue existed. We then reimaged his PC with Win 95 and it seems to now be running fine but who knows for how long? Some of the other machines have 95 on them and this issue exists already. I am not sure what SP we are running but I will check. Thanks for the info and hopefully I can get these issues resolved.

Thanks!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[TheOtherKiwi]

Just a wild guess, have you tried Outlook 2000 to see if the problems are specific to Outlook 98?

 

[tjh03]

Something about this sounds like the profile / protocol mix on the desktop but it could just as easily be the server that isn't answering. Is the client configured with (TCP/IP?) the right protocol as the default? Also, what about switch/router/hub configuration? How many clients? How many servers? Does this happen at certain times or ALWAYS? When upgrading the Exchange server - were there other servers upgraded to Win2K ? Are you running Windows 2K as your domain controller at this point?


Tim

 

[ATCal]

Right-click the Outlook icon on the desktop and go into properties. Open the properties of the Exchange Server service. Hit check name and see if the delay exists here. If it does, try entering the IP address of the Exchange Server. If this resolves faster, then you more than likely are having a DNS related issue.

Al
atc-computing@home.com

 

[5150]

We are running Exchange 5.5 SP 4 and the problem does not seem to be DNS related. We ran the performance monitor and it is hitting the processor at 100% on the client PC's. All of the protocals are ste up correctly and the name resolves quickly under the exchange server properties. We are currently running IPX/SPX for Novell as well. So far this has only happened on about 7 - 10 users's PC's but I have some concern that the number of users that encounter this problem could grow. The Exchange servers were the only ones that were upgraded to Win2K and we are using a bridge head server with 2 mailbox servers. The bridge head is still running NT 4 SP 5. Any ideas?????? This issue occurs frequently...no time or date consistency just most of the time. Any/all help is greatly appreciated!!!!!

Thanks!!!!!!!

 

[mottster]

Try to change the binding order on Outlook. Look up "binding order" at Microsoft's Knowledge Base for Outlook. There are a few articles that will give you instructions on how to go into the registry and change the binding order. We had similar problems to what you are having, but not as long as you were having. One weird thing that happened with us, was that some parts of the office were slower then others. Does that happen with you?

 

[mottster]

Here is the link that discusses binding orders.

http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/Q163/5/76.ASP