MS Outlook 2003 Looping on send 1

[Kadanis]

I have an issue with Outlook 2003 running on XP Pro SP2 as part of Office Basic Edition.

Basically, when ever a large file is sent as an attachment (i.e. over 1MB) the email sits in the outbox, but continually sends. In an extreme example the user sent over 400 MB of email at the weekend after sending 1 file.

This has re-occured during the week and caused a number of network issues due to the amount of data trying to be sent out. The laptop is now offline. I've tried reinstalling Outlook but this has not removed the problem. The computer virus scans clean using Bullguard.

Has anyone come across this before and if so do you have a solution...

Thanks

Am I jumping the gun, Baldrick, or are the words 'I have a cunning plan' marching with ill-deserved confidence in the direction of this conversation?

 

[kjv1611]

My first guess would be to check the limits you have on your server as to how much an individual can send out, and also check the Send/Receive settings for the client/workstation Outlook installation.

It sounds to me that this is what is occuring:
Client Outlook requests to send 401MB email over exchange server, but the server has a set limit of 200MB per email, and does not allow the transfer - BUT it does not let the client know (for whatever reason), so the client's Outlook app continually tries to send the email (Send/Receive settings probably set to continue to attempt to send until a certain time-out limit or limit of tries, or limitless until sent)...

Does that make any sense?

 

[Kadanis]

I'll have a check of the settings for the clients send/recieve but the server has an unlimited send capacity.

The main point here is that the mail with the attachment is successfully sending and the recipient gets the email.

The problem is that the outbox doesn't clear down after the initial send to the client then tries to send it again, and again ad infinitum. untill the laptop is disconnected, the send is manaully stopped then the mail deleted from the outbox.

In my example above when I said the recipient got 400MB I wasn't too clear, what I meant was that they recieved 400 copies of the same 1MB email.

Thanks for the reply though, I will re-check all the settings just in case I missed something

Am I jumping the gun, Baldrick, or are the words 'I have a cunning plan' marching with ill-deserved confidence in the direction of this conversation?

 

[kjv1611]

Wow! 400 copies of the same email.

Though it would be a weird case, it also seems almost as if a virus could've gotten on the machine. But if it's not that, then possibly a reinstall of Office would fix it? Just a wild guess at a possible sollution. No idea what the specific pin-pointed problem could be, though. I'd almost think that Outlook would have to have an option or command somewhere hidden within the optinos or at least the programming that deletes the message from the outbox after sending the message, and then moves it to Sent items (default settings). So, if it's not doing that, then maybe that part got corrupted somehow?

Maybe you could try to "repair" office from the office CD or network install app. If it were just a bug or weird mishap, that could correct it, I would think.

 

[Kadanis]

Hmm, well I've tried a fresh install and that didn't seem to fix the problem however archiving the contents of the Sent Items to a server seems to have removed it. Although I've not come across this before is it possible for the Sent items to become "full" and not accept any mail from the outbox... don't know if this is a permanent fix but its working for now. Thanks for the help anyways

Am I jumping the gun, Baldrick, or are the words 'I have a cunning plan' marching with ill-deserved confidence in the direction of this conversation?

 

[kjv1611]

That's an interesting find, for sure. Have a star!