OE 6 closes when you reply. 2

[DAMJR]

My wife uses Outlook Express 6 which often, but not always, closes when she replies to a message. The problem has occurred in 3 different ways: 1-when she clicks "Reply" OE may close completely; 2-after she clicks Reply, OE may close as she is typing the reply text; OR 3-after she types the reply, OE may close when she clicks "Send." And then there are times when she is successful in replying to a message.

I am wondering if I should reinstal OE and if so, how to do it.

Thanks for your help!

 

[goombawaho]

No - sounds like "database" corruption. I would try the following with some text taht I copied directly from here:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/270670

You might want to read that first all the way through - though we aren't going to follow it 100%


Step 1: Copy message files to a backup folder
Step A: Locate the Store folder

1. Start Outlook Express.
2. Click Tools, and then click Options.
3. On the Maintenance tab, click Store Folder.
4. In the Store Location dialog box, copy the store location. To do this, follow these steps:
1. Put the mouse pointer at one end of the box under the Your personal message store is located in the following folder box.
2. Press and hold the left mouse button, and then drag the mouse pointer across the Your personal message store is located in the following folder box.
3. Press CTRL+C to copy the location.
5. Click Cancel, and then click Cancel again to close the dialog box.

Step B: Copy the contents of the Store folder

1. Click Start, click Run, press CTRL+V, and then click OK.
2. On the Edit menu, click Select All.
3. On the Edit menu, click Copy, and then close the window.

Step C: Create a backup folder

1. Right-click any empty area on your desktop, click New, and then click Folder.
2. Type Mail Backup for the folder name, and then press ENTER.

Step D: Paste the contents of the Store folder into the backup folder

1. Double-click the Mail Backup folder to open it.
2. Right-click inside the Mail Backup folder window, and then click Paste.

Step 2: Export the Address Book to a .csv file
Important Make sure that you follow this step if you use multiple identities in Outlook Express.

Microsoft Outlook Express 5.x and Microsoft Outlook Express 6.0 use a Windows Address Book (.wab) file to store Address Book data. The individual data for each identity is stored in a folder by user name within the .wab file that is used.

The only way to separate the Address Book data for different identities is to export the data to a .csv file while you are logged in as a specific identity. If the .wab file becomes dissociated from the user identities, the data can be exported only as one total. In this case, the data cannot be exported folder by folder.



Now we'll wipe out your OE mail structure (it's backed up though if you followed above procedure).
Make sure OE is closed. In your message store folder - DELETE everything. Start OE and it will create a new blank mailbox.

Now import your old data (or whatever portion is importable) using the following procedure in that first link I gave you. Refer to this section

How to restore Outlook Express items

 

[DAMJR]

Finally, I had a minute and I followed your instructions. After restoring the OE items, I sent her an email message. I opened the message on her computer, clicked Reply, and OE closed. Unfortunately, your suggestion does not seem to have solved our problem.

I really appreciate your taking time to give me these details, but this did not work.

 

[goombawaho]

Go here:

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/ie/community/columns/oerepair.mspx

Close Outlook Express and/or Internet Explorer First.

Only do the following on this page in this order:
1. Reregister Outlook Express
2. Reregister libraries


If that fails, try this, but take note of which version of IE you have before proceeding.

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?kbid=318378#XSLTH3126121123120121120120

(method 2 preferred in this article)

 

[DAMJR]

I went to the OE basic repair kit site using your link, and reregistered OE. The Reregister libraries procedure involved entering 5 commands. 3 of them worked. The following 2 did not. I have included the error statements that were displayed when I clicked OK after entering them (copying and pasting to avoid typos):

regsvr32 mshtml.dll = "mshtml.dll was loaded, but the DllRegisterServer entry point was not found. This file can not be registered."

regsvr32 msjava.dll = "LoadLibrary("msjava.dll") failed - The specified module could not be found."

 

[goombawaho]

I'm gonna say to move on to the 2nd procedure unless anyone else following this has an alternate opinion????

 

[FredWagner]

One experience that might relate. One of our uses started reporting that IE shut down when she tried to access one of our web-enabled applications. In tracking it down, logging out and in, it turned out that this only happened if she had first used FireFox, then brought up IE. Firefox is not officially supported, though widely used, and our web enabled app only works in IE. Told the user NOT to use Firefox if she wanted to use our officially supported app.
Try using just IE....

Fred Wagner

 

[DAMJR]

Method 2 involved reinstalling Internet Explorer 8 which I just did. Then, I opened Outlook Express, opened a message that I had sent to her computer and when I clicked Send, OE closed. The message was not sent.

She does not have FireFox on her computer.

 

[FredWagner]

What OS is the PC running? how much free disk space on the drive ? How about purging or archiving her OE files ? how about her Sent folder ? How about Pop-up blockers, Toolbars?

Fred Wagner

 

[DAMJR]

Below are the answers to the questions you posed:

What OS is the PC running? Windows XP Professional, Version 2002 with Service Pack 3

How much free disk space on the drive ? 121 GB out of 144 GB

How about purging or archiving her OE files? I believe that is what I did as noted above

How about her Sent folder? Not sure exactly what you mean here. She had an excessive number of messages which I have pared to around 450.

How about Pop-up blockers, I did not know there were any in Outlook Express. She has enabled pop up blockers in Internet Explorer 8.

Toolbars? Again, I'm not sure what you mean. She has the regular OE tool bar and icons.

 

[FredWagner]

Can you use any other tools to access the email account ? Eudora or others ? I don't use Outlook or Outlook Express - and I changed home internet providers when they tried to force me to use it. My current internet provider allows me to access their email through yahoo. You might consider switching interfaces, if not providers, to one with fewer hassles. I use both yahoo and hotmail accounts, and so does the rest of my family, and we have absolutely no problems. - we use IE 6, IE 8, and Firefox on a Win2k, Vista-64, and Windows 7. You might want to consider dropping Outlook Express.

Fred Wagner

 

[goombawaho]

As a last idea, try deleting the SENT ITEMS.DBX file with OE closed. Then relaunch OE and try to send a message.

I'm getting to the point of no more ideas other than a windows reinstall, but that's drastic.

 

[DAMJR]

Thank you both for your ideas and your time!

I will try deleting the Sent Items file and, if that doesn't help, I'll see if I can get her on another email client.

Thanks again.