Outlook 2002 SP3: Messages will not leave Outbox

[curt99]

Background: I am running Outlook 2002 sp3 and Windows XP SP2. I am reading mail from two IMAP servers and sending via my ISP. I had no problems for weeks and could send email fine, but now this has occurred on 2 machines, and I'm stumped.

Symptoms: When I send mail it goes to my outbox and sits there, italicized. Opening the message indicates that it has not been sent. Sending the message again has no effect. The Send-Receive button on the toolbar does not work either. When I close Outlook it indicates there are still messages in my Outbox. Coincident with these symptoms was the appearance in the lower right corner of the Outlook window of an icon shaped like a little silver box with a silver line below it with a red "x" through it.

When I was unable to fix this on the first machine I switched to a second, which worked fine for about a month. The other morning I woke up (having left Outlook running overnight) to find the same icon and the same symptoms.

I'm running up to date McAfee Virus Scan 7.1.0 and SpyBot, but everything comes up clean.

Thanks for you attention

 

[mattjurado]

Have you removed the account(s) settings and recreated them?

Matt J.

Please always take the time to backup any and all data before performing any actions suggested for ANY problem, regardless of how minor a change it might seem. Also test the backup to make sure it is intact.

 

[curt99]

Matt

Thanks for responding. Even when all the accounts are removed, and Outlook is open, the icon remains. When the accounts are recreated, nothing has changed.

Curt

 

[curt99]

Oops - not true;

When I send the message, it still goes to "Outbox" and sits there.

But now, under "Actions" "Send/Receive" "Send All" the message is sent from Outbox. The previous messages in Outbox are still sitting there, but at least I can send the new ones.

Thnx, again - Curt

 

[mattjurado]

Have you deleted the messages from your outbox? Then try it again.

Matt J.

Please always take the time to backup any and all data before performing any actions suggested for ANY problem, regardless of how minor a change it might seem. Also test the backup to make sure it is intact.

 

[alanmcconachie]

Are you delivering to PST?? If so how big is your PST file? If over 1.5GB then this is getting to the un-predictable size for a PST and it is time to archive off some of your emails.

As a test you can create a new PST file then change your delivery to this file. Send a few test emails and if they are working then it is a PST issue you have.

I've seen a lot of problems with PST's going bad and the first sign is normally emails getting stuck in the outbox or new emails not delivering correctly.

 

[curt99]

Thanks everyone for your suggestions. None seem to be the fix. I'd love to know what the little silver box, with the silver wire and red "x" is. That is what the two machines have in common. My other two machines are currently fine. But because I don't know what cused the problems on the other machines, I hate to do something drastic that may not be the fix.

Has anyone seen the little silver box icon? It sits in the lower right corner of the Outlook window, on the same row as the number of items, but in its own little box.

Again - Thanks for your efforts

 

[johan180]

delay in sending away email can be caused by the local virusscanner. maybe you can run some test with the scanner turned off. security breach!

good luck