Outlook client - delays at startup 1

[IainRR]

I've mailed a few forums about this and got no answer, so I'm hoping this will be the successful one !

We have Exchange 5.5 SP4 on NT4SP6. A few months ago the Information Store got corrupted. While this was being sorted out I set up a 'temporary' server so people could continue to sent and receive email.

The normal server (called EXCHANGE) was obviously offline. The temporary server (called EXCHANGE2) was set up with the same organisation and site names, but not added to the site.
This all worked perfectly. Then, once EXCHANGE was repaired and back online Outlook client profiles were changed to point at that machine.

The problem is that when EXCHANGE2 is shut down the Outlook clients take anything up to 3 minutes to become active when the workstation is booted. To be more specific, Outlook starts up in the normal way and the content of the mailbox is displayed on screen, but there is no response for a few minutes. ie if you click an email to view it nothing happens, but if it's left alone for a while it eventually starts working normally and continues to work normally until the machine is rebooted.
2 more bits of info. It doesn't matter whether Exchange is running on EXCHANGE2 or not, only whether the machine is available on the LAN. Also, I know it's related to the temp server because there were a couple of machines that never had there Outlook profiles changed to use EXCHANGE2, and these machines don't display the problem.

Rather long winded I know but needed to give all info

Iain Rhodes
iain@pricejam.com

 

[jpaf]

Just a guess but try flushing the DNS cache on a machine that's affected (use the ipconfig tool). Then reboot the PC. I'm pretty sure Outlook uses DNS first to find the server. It maybe confused because the same mailbox has been on two different servers recently.

Regards
jpaf

 

[IainRR]

Thanks jpaf, I thought you had it but it seems not !

I tried flushing dns and then checking dns by displaying again so I knew it had been cleared. BUT if you then start Outlook it displays the same odd behaviour and when I checked the dns it had been repopulated with an entry for EXCHANGE2. So something outside of dns (maybe something the Outlook profile has held onto ?) is still looking for EXCHANGE2.

Any other ideas ??

Iain

 

[jpaf]

You've probably already done this but what about deleting all Outlook profiles on the PC and recreating.

Or check the HOST file for a static entry for the second server.

Also, check if there is an entry in DNS Administrator for your second exchange server, presumably you can remove it now that you don't need it.

Regards
jpaf

 

[Taffyboyo]

Have you tried deleting the profile and recreating it?

 

[IainRR]

I will try your suggestions.
Does anyone know how / where the content of the Outlook profile is stored ?

Iain