Outlook menu bar freezes.

[SecPara]

I have a laptop which has a weird issue with Outlook. From time to time the menu bar freezes and you can click on anything in there but nothing happens. I can open and read existing emails though. Only signing off from Windows (2000) and back on, and reopening Outlook (2000 SR1, patched to the latest level) solves the problem. This started before patching so I don't think there is a patching issue.
I also uninstalled and reinstalled Outlook - the problem still exists.
Anyone experienced this before? Any fix suggested?
Thanks.

 

[kippy13]

What type of connection have u with tha mail server, I have seen this before when outlook is trying to pull mail from the server over a slow connection. It basically takes a while to do this and sometimes it hangs the whole thing.

"Sometimes I do not know but I try hard"- R.F. Haughty 1923

 

[SecPara]

Neh... it's a regular LAN, 100 MB connection, and it's not the whole Outlook that freezes, it's just the menu bar. I can open and read emails already in my mailbox just fine.
Thanks.

 

[kippy13]

Have u ran a repair on outlook?


"Sometimes I do not know but I try hard"- R.F. Haughty 1923

 

[SecPara]

Did that also - not any better thereafter.
Thanks.

 

[00Tech00]

You might want to try to rebuild the whole profile. Also, are you using the ost file to sync your emails. I have seen this before and deleting the ost file and resyncing did the trick. Let me know...

 

[SecPara]

I reinstalled Outlook on that box if that's what you refer to as rebuilding the profile.
I'll try the ost file trick.
Thanks.

 

[00Tech00]

Actually what I mean is to rebuild the whole outlook profile, not reinstalling outlook. Let me know if you need help doing so.

 

[SecPara]

Ok, I would appreciate some help here.
Thanks.

 

[00Tech00]

Right click on your outlook icon and go to Properties,
Click on Profiles and delete the profile,
Make sure you know where his personal folders a located if he has any at all,
From here, you'd click on add and re-create the profile.
Let me know if this helps or not?

 

[SecPara]

Thanks, I did re-create it and I'm now watching it to see if it still misbehaves.
I'll keep you posted.
Thanks.

 

[SecPara]

This took a while since the user who was experiencing this issue wasn't using her laptop lately.
I recreated her profile, I deleted the .ost file, but this problem still happens.
One time it unfroze by itself after sitting a while (less than 1/2 hour I think) like that.
What puzzles me is that only the menus freeze (the one on top of the page and the one displayed when you right-click).
Any other idea?
Thanks a lot.