Some WinXP users Can't connect to Exchange Server

[Kevinha]

Started experiencing a strange problem day before yesterday. Some XP users get an error message "exchange server unavailable" when staring outlook. It is affecting random users on different subnets. Scanned for virus and came up clean. Users can connect via OWA.. It is only WINXP users, but they are using different Outlook versions.

 

[Spirit]

I would start:

Each user experiencing probs, get them to ping you mail server name i.e. Run - cmd - ping mailservername

if not it could be a WINS / DNS issue. If it fails use tracert to find where the problem lies as it could be a gateway issue.

Repost with results and I will help as much as I can.

Iain

 

[Kevinha]

Workstations can ping mailserver with no problems. <1ms

 

[stiles123]

when they ping to they get a response from servername or servername.domainname?

Try sticking the mailserver details in a hostfile to see if that solves the problem. If it does then it's a DNS issue. Are the machines configured with a default domain?

 

[JHGMN]

I'm experiencing the same problem, has anyone been able to figure this one out? It only affects some computers, in my case some w2k and some Win XP. It is not profile related, I tried adding the exchange server in the host file, that didn't make a difference. I'm able to ping my exchange server, I still get the &quot;unable to connect to your exchange server&quot; message. Any help will be appreciated. Thanks!

 

[Kevinha]

Finally solved this issue. Problem started after performing a system update and rebooting server. I believe it was a routing issue. I had one laptop with Docking station with the problem. Using the docking station ethernet card user could not get email. Changing it to the one in the laptop everything worked fine. I reconfiged tcp/ip on server and rebooted and all user were able to get back in email

 

[Redshirt]

Can you elaborate on what you did to solve this problem. What do you mean when you say it was a routing issue. Also when you say you reconfigured tcp/ip on the server, do you mean that you re-installed it, or did you change some settings. I would really appreciate your response. Thank You.