Unable to open your default e-mail folders

[phrk]

Anyone see an Outlook 2003 client issue like this before? It's driving me nuts. I have an Outlook client on a PC connecting to an Exchange server which works fine for a few hours, then displays the following message:

"Unable to open your default e-mail folders. Outlook could not start because a data file to send and receive mail could not be found. To add a data file, such as a personal folder file, double-click the Mail icon in Windows control panel."

If I follow the advice and add a new profile with the Mail icon in Windows control panel exactly like the one I had been using, I am able to connect again just fine until such a time that this whole process happens again. 2 hours to 2 days approximate working duration. I haven't been able to pinpoint anything in Windows Event viewer that seems to indicate anything 'bad' happening at a known time that it breaks.

The Outlook 2003 clients on several other PCs connect without issue for me using an identically configured profiles for the same Exchange server.

I know positively it happens to a few other people in our organization. We have opened tickets through the local help desk, and they can't figure it out.

I'm pretty sure it is something with the configuration of the affected PC, but the PC works fine with most other applications. (It did have issue incredibly opening MS Word and MS Excel docs, but I was able to fix that if you're interested.) The help desk has reinstalled MS Office. We have run a repair of MS Office. The OS is Windows XP SP3. The help desk has replaced the PC, and reinstalled the OS on the replacement once! I question whether something in their install process causes this to happen, but as I said I have another PC that works 100%. The affected PC is an HP Elitebook 8540p.

Peace

 

[zbnet]

It could be a name-resolution issue, as the Outlook client needs to be able to name-resolve the Exchange server to be able to connect. Perhaps the name-resolution issues are IP-address related - is DHCP at work here to allocate the client's IP address? Is it changing? Are the DNS setting correct?

 

[phrk]

I think you may be on to something. The client's IP address is derived via DHCP. The client IP does not change when the issue occurs and the DNS settings are correct.

The Exchange servers exist in an active-active configuration. Although, I don't administer them, I perceive I may lose connectivity to the server briefly just before the issue occurs. Doesn't seem to break the profile as described above on most other PCs.