Your Microsoft Exchange Server is unavailable???

[JBruyet]

Hey all,

My users are getting the following error message sometimes when they open Outlook 2000 (on XP machines):

Your Microsoft Exchange Server is unavailable.

You can retry connecting to the server using the network, or work offline and connect using dial-up networking.

the network did not respond in a timely fashion to determine the existence of an Exchnage Server, you may retry and continue waiting for a response or work offline.

Retry Work offline Help

If they click on the Retry button they usually get right in, but sometimes they have to click Retry two or three times.

This started about three weeks ago. I've checked on Microsoft's web site and I did a search on Google, but I couldn't find anything that applied to my situation. My users are running XP SP1 and connecting to an Exchange 2k server without any configuration changes. Rebooting the server didn't help, and nothing's showing up in the logs. Any ideas?

Thanks,

Joe Brouillette

 

[Marcs41]

Start with checking you Eventlog to see if any Licensing Events pop up.
Second, check you cabling, hubs etc., you could have a loss somewhere.

Marc
[sub]If 'something' 'somewhere' gives 'some' error, expect random guesses or no replies at all. Please specify details.
Free Tip: The F1 Key does NOT destroy your PC![/sub]

 

[emccue]

Try loading the service pak for echange 2K

 

[nhidalgo]

Make sure name resolutions is working correctly. Do you have dns and wins setup on the client pc's

Nick

 

[Guntha]

Add an entry in the LMSHOSTS file and see if the problem still exists. If it takes care of the problem it sounds to me like a DNS and or WINS issue as stated by nhidalgo said

G

 

[JBruyet]

Marcs, nothing is showing up in the logs, and no changes have been made to any cables/connections. I'll take a look just in case but I don't think I'll find it there.
emccue, I think I've already installed the service pack. I'll double-check just in case.
nhidalgo, DNS is working. I don't have WINS on the workstations because they're XP workstations.
Guntha, do you mean LMHOSTS file? We're not using WINS but I guess it can't hurt anything.

Thanks,

Joe Brouillette

 

[Guntha]

sorry typo

 

[apexadmin]

I am having that problem also. I have users that access this exchange server across a VPN. They have to click retry two or three times before it will finally connect. My users on the local LAN, do not have this problem. Connection appears to be fine. This problem started after I backed up all the mailboxes and rebuilt the server. I gave it the same name and same ip address. Dns is resolving, ping doesn't drop any packets. Any ideas on what to look for?

 

[tabularasa]

Has anyone come up with a solution to this problem? Im having the same issue.

 

[tabularasa]

I'll add a little more information.

DNS is not the issue. Ive added entries in LMhosts and HOSTS. I can resolve the name just fine. I can ping it just fine.

The machine is on the LAN and only 2-3 computers are having this issue.

 

[Marcs41]

Just to check, and it only takes a minute, swap NIC's and cables between a working and non-working system.
Of course, verify with "ipconfig /all" that settings are identical on both PC's.

Marc
[sub]If 'something' 'somewhere' gives 'some' error, expect random guesses or no replies at all. Please specify details.
Free Tip: The F1 Key does NOT destroy your PC![/sub]