Outlook (2000) has encountered a problem...

[Deb G.]

After running Outlook 2000 without problems for the past few years, yesterday I got the dreaded "Outlook has encountered a problem and needs to close" message. The only thing that happened yesterday (as far as I know) with my computer is that I upgraded my RAM....to me that has nothing to do with my problem but I thought I'd throw that in here in case it's an "aha" moment for anyone reading this.

I have tried the following without success:

1. running in safe mode
2. deleted a file (whose name I can't remember) called something like OMC...(apparently it's a file that's recreated on open)
3. deleted mail account and recreated
4. uninstalled Office 2000 and reinstalled
5. ran virus/adware software

I should mention that one of the possible fixes I found after googling this problem is to go through my emails to see if one is corrupt. I can't do that as Outlook closes immediately after displaying the error message. Does anyone have any advice for resolving this one?

Thank you!

[HansV]

Perhaps your .pst file has become corrupt. See Outlook Inbox Repair Tool.

[Deb G.]

Thanks Hans. I have run the scanpst file on each .pst file I have (outlook, backup and archive) but still no success.

Is there a backdoor way to get into outlook to check for add-ons? I read that add-ons may cause this problem, but again, I can't get into outlook to check for anything.

I should have mentioned that I can run Outlook Express - I don't know if this adds any additional insight into where the problem may lie.

[HansV]

Select Start | Run...
Type the following in the text box, then press Enter:

outlook.exe /safe

If that doesn't work, try

"c:\program files\microsoft office\office\outlook.exe" /safe

(change the path if necessary)

This will start Outlook without add-ins.

[Deb G.]

Outlook still won't run. <sigh>....maybe I'll have to bite the bullet sometime and buy a newer version of Office. In the meantime, I'll just run OE.

Thanks for your time on this one Hans!

[Goshute]

How large is your PST file?

After making a backup or two of the file, what happens when you remove the PST? Will Outlook start up, with lots of freaked out messages about not finding a PST, and create a new PST for you?

[Deb G.]

When I ran scanpst.exe, it found minimal problems with my .pst file and the problems it did find, it repaired (I would think).

I'm starting to think that I'm having issues because I don't have updates to my newly re-installed Office 2000 product. And of course, MS has stopped supporting 2000 so finding service pack updates that work has proved VERY difficult (service pack 1 is proving to be my nemesis as I can't get any download to work....thus stopping me from getting any other updates for outlook). I'm kind of going in a circle here with this thing so I've given up trying to sort this out for the moment. I have to wait for my patience meter to reach "full" again :)

Thanks for all the input though!

[Deb G.]

RESOLVED!

I thought I should share the outcome to this miserable saga. I now have Office 2007 on my home computer and after installing it tonight, the first thing I did was try Outlook. I can't tell you how deflated I was to get the dreaded "Outlook has encountered a problem..." message AGAIN! After sitting staring in disbelief at this for a second, I noticed that 2007 has the message with a default tick "restart Outlook" in the error box. I don't recall seeing that in 2000 so I left it ticked figuring it was just going to re-fire and give me the same error message.

WELL....2007 is just a tad more advanced than my beloved 2000 because just before it fully re-started, a message box popped up that said something like "Ad-Aware email scanner add-in has caused a problem. If you've seen this message multiple times, you might want to disable. Do you want to disable?" I chose YES to disable it and VOILA! Outlook will now open! I'm sure if I had known this with 2000 I would have been able to get the darn thing running again. And very interesting how I initially ran 2000 in safe-mode which is supposed to disable all add-ins....maybe Ad-Aware is immune to safe mode

So, for anyone still running 2000 who comes across this error message and has Ad-Aware software installed, try disabling the email scanner add-in....and save yourself a bunch of $$ upgrading your Office suite

(Not sure which version of Ad-Aware I'm running as I can't see a version code....but I just updated this program in May)

[HansV]

Thanks for the update - glad it's resolved!