[bj nick]

NOTE: THE SUBJECT SHOULD REFER TO THE "OUTBOX," NOT THE "OUTBOOK." i have no idea how to edit the subject...

I have Outlook (NOT OUtlook Express) 2002, and all of a sudden the send/receive will not work; it gets hung up endlessly and then gives up, telling me there are "errors."

My outbox has three messages in there which are probably clogging the system, but I cannot get rid of the messages. If I try to delete them, I get "The messaging interface has returned an unknown error. If the problem persists, restart Outlook."

I have restarted Outlook probably 15 times. I have tried repeatedly and those messages will not allow me to delete them. I have done a system restore, to no avail. Can't send/receive, can't get rid of the outbox messages.

Does anyone know a way to get rid of those messages and clear the outbox?!

[EAFiedler]

Hi bj nick


Place Outlook 2002 in Work Offline mode:
File > Work Offline
Then close Outlook, allow the process to terminate ( a few seconds) then restart Outlook.

Can you delete the messages in the Outbox now?

[bj nick]

thanks for your response.

No, it didn't work. I tried it twice. I've also tried system restore (twice).

I tried uninstalling and reinstalling outlook, then uninstalling and reinstalling the entire Office XP Suite.

I upgraded to Outlook 2007. Nothing has worked. I cannot send and receive any messages, and I cannot delete ANYTHING from Outlook: not from delted items, sent, outbox; nothing. Each attempt generates the message "Message interfacing has returned an unknown error."

[bj nick]

Now that I've installed Outlook 2007 upgrade, it refuses to open, saying "Borland database engine not installed..." I've tried solutions resulting from a search of this issue, and nothing has worked. When I try to open Outlook 2007, I get the Borland message, then Outlook crashes, then it starts repeating a cycle of do I want to send a report, do I want to open in safe mode, etc, etc, etc, etc, etc. that goes on for awhile until it finally quits.

so I now have no Outlook working at all, and it seems to have caused other problems on teh computer that weren't happening before, such as the wireless card sometimes refusing to connect. No idea what to do to fix this problem.

As I say, I've uinstalled/reinstalled Outlook, done system restores...nothing worked.

[EAFiedler]

Create a new profile for Outlook 2007:
How to create a new e-mail profile in Outlook 2007 and in Outlook 2003

Start Outlook 2007 with the new profile, if Outlook 2007 opens without problem, Import the Personal Folders file into the new profile.

Let us know what happens.

[bj nick]

Thanks for responding. You know, I dumped Outlook 2007, then uninstalled and reinstalled Outlook 2002 again, and now 2002 appears to be working just like before....which means it opens up normally about 3/4 of the time, and the other 1/4 it freezes and I have to wait it out... What a hassle.

I'm too nervous to reinstall 2007 again....I can't go through those kinds of headaches again; I can't risk it. I don't see any guarantee that I won't have further problems at a time when I'm finally (sort of) out of the woods. I'm not going back in.

Over the years I've had constant crashes with Outlook 2002...I love the features of the program so I've been reluctant to switch. Especially helpful are the "tasks" function reminders....

Now, however, I have decided to dump Outlook altogether and get something else. Enough already. I'm thinking Thunderbird....any suggestions?

[EAFiedler]

Thanks for posting back and letting us know your results.

It couldn't hurt to try Thunderbird. There is also Windows Live Mail.
Try both of them.

[bj nick]

I threw Outlook away and now use Thunderbird; couldn't be happier. Wish I'd done it long ago.....