Outlook XP Menus and Tollbars STILL missing and now Send/Receive fails

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John - 19 Sep 2007 01:59 GMT

(I had originally posted a problem with missing menus but now I can't
find it)

I am about at the end of my string with Outlook. In addition to my
problem with the menus and toolbars missing, Outlook will no longer
send/receive on demand. Pressing the Send/Receive button or pressing
F9 results in an highly descriptive error message "Operation Failed".

This afternoon I removed outlook completely and verified that there
were no instances of outlook.exe on the system, and removed the
outlook directories from the documenst and setting folder just to be
certain. I then rebooted.

I reinstalled outlook clean from the CD and restarted again. Then I
launched outlook and guess what --- still no d*mn menus or toolbars
and the F9 key still results in Operation Failed. What does one have
to do to get outlook straightened out, reinstall Windows? This is
frankly ridiculous.

John

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neo [mvp outlook] - 19 Sep 2007 02:52 GMT

For the operation failed message when selecting send/receive, this generally
is caused by a corrupt <profile_name>.SRS file. This file is stored at
C:\Documents and Settings\<USERID>\Application Data\Microsoft\Outlook.
Close Outlook (make sure it closed by checking task manager) and
rename/delete the .SRS file. Start Outlook and then redefine your
send/receive settings.

As for the missing menu/toolbars. Try start Outlook in safe mode to see if
they come back. (Start > Run > outlook.exe /safe > OK button). If this
doesn't work, the file outcmd.dat needs to be renamed/deleted.

/neo

> (I had originally posted a problem with missing menus but now I can't
> find it)
[quoted text clipped - 16 lines]
>
> John

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John - 19 Sep 2007 03:28 GMT

On Sep 18, 9:52 pm, "neo [mvp outlook]"
<n...@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:

> For the operation failed message when selecting send/receive, this generally
> is caused by a corrupt <profile_name>.SRS file. This file is stored at
[quoted text clipped - 31 lines]
>
> - Show quoted text -

Thanks for the input.

The fix for the Send Receive problem did the trick, Idon't get the
error any longer.

However, the outcmd.dat trick did not work and I STILL don't have any
menus or toolbars.

John

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neo [mvp outlook] - 19 Sep 2007 11:13 GMT

Interesting, and you followed the same steps given to handle the *.SRS file
in order to get rid of outcmd.dat?

> On Sep 18, 9:52 pm, "neo [mvp outlook]"
> <n...@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:
[quoted text clipped - 45 lines]
>
> John

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John - 19 Sep 2007 13:19 GMT

On Sep 19, 6:13 am, "neo [mvp outlook]"
<n...@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:

> Interesting, and you followed the same steps given to handle the *.SRS file
> in order to get rid of outcmd.dat?
[quoted text clipped - 54 lines]
>
> - Show quoted text -

Yes, I did the two changes exactly as described. This mroning I
resumed the machine frm standby and outlook gave me the same Operation
Failed error. Outlook was not active on screen but apparently was
still running in task manager. So I cancelled the running instances
and restarted. As before in order to get the menus and toolbars I
actually have to opend TWO instances, the second one will have menus
and toolbars, and then end the first instance.

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John - 19 Sep 2007 15:11 GMT

> On Sep 19, 6:13 am, "neo [mvp outlook]"
>
[quoted text clipped - 71 lines]
>
> - Show quoted text -

Further to this problem, as noted I have to open two instances of
outlook to get menus and toolbars then close the first. I've also
noticed that closing outlook leaves two instances in tsk manager, each
consuming 24-25mb memory. Possibley related is that on a number of
occasions when I have done this to use outlook I find a copy of
explorer.exe running at constantly high CPU usage (40-85%) in task
manager. Often closing the remaining instance(s) of outlook will
reduce explorer to its normal 0-1% usage. any possible relation there?

John

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John - 19 Sep 2007 20:41 GMT

> > On Sep 19, 6:13 am, "neo [mvp outlook]"
>
[quoted text clipped - 84 lines]
>
> - Show quoted text -

I've given up. I reinstalled Windows XP and all my applications and
started over. However, I did save my PST file so I wouldn't lose my
messages, calendar and contacts.

This has created a slightly different problem now. I now have TWO
"Contact Lists" in my outlook, one of which is empty and the other has
my data. When I try to create a message or reply to a message I get an
error about the Contaqct List and it displays a dialog that allows me
to select the contact list. The first list is empty but the second one
has my data. The question then is how do I get rid of the first one
--- how do i tell which one to delete as the both have the identical
name "Contact List" in the delete dialog.

John

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Brian Tillman - 19 Sep 2007 23:06 GMT

> This has created a slightly different problem now. I now have TWO
> "Contact Lists" in my outlook, one of which is empty and the other has
[quoted text clipped - 4 lines]
> --- how do i tell which one to delete as the both have the identical
> name "Contact List" in the delete dialog.

Apparently you added your old data to Outlook incorrectly. Tell us what you
did and someone will be able to guide to in fixing it.

Signature

Brian Tillman [MVP-Outlook]

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John - 19 Sep 2007 23:48 GMT

> > This has created a slightly different problem now. I now have TWO
> > "Contact Lists" in my outlook, one of which is empty and the other has
[quoted text clipped - 9 lines]
> --
> Brian Tillman [MVP-Outlook]

Well, before I started the new installation of outlook i copied in the
outlook.pst file into the appropriate directory. When I started
outlook my messages, calendar and contacts were where I expected them
to be. The only discrepancy is that I apparently now have this empty
contact list in addition to the corrrect one. I'm trying to sort out
how to get rid of the empty one as both lists have identical names in
the dialog that allows you to add/delete.

John

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Brian Tillman - 20 Sep 2007 14:20 GMT

> Well, before I started the new installation of outlook i copied in the
> outlook.pst file into the appropriate directory.

There is no "appropriate directory" for Outlook data files. Simply placing
a PST in the folder where Outlook looks by default is not sufficient to
correctly configure Outlook to use that file and if you overwrite a PST of
the same name you could damage the mail profile.

> When I started
> outlook my messages, calendar and contacts were where I expected them
> to be. The only discrepancy is that I apparently now have this empty
> contact list in addition to the corrrect one.

And that's a sign of a damaged profile. You might be able to fix it by
clicking Tools>E-mail Accounts>View or change existing directories or
address books>Next, selecting the Outlook Address Book service, clicking
Change, and deleting the bogus folder there.

Signature

Brian Tillman [MVP-Outlook]

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John - 20 Sep 2007 21:12 GMT

> > Well, before I started the new installation of outlook i copied in the
> > outlook.pst file into the appropriate directory.
[quoted text clipped - 15 lines]
> --
> Brian Tillman [MVP-Outlook]

That did it. I took a chance and deleted the first item in the list on
the assumption that that was also the one being displayed in the
dialog box. and it was right. I can now create a new message without
the error.

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