Outlook clients not pulling email off Exchange2003 server

[daveg2000]

Hey guys.. thought I would run a techy question past ya
(I figure WHY NOT?)

We are running Exchange2003 at work and I've been noticing as I've been
giving people WinXP machines in place of their Win98 machines,
that Outlook (various versions from 2000 up to 2003)
will not bring in new messages in their INBOX, unless there is some 'activity'
done in Outlook.   (Like clicking on SEND/RECIEVE or CREATING AN EMAIL, etc)
I've been changing settings in outlook to go out and check for new messages every minute, but I've done this on so many machines now, that I want to figure out WHY I have to do this.

Any exchange gurus out here?
I'm guessing that since it happens in just about all platforms in Outlook, it is more of some setting on the Exchange end of things... but not sure what to
look at....?

[hulkster]

well im having the exact same problem but i thought it was attributed to just how much our servers suck.  we are mirgrating to brand spanking new servers with exchange 2003 on it, but as of right now im running exchange 2000 and some of my users have this problem, but some dont.  id love to know the answer to this as well.

[daveg2000]

Well.. guess what....

Once again.. Microsoft XP SP2 is the culprit... ya gotta love it.

Hulkster..
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;815052

I turned off XP firewall... boom.. it worked first try when sending
an email to myself.....

[SOAPboy]

Well.. guess what....

Once again.. Microsoft XP SP2 is the culprit... ya gotta love it.

Hulkster..
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;815052

I turned off XP firewall... boom.. it worked first try when sending
an email to myself.....

Your fault, not SP2..

You didnt set up the firewall to allow access for outlook..

 

[daveg2000]

Your fault, not SP2..

You didnt set up the firewall to allow access for outlook..

Depends on how you look at it, oh Mr. Fingerpointer
If it worked before when I had Win98 on the machine
and then put XP SP2 on the machine, then it DIDNT WORK -
XP sp2 was then the culprit to why it wasnt working.

Yes, the solution is to modify the firewall to let Outlook
go through, but that is a SOLUTION.  Not the PROBLEM.
The problem was that XP was blocking access to Outlook.
Case closed.

Hope that helps ya with your problem, Hulkster

[SOAPboy]

Your fault, not SP2..

You didnt set up the firewall to allow access for outlook..

Depends on how you look at it, oh Mr. Fingerpointer
If it worked before when I had Win98 on the machine
and then put XP SP2 on the machine, then it DIDNT WORK -
XP sp2 was then the culprit to why it wasnt working.

Yes, the solution is to modify the firewall to let Outlook
go through, but that is a SOLUTION.

[Zero_Hour]

I agree that SOAPboy was not exactly sympathetic to your plight, but in his defense, do you routinely install software, without knowing what it does? There were myriad articles published in print and online that went over the fixes and 'features' of SP2 - with the enhanced security features the most frequent topic. Knowing that SP2 added a firewall, this would be a prime suspect when troubleshooting the problem (network connectivity issues). Any firewall would require configuration after installation, it's just that MS assumes that the average user doesn't understand firewalls, and dumbed it down (a lot), to the point where you could easily blink, and miss the firewall dialog.

That said, it's still an easy thing to overlook. I've certainly made those types of oversights myself. If you have a firewall in place for your entire LAN, I would disable the XP firewall immediately after upgrading a machine to SP2. If not, I would look for a third party firewall that is a little more robust - Zone Alarm is one I recommend highly. It is much more interactive in notifying you when applications want to use the network.

Historically every service pack that microsoft has ever relased has had unintended side effects with various pieces of software, some MS, some Third party. In my experience, the benefits have outweighed the downsides. YMMV.

Regardless, glad to know you were able to fix the problem. 

SOAPboy, just curious, do you work in tech support? Your empathy will surely get you places. Believe it or not, a lot of sysadmins were not trained for their jobs - they just happened to be the guy least afraid of all the computers and sort of wind up there. Not to mention, some people may specialize in Novell, MS, Linux, Unix, hell I even know some people still maintaining VMS/VAX systems. NOBODY knows it all, and with the playingfield changing all the time, even the best can miss something "obvious".

[SOAPboy]

I agree that SOAPboy was not exactly sympathetic to your plight, but in his defense, do you routinely install software, without knowing what it does? There were myriad articles published in print and online that went over the fixes and 'features' of SP2 - with the enhanced security features the most frequent topic. Knowing that SP2 added a firewall, this would be a prime suspect when troubleshooting the problem (network connectivity issues). Any firewall would require configuration after installation, it's just that MS assumes that the average user doesn't understand firewalls, and dumbed it down (a lot), to the point where you could easily blink, and miss the firewall dialog.

That said, it's still an easy thing to overlook. I've certainly made those types of oversights myself. If you have a firewall in place for your entire LAN, I would disable the XP firewall immediately after upgrading a machine to SP2. If not, I would look for a third party firewall that is a little more robust - Zone Alarm is one I recommend highly. It is much more interactive in notifying you when applications want to use the network.

Historically every service pack that microsoft has ever relased has had unintended side effects with various pieces of software, some MS, some Third party. In my experience, the benefits have outweighed the downsides. YMMV.

Regardless, glad to know you were able to fix the problem.

[daveg2000]

I agree that SOAPboy was not exactly sympathetic to your plight, but in his defense, do you routinely install software, without knowing what it does?

[Zero_Hour]

Enjoy the beer, you earned it.

And yeah, I know none of us can know everything about the software we install, especially since the majority of it is not used by the IT people who are charged to set up/config/troubleshoot it. The comment was not meant to sound demeaning, but rereading it, it certainly comes off that way. I guess I was trying to say that problems are more likely to occur when we don't know the extent of a particular software's feature set. In a perfect world we would have all of that information prior to deployment, but I don't know too many IT shops where you can spend a week reading over MS whitepapers before having to install it. And I think you made the point best - It was your first time dealing with it. You'll probably never overlook it as a possibility again, and that is what is important.

And be careful flying your plane like that, I hear that kind of activity in BF2 can get you banned. 

[daveg2000]

And be careful flying your plane like that, I hear that kind of activity in BF2 can get you banned.