Dial in-OUtlook 2003 problem

I’ve a user with a very very strange problem.
He has dialed in from home to outlook2003 on numerous occasions in the last couple of weeks with no problems.
However, for the last two occasions when he start Outlook, he is first told that Exchange is currently in Recovery mode (though this also happens when he’s logged in at work). He clicks connect here and after about 30 seconds, a pop up window appears with details of his exchange server and my mailbox name. When he clicks OK, Outlook starts, but he has no Inbox.

he’s successfully authenticate through SecurRemote and have access to the lan, he can ping all the exchange servers by ip address and name. He assures me that nothing has been done with his laptop in the last couple of weeks (he’s a tecchie so i believe him!).