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Slow Outlook 2003 / Exchange

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19 replies

by razz2

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I have tried everything here and no luck. In a 2 office environment with SBS 2003. All Outlook 2003 users are fine except one. Of course, the one is the owner. Oh yeah.

Issue: Turns on desktop and when boot is complete (checked on this and he says it is finished. He has even waited 5 minutes) he launches Outlook. I says it is syncing all folders and finishes. Even then, the experience is painfully slow. If he reboots, the shutdown takes forever and then upon reboot everything is great. So, one chance a day to test a solution because if you reboot tests are useless until the next days first boot.

I tried a number of things a while ago and finally re-installed it. All has been fine for over a month. Last week it started again and he has no know changes that would trigger it. I recall trying on first boot avoiding Outlook and going into Word first & experiencing the same issue. I remember thinking "OK, not outlook / exchange specific." That is part of why I re-installed. To be safe I having him try that tomorrow morning. I had checked drives and power supplies and the color of the sky.

What could it be? Updates auto-install 60 minutes after boot if missed. It is first boot only and a reboot will almost always solve it but the reboot can take forever too.

19 replies

by thumbsup2

... a network connectivity or update problem rather than a Windows/Outlook problem. The computer is slow because it's busy doing something else, like maybe updates, until you reboot.

Have you checked the running processes upon first boot? What is taking up all the cpu cycles?

by oh smeg

Or one off things that use the system resources.

So what does the Task Manager say here about what is happening when you first start the system of a morning?

Col

by netjammer

hello,
about your problem it can be with the profile that has been created by the outlook. It might have corrupted.

If any firewall or any security software installed make it disabled and than see what happens. You have uninstalled the office but its a microsoft product clicking on uninstall doesn't remove all the registry files.

You can try to to investigate about the addins in the outlook. Try and use outlook without any addins and extension and see how that goes.

by razz2

Thought of that and while it takes a good while to task mgr up nothing is eating CPU time or appears out of the norm. Thus the confusion. Winupdates are controlled and don't run at boot. Drive has been tested with various tools.

by oh smeg

What about the HDD Makers Testing Utility?

http://www.tacktech.com/display.cfm?ttid=287

But if it only happens on the initial Start up for the Day that sounds very much like a Running Service. It may not actually eat Clock Cycles it could be using other System Resources and that is the problem.

Col

by thumbsup2

RAM mismatch, failing HDD, failing CPU, failing MB, failing NIC, failing switch/router port, unshielded cable, etc...

With the symptom of it 'taking a while to get task manager up', you've got something else going on with the system causing a brief hesitation/freeze. I would tend to lean towards failing hardware, somewhere.

When this happens, can you HEAR anything? Like a click when the HDD finally kicks in and brings up the task manager? Perhaps the HDD isn't spinning up to speed yet when the system first boots, but it is up to speed when you reboot, since reboot does not turn off the power to the drive.

by jashish1

Have you ever tried eliminating AV running on any one of the desktops, as per the problem description I dont it has to anything with Exchange/Outlook communication.

Regards,
Ashish Joshi

by razz2

I agree that it is not outlook/exchange. I only used that as a symptom. All desktops run the same AV with no issue. I have disabled it on the offending machine. May try it. Again though same av and no odd CPU usage.

by oh smeg

If the area that this unit in is cold it is possible that the HDD has the wrong Grease in it and that is preventing it spinning up till it heats up enough to run freely.

I have seen that previously when HDD where brought in from Overseas that where designed for a different country.

It's not common but it is possible. ;)

Col

by thumbsup2

It's certainly possible. We once lost the contents of a drive on a machine that was placed next to an outside brick wall in a heated building. Even though the heat in the building was turned on over the weekend but set at unoccupied settings (about 60F), that particular computer got too cold next to the wall. When they powered it up Monday morning, it corrupted the MBR during first boot because the drive didn't come up to speed soon enough. Even though later diagnostics on the drive said it was OK, the heads hadn't crashed, I replaced it. Once a drive crashes, you can never trust it again.

by razz2

Not common but agreed it is possible. The first thought is the pc is in a comfortable place but I am going to check temp settings after hours.

by razz2

Drive was tested using manufacturers utility as well as Spinrite. I fully agree about resource use. I have checked using Process Explorer for anything odd. Nothing obvious. CPU maybe 10%, RAM use normal, PF use normal, network use etc.

by razz2

I have not swapped RAM but in my experience not likely to be time sensitive. It would manifest in other areas than the first boot. Could be wrong of course as this machine can do that to you. HDD I have full confidence in, switch and cabling too as the Procurve would indicate packet errors and I rang out the cables. NIC or MB? could be. I was leaning at hardware too until the first re-install solved it for over a month. Great idea on the HDD spin but the manufacturer utility says it's fine. May swap the NIC but again odd for one boot. A bad NIC would normally show elsewhere I would think.

by thumbsup2

.... This is the BOSS's computer! You can't depend on anything working the way it's supposed to work! :-& ;)

After all, Gremlins live in all computers used by the Boss. That's their favorite 'haunt'. They hide in one component until you replace it, then run to the next component before you can detect them. You test the component and it works fine because the Gremlins jumped off of it. Without gutting the entire machine and putting all of the components through a sterile anti-Gremlin wash, you'll never catch them. ;)

My method of dealing with the Boss's Gremlins is to replace the machine while the Boss isn't looking. :p I then put his machine on my test bench and make it perform 'unusual acts', such as some real number crunching for a change, something that it's not accustomed to performing. The Gremlins get tired of having to actually work and run to another computer! Since the Boss's computer isn't close to the test bench, they go on a sight seeing excursion around the office until they finally find where the Boss is hiding! Then, we start all over again! ;)

by oh smeg

But had the Computer been running when you Tested the HDD with the Makers Utility?

If it is something screwy related to Heat/Grease it will test OK after the drive has warmed up enough to melt the grease and get things moving. It may fail the test though on the initial Boot. ;)

At one place I built a system for the Boss and for some reason it kept loosing the Partition Information on the HDD every week. But this only started happening 6 months after it was put into service. I tracked it down to the Boss placing hi mobile Phone beside a Scanner that he fitted with not enough shielding. Naturally I only found his Mobile Phone there after he had to complain to me that the system was no good. It wasn't there when I went in to try to work out what was happening and to make life harder he didn't believe me so he had to leave it there again to see if it caused the problem. :(

Col

by razz2

OK, I first want to thank everyone for great ideas. Many had been thought of and tested. Some had been considered and were just not worth it for the machine, like swapping a MB for testing. Others, like the temp issue, had never been considered.

I will run through them but again, but I only try one at a time and only get a shot a day. First I started simple again. I tried this before with no luck but I'm pretending this is a new issue and trying everything from scratch. I disabled startup scans on accessed/opened files and switched it to modified files. Then I will swap the NIC (again) and look at temp. I will report back.

Thanks!

by razz2

Perhaps it was my wording but I did not reinstall Office. I re-installed the whole machine including a drive wipe. Thanks though. Outlook was the main symptom as mentioned other apps too.I am going through some HW swaps this coming week.

by razz2

Well, It would seem that so far the solution was to change to scan on modify instead of open. Weird since it has functioned for years fine and for a month after a re-install of the machine. It may start up again later but for now it seems better. Should have seen that sooner I guess. Thanks to all!

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