Outlook Express Gone Wild!

December 4, 2007 10:34 AM

New Dell laptop has screwed up my Outlook Express. Any suggestions?

After transferring everything over to my new laptop when I attempt to send e-mails I get an "error" message. The e-mail then stays in the "out" box and, as frustrated recipients have let me know, Outlook Express repeatedly sends it until I delete it from the "out" box.

It also leaves no record in the "sent" file.

I've done the 45 min. calls with my provider (Qwest) as well as Dell and neither can figure it out.

Any help would be most appreciated!

posted by tangyraspberry to computers & internet (10 comments total)

What version of Outlook Express are you using?

I've had experience of something similar with Outlook as some versions won't allow the .pst to be larger than 2GB (I think). I'm not too familiar with Outlook Express though.

Also are you using XP or Vista?
posted by Elmore at 10:46 AM on December 4, 2007

Of course OE doesn't use .pst files. There is a discussion of a similar sounding problem and fix for Outlook Express 6 here.
posted by Elmore at 10:52 AM on December 4, 2007

your outgoing mail server is probably not configured properly.
posted by k8t at 10:54 AM on December 4, 2007

Did you reconfigure the server settings?
posted by Cat Pie Hurts at 10:54 AM on December 4, 2007

Google the error code.
posted by k8t at 10:54 AM on December 4, 2007

i know you'd probably prefer a fix, but until you figure it out, THUNDERBIRD is a great alternative. heck, you might even decide you want to stick with it once you do get OE working ;)
posted by hummercash at 11:11 AM on December 4, 2007

I am very confidant that I configured the outgoing mail server correctly and have redone it several times to be sure. I am using XP, and Outlook 6.0 and I have installed all the service pack updates. Elmore, thanks for the link. The problem sounds exactly the same, but at the end of the thread you linked to the persons says the troubleshooting offered didn't work. Any other thoughts?
posted by tangyraspberry at 11:12 AM on December 4, 2007

have you tried creating a new user account on the computer and configuring outlook express under the new account? this will at least isolate the issue to your config settings, or let you know if its a system wide issue.
posted by hummercash at 11:31 AM on December 4, 2007

Are you using a Qwest Dial in number or DSL? In most cases, if you are not using one of their lines, you will need to configure Outlook Express to send the username and password for the outbound server. I know there is a setting in Outlook, so there should be a setting in Outlook Express too. Also, some anti-virus software blocks outgoing SMTP (mail) traffic on port 25. You might need to look in to that too. My McAfee was configure as a default for this.
posted by Climber at 11:43 AM on December 4, 2007

Can you please paste the entire error message? It would really help.
posted by fiTs at 12:44 PM on December 4, 2007