Outlook hangs/crashes

[Frogbus]

Hi

We're experiencing frequent Outlook hangs/crashes, particularly when we're on poor internet connections although that is not necessarily always the case.

We run Outlook 2007 synced using IMAP. Outlook is already set up to download headers only and we're experiencing similar issues across multiple PC's.

Any suggestions on optimising Outlook performance to avoid these issues?

Thanks

[phoenix]

You should update your forum profile with the output of the following command (do not post the information in this thread):

zmcontrol -v

Originally Posted by Frogbus

Any suggestions on optimising Outlook performance to avoid these issues?

Apart from 'hangs/crashes' you haven't given any details about what the exact issues are so it's difficult to offer any advice. How about some actual error messages from the event log or the ones that Outlook throws out? You also said 'similar issues across multiple PC's', are they similar issues of the same?

[Frogbus]

Originally Posted by phoenix

You should update your forum profile with the output of the following command (do not post the information in this thread):

zmcontrol -v

Apart from 'hangs/crashes' you haven't given any details about what the exact issues are so it's difficult to offer any advice. How about some actual error messages from the event log or the ones that Outlook throws out? You also said 'similar issues across multiple PC's', are they similar issues of the same?

Ok, Thanks Bill. Understood, I've enabled Outlook logging and will re-post info.

Basically, we get an "Outlook not responding" message, which sometimes results in a full crash, sometimes knocks Outlook into offline mode and sometimes after a period (could be up to a few mins) Outlook will actually respond.

In laymans terms (which I am!, I'm not a techy!) its like Outlook is struggling to deal with a conflict, a sync or a poor internet connection issue or perhaps some combination of all.

The only reliable pattern I can see is that these issues are more likely to happen if we're on a poor internet connection.

Same issues on multiple PC's.

Will post log early next week,

[phoenix]

It may well be just a poor connection causing the problem, you might also want to check that the MTU is set correctly on a machine that experiences the problem. Have a look at this document and check if this might be the cause: Adjusting IP MTU, TCP MSS, and PMTUD on Windows and Sun Systems [MS Windows Networking] - Cisco Systems

[Frogbus]

Thanks, will check this out.

[Frogbus]

Originally Posted by phoenix

It may well be just a poor connection causing the problem, you might also want to check that the MTU is set correctly on a machine that experiences the problem. Have a look at this document and check if this might be the cause: Adjusting IP MTU, TCP MSS, and PMTUD on Windows and Sun Systems [MS Windows Networking] - Cisco Systems

I've had a look at this and found the article here on how to adjust it for windows 7.

How do I determine what the correct MTU setting for the machine is and does the link above correctly explain how to adjust it? All machines are running windows 7 professional with automatic updates.

Thanks,

ps Typically! I haven't been able to recreate the issue since I enabled logging but I'll post logs as soon as I get a crash/hang

[Labsy]

Originally Posted by Frogbus

How do I determine what the correct MTU setting for the machine is and does the link above correctly explain how to adjust it?

To determine best MTU settings for your whole network, you should sit behind one of PC's, run command prompt ("cmd"), and test it. Ping your ISP provider's web page, or IP of your provider's gateway or some server:

PING www.yourprovider.com -f -l 1500

You'll get response something like this:

Packet needs to be fragmented but DF set.
Packet needs to be fragmented but DF set.
Packet needs to be fragmented but DF set.
Packet needs to be fragmented but DF set.

PING again and lower the last number (this is MTU packet size) for 20, then again and again. Determine at which MTU size packets stop being fragmented. Usually your breaking point will be around 1450 for ADSL lines, and around 1350-1390 for ISDN lines.

For example, if you get your breaking pint to be 1460, login to your ROUTER, navigate to WAN setup and there you'll find MTU size setting. Set it to 10-20 units lower, in this case set ti to 1440.

That's all regarding general MTU setup.

[Labsy]

Originally Posted by Frogbus

Hi
We're experiencing frequent Outlook hangs/crashes, ...

Interesting, but I have a client on Zimbra 6.0.6 GE with 15 computers in their LAN. They all connect via WAN to externally hosted Zimbra server via SSL wrapped IMAP protocol.
They run a mix of XP, Vista and Win7 machines with OUTLOOK 2003, 2007 and 2010 - total mess, I know.

Most of clients work fine, except of few users. Most problems with OUTLOOK FREEZING are experienced on Windows7 64-bit machines with Outlook 2010. Sometimes it takes up to 5 minutes until "Reply" or "Forward" window pops up, and Outlook remains in "Not responding" state in the meanwhile.

I haven't determine the cause yet, neither found any solution for them

[Frogbus]

While on a poor internet connection on Saturday I got the error in the attached screenshot. This is one of the range of errors we're experiencing.

The log file is attached. (For info, I also run a pop a/c within the same outlook profile so the log contains details of that as well as the Zimbra a/c)

Hope this helps. Thanks