Outlook 2002 - Unable to send test message

OK, so my old laptop crashed, someone gave me a new one, and now I am trying to recover. Got the old Outlook 2002 .pst files imported (took hours) with all the contacts. I then configured OL 2002 with my mail accounts at Yahoo (POP), with Comcast (my ISP), and with Gmail.

The Comcast account is the only one that is fully functional. The Yahoo and the Gmail accounts return the following error when I press the "test account settings" button: "Send test e-mail message: Unable to send test message. Please verify the E-mail address field"

I have even run the Detect and Repair function with the MS Office inserted.

I have verified everything up one side and down the other. I have tried all sorts of combinations. I am at a loss to figure this one out and, as usual, look forward to help from the experts and geniuses here.

On this Toshiba laptop, I am running...
Outlook 2002
Avast! antivirus (same problem with Avast! disabled)
Home network - DLink Router
XP Pro, SP3
No software firewall (including Window's firewall which is off)

Thank you in advance.

drcarl

 

Sorry I don't have much info that will help other than TRIPLE check your account settings. The only reason a test message should fail is authentication with the server.

 

I believe I am having trouble with Outlook 2002 and its ability to authenticate with the server.

BTW - I quadruple checked.

Just found something else. Possible conflict. The laptop, new to me, appears to have OL 2003 on it from the previous user. Although it is newer than my 2002, I don't have any discs for it (should I get into a bind) so I suppose I should be uninstalling the 2003 version.

News at 11....lol

 

I can't say for sure that these two are causing the issue but it definitly wouldn't hurt to uninstall them both and start with a fresh install of the copy you own... I'm curious to know if that fixes it too! Let me know if it does/doesn't i'll keep thinking/researching it see what i can come up with.

 

....

 

Sorry if this is a duplicate but I edited that message so much I think parts were left out... LOL... It's been a long day!

Hey just to clarify yahoo and gmail are NOT working at all correct. Inbound or outbound? But comcast is fully operational....?.. I have setup OL accounts before and had the test message not work at all but the account was fine. Please try to send a message and recieve a message manually to double check. (usually when this has happened to me it's been because of the"My outgoing server requires authentication" in more settings.

Try alternate SMTP ports 25, 465,or 587
Tryto change the server timeout time from 1 min to 5 min

I've also read that gmail requires office SP3 which I do not know for sure... Here is a link of somethings that might be helpful to check on http://www.slipstick.com/problems/nosend.htm

OR

Your ISP (Comcast) might block Gmail's servers so try your ISP SMTP server settings (so the same ones you use for the comcast address). I AM PRETTY SURE THIS WILL WORK!

Could also be a glitchy email scanner / Anti-Virus...

 

Thanx gang...most interesting replies. I'm sure we can solve this...and sooner will be better than later, thanks to you...

Having run it for the last 12 or so hours, I now await the import of one of my 6 month old .pst files to finish ... so I can not yet try the suggestions.

I did uninstall both Offices, and then installed my Office 2002 for Teachers and Students. I have upgraded the OS to SP3. I will perform all updates to Office, not that it is back in. I will try the alternate SMTP ports, and will try to figure out how to create and enter an exception for the Windows Firewall.

Comcast does appear to be fully operational as far as the test message goes. I have not yet tried to send or receive any actual messages. Funny, on some past occasions it seems that the simple act of sending a real test message has cleared send/receive problems up.

RE: firewall...I thought that at least SOME of my doors and windows were closed because of the hardware firewall...the router. I have read that it's best to have two: a hard- and a software firewall... I admit that I just got tired of having to interact with Zone Alarm, saying yes or saying no, and that I was running a machine with limited resources...and am always interested in speed, well, I thought I could get away with just the router as a firewall...has this become just plain unacceptable? (I suppose I should learn about anonymous browsing as well)

Many thanks in advance...

drcarl

 

Comcast setup is fully functional per “test account settings” button; NOT when I hit F9 to send and receive all from Outlook. Hitting F9 for send and receive all returns with an “Operation Failed” error message

What I’ve tried…

Added Outlook.exe as an exception for Windows Firewall.
Installed old .pst files overnight.
Went over and over settings for mail accounts 1) ISP, 2) gmail, 3) yahoo.
Tried putting Comcast/ISP SMTP data into Server Information box (changed “plus.smtp.mail.yahoo.com” to “smtp.comcast.net”)
Additionally, tried using ISP Logon Information.
Increased timeout to 5 minutes…(error returns in a matter of seconds anyway)
Tried alternate SMTP ports 25, 465, and 587 on both Yahoo and Gmail accts.


What I keep getting back when I hit the “test account…” button:

These tests are OK:
--Establish network connection
--find outgoing mail server (SMTP)
--find incoming mail server (POP3)
--Log onto incoming mail server (POP3) …..but….

Here’s the error: “Send test email message: Unable to send test Message. Please verify the e-mail address field.”

Tried to send an email to all three accounts from Outlook and got: “The operation failed. An object can not be found.” The test mail does now sit in the Outbox unsent. Tried sending/receiving to and from only the Comcast account. And got the same error.


I guess while I await further help, I’ll update Office and…I don’t know…be glad my Blackberry is working and getting mail?

Thanks in advance….

drcarl



PS - Beside installing Office updates, I will run detect and repair, too...

 

UPDATE:

Made an Outlook profile “Carl 52” via Control Panel/Mail….restarted after updating Office 2002 XP with SP3, started Outlook and a LOT of mail came in. I guess it is set to send and receive on startup. Gotta fix that.

Received this error message:

Task 'pop.gmail.com - Sending and Receiving' reported error (0x80042108) : 'Outlook is unable to connect to your incoming (POP3) e-mail server. If you continue to receive this message, contact your server administrator or Internet service provider (ISP).'

So…looks like I have more problems. Gmail is not coming in…and, worse, I now have two profiles…”Outlook” profile with all my contacts, and “Carl 52” that seems to work but is barren and empty - mo old mail, no contacts, no nothing…

I also want to import my 6 month old .pst files - maybe into the Carl 52 profile??? ---and 3 giant Archive files…and I want tham all to work, obviously…What to do?

 

UPDATE:

Not sure if I should start a new thread...some miracle occurred...I made a new Profile by way of Start, Control Panel, Mail... and Bingo! All mail settings were healed! And the profile I created works just fine now! But it's empty!

So now I need help importing or associating .pst data with a profile.

I have two profiles! One is called "Outlook" and the other is "Carl 52."

The "Outlook" profile has 12 hours worth of imported data from a .pst file amd includes mail, contacts, inbox and sub-folders....lots of stuff....but the mail does not work.

My current challenge is to somehow import all the stuff (mail, contacts, Inbox sub-folders) into the "Carl 52" profile, either from the "Outlook" profile, or from the 6 month old .pst file.

Whichever way is the fastest and which does not screw up the now working mail settings in the Carl 52 profile. The "Outlook" profile's mail still isn't working...but, if I can import the stuff to the new profile, I don't really care!

Then, I want to Import 3 other additional files which I save saved on an eternal drive. They are called "Archive 001" "Archive 002" and "Archive 003."

Like everything, this is probably easy (once you know how -lol).

I'd love some step-by-step directions...

TIA

Dr Carl

 

nuther update:

Looks like I screwed it up...now I am back to the same error message where it appears that Outlook will not authenticate with gmail nor yahoo's (paid for) POP3 servers.

Can receive, but no can send.

nuts.

 

Sorry for the delay in responding I've been super busy.... I'll do my best to get back with you so we can get this figured out I hate unsolved issues and need to know what is causing this or i'll go insane... LOL... Probably won't be able to get on it until Monday but like I said i'll do my best to get back to you before then. GL

 

UPDATE

The Comcast account is now the only one that is fully functional. The Yahoo and the Gmail accounts now return the following error when I press the "test account settings" button:

"Send test e-mail message: Unable to send test message. Please verify the E-mail address field"


Another Error message I’ve seen along the way:

“Task 'pop.gmail.com - Sending and Receiving' reported error (0x80042108) : 'Outlook is unable to connect to your incoming (POP3) e-mail server. If you continue to receive this message, contact your server administrator or Internet service provider (ISP)”



I have even run the Detect and Repair function with the MS Office inserted.

I have verified everything up one side and down the other. I have tried all sorts of combinations. I am at a loss to figure this one out and, as usual, look forward to help from the experts and geniuses here.


I AM RUNNING:

Toshiba laptop
Outlook 2002 (updated)
Avast! antivirus (same problem with Avast! disabled)
Home network - DLink Router
XP Pro, SP3
Window's firewall with exception for Outlook.exe

WHAT I HAVE TRIED:

Uninstalling the copy of Outlook 2003 Pro which came with the machine
Uninstalling everything I could find that is Outlook related including folders like Office 10, Office 11, Outlook, etc….in the Local Settings folder
Running CCleaner
Reinstalling Office 2002 from my purchased copy
Made different Profiles via Control Panel \ Mail
Triple checked all mail settings
Tried all kinds of combinations of checked and un-checked options boxes in mail settings
Tried alternate SMTP ports 25, 465,or 587
Tried with Windows Firewall off. (Will install Comodo later)
Changed server timeout time from 1 min to 2 min (error returns with 5-20 seconds anyway)
Tried putting Comcast/ISP SMTP data into Server Information box (changed “plus.smtp.mail.yahoo.com” to “smtp.comcast.net”)

Comcast: fully functional. Yahoo and Gmail…receive but can not send. ARGHHhhhh!

Oh please….my Kingdom for the answer (j/k – how about a nice big Thank You?)…please make my Gmail and Yahoo email accounts work from within Outlook.

I’ll get to importing contacts, accessing archived folders, and synchronizing with Blackberry later. That'll be easy I think.

Thank you in advance.

drcarl

 

UPDATE – SUNDAY June 28, 2009

Well, I must have done SOMEthing right. Now all mail accounts are fully functional.

I restored a few folders (that I was careful not to permanently delete) from the Recycle Bin. Maybe that was it.

Now I am interested in 1) making my contacts folder viable and useable. I have a .pst which I called contacts. I hope to make the data accessible without messing up my now working mail settings. I wonder if I must actually import the file, or if I can simply put a copy on the drive and tell Outlook where the file is...and associate Outlook with the file...?

I also hope to 2) be able to access three folders (with tons of mail n stuff) called Archive 001, Archive 002, etc.

I got rid of the two non-working profiles which I set-up with Control Panel \ Mail, and now have only ONE profile. I’d like to 3) stop outlook from asking me which profile I want to use (since there is only one) and I did indeed check the “make default” box several times.

That’s the news.

Thanks in advance for your input.

Dr Carl

 

nevermind....I figured it out.

 

I think my main success was because I was careful not to completely delete from the recycle bin all the folders I was slashing out of application data and local user folders.

I think part of my problem was some spotty Yahoo service, though I was having the same problem with gmail. Frankly, I tried SO many things (having absolutely no guidance) that I'm not really sure what worked.

Shut downs followed by restarts helped a tad.

Really, it was weird. I'd test the settings, they'd fail, I'd give up....and hours later I'd "try one more time" only to have things working.

I was very close to not even trying to deal with this hand me down computer, and instead putting all my energy into tweaking a new box.

Best advice I can offer is within the phrase: "Google is my friend"

Good luck to anyone else...



dr carl