Outlook Express & The Blue Screen.

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maple1

maple1

Minister of Fire
Sep 15, 2011
11,083
Nova Scotia
Not having a good morning here.

I open OE to check emails, I get through a couple (from regular contacts that should be OK), then get the BSOD. Otherwise the computer seems good. I started an AVG scan last night on the way to bed, it was OK. Did a Malwarebytes one when this started, that seems OK. Noticed Windows Update saying it had updates to install - so I did that but still had it happen afterwards. Browsing & other stuff all OK. Running XP Pro SP 3. Forget what version of OE - I'm afraid to start it again to check. Hard drive is a couple weeks old. No new software installed.

Anybody gone though this?

Is this legit? :

http://wiki-errors.com/rss2.php?wik...Guide+on+How+To+Fix+<b>Blue+Screen+Errors</b>

Running a simple repair utility to fix it seems too good to be true....
 
Do a startup in safe mode with networking. Pop around all your normal programs, including IE and OE. If everything seems to run correctly. Restart normal and test it. Sometimes just getting a good clean shut down of the programs (the puter will save the last shutdown "config") is all that is needed to correct a flaky MS program.
 
Switched to laptop for a while.

I can't seem to get it to boot in safe mode. I've hit f8 during bootup a few times, seems to just boot as usual. Don't think I've ever tried using safe mode on this thing before - don't know why I can't get it there.

I'm doing another Malwarebytes scan right now, a full one this time, did a quick one before.

Last time I started OE before doing another scan, I noticed that a couple of emails I had deleted earlier right before I got the first BSOD were back in my inbox - I had to delete them again.

I hate computers...
 
Kinda of straw grasping, I'll agree.

When it's done scanning I'll try to get it in safe mode again - maybe I didn't hit F8 enough times. If that still doesn't work I'll try getting it in safe using msconfig (doing a lot of googling here...)
 
can you run "restore" ?
 
Not sure - something I've never done.

I'm still leery of those few emails I had in my inbox this morning that I couldn't get deleted, since it went BS on me before I could do that. Does a scan (like Malwarebytes) scan email files that are in your inbox (wherever those are actually stored at) that haven't been read yet? One of them had an attachment.
 
I have seen where emails can get stuck in the inbox. Try moving them to the "Drafts" folder and delete from there.
 
Malware found nothing again.

I finally got into safemode via msconfig.

Have had OE running for a half hour now. Deleted those emails, now I'm moving some other stuff around. I read one thing while googling that the 'sent' folder only has so much room, then it'll start acting up. Not sure if that's right or not - but I'm unloading 3 years of emails & attachments from that to another folder. Deleting a bunch more other stuff too.

Then I guess I'll see what happens when I come out of safemode...
 
Yep. Sounds like you are making progress. Keep this thread updated so I can sleep tonight.:cool:
 
Well, I'm back on the desktop, out of safemode, with OE running. Sent a couple of emails to myself. So far so good - not sure how long it will last but we'll see, and I'll post back if it goes blue on me again.

Chances are it'll go blue now that I've posted this. I hate wasting hours dealing with this crap. Stupid Microsoft...
 
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I think OE has a Inbox size limit. My sister ran into this. I upgraded her to the full Outlook and it has not happened again, but we also created archive folders and moved a lot out of her inbox.
 
For the record - Outlook also has a limitation that when full requires you to chop up the storage into two or more pieces.
 
You don't know what those OE limitations are do you? Are they in number of messages? Or byte size? (i.e. attached files). Does it vary with amount of memory you have installed?

It hasn't happened again - yet. One of those emails I had in my inbox yesterday had a picture attached to it. I'm not sure how big it was - it wasn't important so I just deleted it without checking when I finally got into safe mode. But maybe it put me over some kind of limit. I try to keep my inbox fairly cleaned out, but I keep a few of them parked in there that have attachments until I can fully act on them then move somewhere else (it's my Remember-To-Do-This system...).
 
It is based off of the total file (storage) size.

Outlook Express is 2 GB

and Outlook is:
97-2002 - 2 GB
2003 and later is 20GB (by default)

Edit: Search for .pst file.
 
I use Thunderbird, and let it really build up with emails. I never had a clue to compact the folders, but learned it had to be done, when the programs started acting up. Not sure if Outlook does the same, but might want to check into it. I think in Thunderbird it is inbox only. I seem to remember if you made other folders and transferred to these folders it would be less problematic. I use it mostly for work, so have made several sub folders, and also compact frequently. Never had the issues again, so far.
 
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I think the 2gb limit was my issue, after more Googling. Sounds like things can go way wonkey in OE in a few possible different ways when any folder starts getting near that, let alone to it. I just checked a couple of my .dbx files - adding up what's in my current 'sent' box, and the new folder I moved my older 'sent' stuff into, it's around 1.8gb. So I'll have to remember to keep tabs on that, I guess.

Hope this helps someone else - I had no clue prior to this.
 
the actual MESSAGE of the blue screen is important. Make a note of it next time :P

usually blue screens come from memory allocation errors.

while 2gb may be a physical limit of storage due to fat32, there is no way oe puts 2gb of email into memory in any one shot.
 
briansol said:
while 2gb may be a physical limit of storage due to fat32
Click to expand...

I don't think this is the actual issue with the 2gb limitation. Outlook Express actually starts to loose its mind trying to index more than that. It was never programmed to do it. Usually it will start to warn you with eradic stuff happening even before it hits 2gb. Ya know...Microsoft and everything...:confused:
 
yep, i stopped using outlook express for my home mail some 10 years ago ish probably. i imap gmail trough thunderbird these days
 
briansol said:
the actual MESSAGE of the blue screen is important. Make a note of it next time :p

usually blue screens come from memory allocation errors.
Click to expand...

STOP: 0x0000008E (0xC0000005, 0xBF8D598D, 0xB7517A28, 0x00000000)

Win32k.sys.address BF8D598D base at BP800000, Date Stamp 50a1a16d.

So what does that mean?

( :p )
 
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