Outlook Express problem

[larrywade]

I just ran RegCleaner 4.3. Have not run for a long time. I ran it 6 different times cleaning out different things. Now when I run Outlook Express 6 it won't read any of my email accounts. Getting "host could not be found" type error. I go onto my Questmail account on Futurequest and am able to check my email fine in these accounts. I restored all 6 backups from RegCleaner and am still getting the Outlook Express problem. Could this be a coincidance? Did RegCleaner do something to the registry effecting Outlook Express? Any suggestions?

[Randall]

Not sure what RegCleaner might have done, but have you checked the account info in Outlook Express? If it's been lost or changed, it's easy enough to fix.

Other than that, are you running a firewall like ZoneAlarm?

Randall

[frankc]

Originally posted by Randall:
Other than that, are you running a firewall like ZoneAlarm?Are you using an antivirus programs to watch in/outbound emails? A change to the pop and smtp server info will cause that type of message.

I believe RegCleaner keeps backups of changes, so IF the problem is registry-related, you should be able to back the change(s) out to find the breaking point.

[larrywade]

The pop, SMTP and other settings are still OK. Yes, I am using McAfee virus scanning, but no change when I disable it. I tried restoring backups from Regclean but no change. I am convinced something in the registry has changed. Any idea what to check in the registry?

[frankc]

Originally posted by larrywade:
Any idea what to check in the registry? First thing I'd do is set up a new email account in OE that checks a known, existing FQ email account. Click the down arrow on Send/Receive and select the new account and see wha' hoppens.

[larrywade]

I did try deleting one of my email accounts in Outlook Express and then adding it back. No luck.

[frankc]

Originally posted by larrywade:
No luck. Windows Update?

[larrywade]

I am still trying to fix my Outlook Express 6 email problem without uninstalling/reinstalling OE. Does this mean anything:

At the MS-DOS prompt I do a - ping pop.wade2.com
and get "unknown host pop.wade2.com".

[ryount]

Yea, it means you aren't able to resolve the pop server. If that's the one you are trying to use in Outlook Express it isn't going to be able to retrieve mail. Sounds like a DNS issue. It works ok here though.

Try doing: nslookup pop.wade2.com 207.217.126.81

That's Earthlink's DNS server.

*Updated reply: 3:15PM

[larrywade]

So what is the solution?

[ryount]

See above, post what it shows for the address under pop.wade2.com.

[larrywade]

nslookup on pop.wade2.com gives:

pop.wade2.com internet address = 63.151.145.44
wade2.com nameserver = ns1.futurequest.net
wade2.com nameserver = ns2.futurequest.net
wade2.com nameserver = ns3.futurequest.net
ns1.futurequest.net internet address = 63.151.147.2
ns2.futurequest.net internet address = 63.151.112.2
ns3.futurequest.net internet address = 63.144.24.2

Now what?

[ryount]

Try just doing: nslookup pop.wade2.com

If you still get host not found then there's a problem with your ISP's name server. How long have you had this domain? As a temporary solution you could probably put in 63.151.145.44 for your pop server address.

[larrywade]

I can't do nslookup on my computer (Windows98). I used a site on the internet to do it and got the results above.

I downloaded a utility (nslook.exe) from PCPitstop and tried it on my computer. I get "unknown host pop.wade2.com" when I try nslook pop.wade2.com. When I try nslook 63.151.145.44 I get "unknown host" also.

I have had this domain for years. I have had futurequest hosting it for 8 months.

I tried 63.151.145.44 for the pop server address in one of my email accounts and get - "A TCP/IP error occurred while trying to connect to the server. Account: 'pop.wade2.com (1)', Server: '63.151.145.44', Protocol: POP3, Port: 110, Secure(SSL): No, Error Number: 0x800CCC15".

Any more suggestions would be appreciated!

[Randall]

Larry, can you view your web site in a browser? The IP is the same, so I'd expect that to fail as well if it's a DNS issue.

Randall

[larrywade]

No problem viewing my web site or anything else using browser (IE6). Any ideas?

[Randall]

I think that would rule out any problem with your ISP or basic network plumbing. I think.

You don't have a firewall running? Not even something that came with McAfee? When certain programs can connect while others don't, that's what I'd be looking for.

Edit: I should have asked you if you can ping anything else. Are we sure it's just your domain that's unresolvable?

Randall

[larrywade]

No firewall running. I shut down Mcafee Virus Scanner and still have the problem. I have a router and I shut it down along with my cable modem and re-started them with no change.

I don't thing Ping works on anything. What would this mean?

[Randall]

Can you ping 127.0.0.1?

Randall

[larrywade]

Yes, I can ping 127.0.0.1.

[Randall]

That's a start. What about ping localhost?

Randall

[larrywade]

Ping localhost works. What next?

[larrywade]

Ping localhost works. Also, I went to my other computer in the house. The computers are on a router. It works fine when I ping pop.wade2.com on the other computer, while my main computer gets the "unknown host" error when I ping pop.wade2.com.

[GregJ]

I went a-googling for "Error Number: 0x800CCC15" and found this link (http://support.earthlink.net/mu/1/psc/img/walkthroughs/windows_9x_nt/email/oe_5.0/2738.psc.html) and this one (http://www.experts-exchange.com/Operating_Systems/Win98/Q_20173186.html) among others. One mentioned making sure the OE proxy server setting was off. I don't use OE myself (view it as dangerous) so I can't help on the settings.

Good Luck,
-g

[Randall]

I thought about proxies, but I'm not sure how that would affect Ping...

Anyway, here's what I would do next, sitting at the main computer:
ping the computer's IP address
ping the router's IP on the LAN side
ping the router's IP on the WAN side Hopefully by that point a pattern will have emerged.

Randall

[larrywade]

I don't know what the IP address is for my computer or my router. Is there a way to find out?

[Andilinks]

http://whatismyipaddress.com/

the cost is only a few annoying pop ups.

[larrywade]

Pinging my computer's IP address failed.

[Arthur]

I had something similar(?) happen on a Windows 2000 machine, where apparently my registry was messed up by something.

I could surf the net with Internet Explorer, but not with any other browser (if you're only using IE, maybe try Phoenix (http://www.mozilla.org/projects/phoenix/phoenix-release-notes.html)). Pinging wouldn't work, although ICMP was still working, because the machine was responding to pings. Most network applications wouldn't work.

I ended up re-installing Windows :waa:

http://whatismyip.com/ - no popups

[Randall]

Pinging my computer's IP address failed. If that's the address you got from whatismyipaddress.com, then you're pinging the router's IP on the internet (WAN) side, which answers the third question.

To answer the other two, open an MS-DOS prompt and run winipcfg. Select your network card from the drop-down list, and that will give you the PC's address on the local network. It will also show you the Default Gateway, which is your router's address. Then see if you can ping either one of them.

Arthur may be right about registry corruption -- considering what started all of this -- but I'm hoping you can get away with simply reinstalling the network components rather than the entire OS.

Randall

[Randall]

Oddly enough, I just fixed a similarly weird (but nearly opposite) problem on my boss's home PC: She could get her email, but couldn't browse. That system gave me enough clues to track down the source -- a corrupted Content Advisor policy file -- but I'm not sure there's a smoking gun here.

Amazing how many different things can go wrong. ~#

Randall

[larrywade]

Pinging the IP address and the Default Gateway address both failed.

[Randall]

OK, that's enough troubleshooting -- time for the blunt-instrument approach.

Go into the Network Properties and select the TCP/IP entry for your network card (it would look something like "TCP/IP -> Linksys LNE100TX" if you had a Linksys card). Click on Properties. If anything is specified on the IP Address, DNS Configuration or Gateway tabs, you'll need to make a note of the info. Then go back to Network Properties.

Make sure you have the Windows 98 CD handy, as you may be asked for it at some point.

Remove all of the TCP/IP entries from the list of network components -- you'll have at least two of them. Click on OK and restart the computer.

Now go back into Network Properties. Click on Add; double-click on Protocol; select Microsoft and then TCP/IP. Click OK.

If you noted any special settings for the TCP/IP entry mentioned above, you'll have to re-enter them. Otherwise just click on OK and the system will reinstall the drivers. You'll be asked to restart again.

Now see if you can check your email.

Randall

[larrywade]

I removed TCP/IP and re-installed it. Still not able to read email thru Outlook Express and still not able to ping anything.

[Randall]

Something doesn't quite add up here, and it's making me nuts. Diagnosing system problems long distance can be difficult (not to mention very slow). :\

I'm going to suggest a new angle of attack, but before I get into that: See if you can ping the ailing PC from your other computer.

OK, here's my next suggestion. Run msconfig from a DOS prompt. On the Startup tab, make a note of anything currently unchecked. Then uncheck everything, and restart the PC.

Anything now?

Randall

[larrywade]

Now I think we are on to something.!! I notice when I do MSCONFIG that in the STARTUP tab there are 2 programs (TrueVector and MiniLog) that are a part of Zone Alarm. I had previously disabled the main Zone Alarm program several weeks ago since I don't need it anymore. I unchecked these 2 programs and restarted the computer. Now when I try to read my email instead of it immediately failing, it sits there for a while before it comes back with the failed message. Still fails though.

And now I am not able to browse at all with Internet Explorer. But I can now successfully PING my IP address (but still not able to Ping other things).

I go back into MSCONFIG and uncheck everything else, restart and have the same results (OE and IE don't work). I go back into MSCONFIG and check everything back to how it was, restart, and now I am back to where I started. OE does not work, pinging my IP address does not work, but IE works fine.

By the way, after I deleted TCP/IP and then added it back, now every time Windows boots up, I get a box asking to Enter Network Password.

[Randall]

Ah. :) I thought I smelled a firewall. Even though you disabled the main program, parts of it are still running. So I would uninstall ZoneAlarm entirely via Add/Remove Programs and see if that does the trick.

Edit: If you lose browsing again, try reinstalling ZoneAlarm (and TCP/IP if necessary).

Incidentally, ZA still has its uses even with a hardware firewall. The router will stop attacks from the outside, but it doesn't prevent unauthorized software running inside the network (spyware, trojans, worms) from "phoning home." A software firewall will block them.
By the way, after I deleted TCP/IP and then added it back, now every time Windows boots up, I get a box asking to Enter Network Password. The old 9x password nonsense. :rolleyes: It's been a while, but I think this is what you need:

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=KB;en-us;q152104

If you can't shut the thing off, you can use TweakUI (http://download.com.com/3000-2341-2830963.html?legacy=cnet) to log you in automatically.

Randall

[larrywade]

Thanks for your help. It looks like the problem was Zone Alarm the whole time.

[Randall]

:QTthumb: Awright! Good to hear you're back in business -- I was a little worried yesterday that you'd been knocked offline altogether -- and glad I could help.

I'll tuck this away in the back of my head for future reference: Don't run a registry cleaner when ZA is merely disabled -- remove it or re-enable it first. Just in case...

Randall