Entourage 2004 Won't Connect with Exchange

[mjhudso]

My company uses USA.net for Exchange services and I'm trying to
connect to my server there. What's happening is that I can connect
initally after creating a new Entourage profile and my Exchange
folders are syncronized with Entourage. And if I leave Entourage
active, all is well. But if I restart Entourage, with or without
recycling the MAC, Entourage won't connect to the USA.net server. With
this I get the message "Mail cannot be received at this time" and it
implies that the user id, password or security is invalid.

So far, I've recreated my Entourage account several times and have
also been excercising Keychain Access in the MAC where I think the
problem may lie. I think it's either that or something having to do
with security/encryption, about which I know very little. I've also
talked to the help desk at USA.net a few times but their MAC support
is less than stellar.

I've been googling the symptoms quite a bit and this problem doesn't
seem to be uncommon. But most of the solutions have to do with in-
house fixes and don't really address the external environment that I'm
in.

I'm using the latest version of Entourage on an OSX 10.4.8 Mac Mini.

Any advice or help would be much appreciated.

 

[Corentin Cras-Méneur]

My company uses USA.net for Exchange services and I'm trying to
connect to my server there. What's happening is that I can connect
initally after creating a new Entourage profile and my Exchange
folders are syncronized with Entourage. And if I leave Entourage
active, all is well. But if I restart Entourage, with or without
recycling the MAC, Entourage won't connect to the USA.net server. With
this I get the message "Mail cannot be received at this time" and it
implies that the user id, password or security is invalid.

It could be that the Keychai entry for this server is corrupted. Launch
the Keychain Access application and from there use the Keychain First
Aid command to try and repair the keychain.
If it doesn't work, simply delete the entry for the Exchange server to
let Entourage create a fresh new one.

Corentin

 

[mjhudso]

It could be that the Keychai entry for this server is corrupted. Launch
the Keychain Access application and from there use the Keychain First
Aid command to try and repair the keychain.
If it doesn't work, simply delete the entry for the Exchange server to
let Entourage create a fresh new one.

Corentin

--
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Thanks for the quick reply, but I've done that a couple times
already.

One of the peculiar things about the Keychain entry that Entourage
creates is it's format: in the account field is
"id@[email protected]" and the where field is "Exchange".
The is counterintuitive to me. I would think the where field would
contain the server info. I've tried that but it didn't make any
difference.

The other thing which is interesting here is that the USA.net setup
instructions specifies the server that I need to attach to is https://
exchange.usa.net but I don't see anything on Entourage/Mac side that
talks about SSL, certificates or anything else.

Thanks again, Mike

 

[William Smith]

The other thing which is interesting here is that the USA.net setup
instructions specifies the server that I need to attach to is https://
exchange.usa.net but I don't see anything on Entourage/Mac side that
talks about SSL, certificates or anything else.

Hi Mike!

Instead of using "https" use "http" or just enter the server name by
itself. Then select "This DAV service requires a secure connection
(SSL)". This essentially changes the "http" to an "https" connection.

If this doesn't work I suggest that you troubleshoot by setting up the
connection again but not selecting the option to remember your password.
This eliminates the Keychain as a potential cause for problems. Relaunch
Entourage and it should ask you for your password. Does this make a
difference?

bill

 

[mjhudso]

Hi Mike!

Instead of using "https" use "http" or just enter the server name by
itself. Then select "This DAV service requires a secure connection
(SSL)". This essentially changes the "http" to an "https" connection.

If this doesn't work I suggest that you troubleshoot by setting up the
connection again but not selecting the option to remember your password.
This eliminates the Keychain as a potential cause for problems. Relaunch
Entourage and it should ask you for your password. Does this make a
difference?

bill

No, it doesn't make a difference. After I set up the new connection,
the replication occurs as it should after asking for my password, but
after I close and restart Entourage and enter my password, I get the
same message as before.

There is a message regarding rules that I hadn't noticed before. After
they are run (not working because I'm not connected), there is a
message the account cannot be found. I guess this makes sense since my
Exchange server isn't being found.

The other thing is that if I empty the cache, it seems to force
Entourage to contact the server to replicate. This is hardly a
satisfactory solution since some of my clients have mailboxes that are
very large and to have to do this each time Entourage is started
simply isn't practical.

Mike

 

[William Smith]

No, it doesn't make a difference. After I set up the new connection,
the replication occurs as it should after asking for my password, but
after I close and restart Entourage and enter my password, I get the
same message as before.

There is a message regarding rules that I hadn't noticed before. After
they are run (not working because I'm not connected), there is a
message the account cannot be found. I guess this makes sense since my
Exchange server isn't being found.

The other thing is that if I empty the cache, it seems to force
Entourage to contact the server to replicate. This is hardly a
satisfactory solution since some of my clients have mailboxes that are
very large and to have to do this each time Entourage is started
simply isn't practical.

Hi Mike!

I tried looking on USA.net's website for the instructions they offer for
Entourage setup but I assume I must first be logged in to access them. I
would suggest that if multiple users have this problem on different
machines that either the setup instructions need tweaking (although I
can't think of anything that would cause your problem) or something is
broken on the Exchange server itself or the accounts.

Is one of your Macs a portable? Can you take it outside your network to
see if you get different results? Possibly It's not Entourage and not
Exchange but something between such as your Internet connection.

bill

 

[mjhudso]

Hi Mike!

I tried looking on USA.net's website for the instructions they offer for
Entourage setup but I assume I must first be logged in to access them. I
would suggest that if multiple users have this problem on different
machines that either the setup instructions need tweaking (although I
can't think of anything that would cause your problem) or something is
broken on the Exchange server itself or the accounts.

Is one of your Macs a portable? Can you take it outside your network to
see if you get different results? Possibly It's not Entourage and not
Exchange but something between such as your Internet connection.

bill

Bill, I've kind of been thinking along those lines as well. The
instructions on the USA.net site aren't even close to the guidance
that you get from their help desk (I've got a copy of the help desk
script) and that tells me their Mac support isn't that deep.

I'm running Entourage on a Mac mini so it is somewhat portable. But
I've got a few things I can try here on my office/home network before
I do that. I've got DSL and Cable coming in to a dual WAN router. I've
got a couple other routers I can use and I'll run them separately on
each ISP. I'm also planning to install Entourage on a client's home
network about mid-week and connect him up to USA.net on another ISP. I
can also reload OS X here if need be since I just use the MAC for
testing.

Thanks much for you help with this. I'll keep you posted.

Mike

 

[mjhudso]

Hi Mike!

I tried looking on USA.net's website for the instructions they offer for
Entourage setup but I assume I must first be logged in to access them. I
would suggest that if multiple users have this problem on different
machines that either the setup instructions need tweaking (although I
can't think of anything that would cause your problem) or something is
broken on the Exchange server itself or the accounts.

Is one of your Macs a portable? Can you take it outside your network to
see if you get different results? Possibly It's not Entourage and not
Exchange but something between such as your Internet connection.

bill

Bill, I've kind of been thinking along those lines as well. The
instructions on the USA.net site aren't even close to the guidance
that you get from their help desk (I've got a copy of the help desk
script) and that tells me their Mac support isn't that deep.

I'm running Entourage on a Mac mini so it is somewhat portable. But
I've got a few things I can try here on my office/home network before
I do that. I've got DSL and Cable coming in to a dual WAN router. I've
got a couple other routers I can use and I'll run them separately on
each ISP. I'm also planning to install Entourage on a client's home
network about mid-week and connect him up to USA.net on another ISP. I
can also reload OS X here if need be since I just use the MAC for
testing.

Thanks much for you help with this. I'll keep you posted.

Mike

 

[mjhudso]

Bill, I've kind of been thinking along those lines as well. The
instructions on the USA.net site aren't even close to the guidance
that you get from their help desk (I've got a copy of the help desk
script) and that tells me their Mac support isn't that deep.

I'm running Entourage on a Mac mini so it is somewhat portable. But
I've got a few things I can try here on my office/home network before
I do that. I've got DSL and Cable coming in to a dual WAN router. I've
got a couple other routers I can use and I'll run them separately on
each ISP. I'm also planning to install Entourage on a client's home
network about mid-week and connect him up to USA.net on another ISP. I
can also reload OS X here if need be since I just use the MAC for
testing.

Thanks much for you help with this. I'll keep you posted.

Mike

Bill,

A pretty strange thing happened some time over the last couple days. I
left Entourage running in the disconnected state since Wednesday and
some time between then and a couple hours ago, I started to replicate
mail and Entourage stayed connected. I've turned the screen saver off
so I can keep a closer watch on it in the future.

From a networking view, the only thing which changed in the last

couple days was that my DSL line went out and I restarted it from the
router. But the cable has been up consistently.

Because of a family emergency I haven't had an opportunity to jockey
around with my network configs as I described in my previous post.

I'll report back if'/when I learn anything.

Mike

 

[mjhudso]

On Feb 3, 10:23 pm, William Smith <[email protected]>
wrote:

Bill,

A pretty strange thing happened some time over the last couple days. I
leftEntouragerunning in the disconnected state since Wednesday and
some time between then and a couple hours ago, I started to replicate
mail andEntouragestayed connected. I've turned the screen saver off
so I can keep a closer watch on it in the future.


couple days was that my DSL line went out and I restarted it from the
router. But the cable has been up consistently.

Because of a family emergency I haven't had an opportunity to jockey
around with my network configs as I described in my previous post.

I'll report back if'/when I learn anything.

Mike

Bill,

I just figured out the problem. As you suggested, I was testing
another network configuration this afternoon with basically the same
results as before when I started to think about what was happening. It
seemed to me that the problem was not with Entourage but rather with
Exchange.

Then I started to think about passwords. When my company started using
USA.net, the only criteria for passwords was that they be 8 characters
long. Some months after that, they implemented a strong password
regime but grandfathered in the old password criteria. And it was the
old password structure that I've been using in Outlook and OWA with no
problems whatsoever. And that was the password I was trying to use in
Entourage.

So I changed my password to conform to the new standards in Exchange
and tried to replicate again in Entourage with the new password and it
ran successfully. Then I put together my network as it was before and
ran it again and now it's working great.

Thanks much for your help and valued suggestions.

Mike

 

[William Smith]

Bill,

I just figured out the problem. As you suggested, I was testing
another network configuration this afternoon with basically the same
results as before when I started to think about what was happening. It
seemed to me that the problem was not with Entourage but rather with
Exchange.

Then I started to think about passwords. When my company started using
USA.net, the only criteria for passwords was that they be 8 characters
long. Some months after that, they implemented a strong password
regime but grandfathered in the old password criteria. And it was the
old password structure that I've been using in Outlook and OWA with no
problems whatsoever. And that was the password I was trying to use in
Entourage.

So I changed my password to conform to the new standards in Exchange
and tried to replicate again in Entourage with the new password and it
ran successfully. Then I put together my network as it was before and
ran it again and now it's working great.

Hi Mike!

That's a great explanation and one for the Entourage Help Page. I'll be
sure to include it.

Thank you! bill