Entourage Won't Launch (And Rebuild Does Nothing)

J

Jemaine81

Hello everyone. I am in serious tech trouble and need some assistance. I recently installed Office 08. For two weeks everything was great, but this morning I tried to launch Entourage and I got the dreaded "Entourage cannot access your data. To attempt to fix..." etc. I can think of no reason why I would have gotten this message. I have plenty of space and plenty of RAM. Alas, I have rebuilt four times, all to no avail. I even tried re-installing the software. Nothing.

In a potentially related note, Word (while functional) also gives me a notice now that says something is wrong with the Database and instructs me to rebuild. Again, Word functions (does occasionally quit on me), but I can do NOTHING with Entourage. If anyone has ANY advice at all, I am completely all ears. Thank you in advance.
Best,
N
 
D

Diane Ross

Hello everyone. I am in serious tech trouble and need some assistance. I
recently installed Office 08. For two weeks everything was great, but this
morning I tried to launch Entourage and I got the dreaded "Entourage cannot
access your data. To attempt to fix..." etc. I can think of no reason why I
would have gotten this message. I have plenty of space and plenty of RAM.
Alas, I have rebuilt four times, all to no avail. I even tried re-installing
the software. Nothing.

In a potentially related note, Word (while functional) also gives me a notice
now that says something is wrong with the Database and instructs me to
rebuild. Again, Word functions (does occasionally quit on me), but I can do
NOTHING with Entourage. If anyone has ANY advice at all, I am completely all
ears. Thank you in advance.
Best,
Click to expand...

Sometimes you can get a bogus error message. It's a corrupted preference
file. Does Entourage ever open?

Try deleting this preference file in your User's --> Library Preferences:

com.microsoft.OfficeNotifications.plist
To see if the background verify option is giving a false report, try running
the Database Utility and having it do a verify operation. If it gives you a
clean bill of health, you know you are safe in turning off the background
checking.

What happens if you create a new blank Identity in Entourage? Does it work?
If not, then there are problems in your User's account. Test in a new User.
Go to System Preferences --> Create a New User in Accounts. Switch to the
New User by logging out/in or use Fast User Switching. Test Office there.
 
J

Jemaine81

Thanks for the reply Diane. Unfortunately, even after deleting that preference it still will not open. and gives me the same message. I would try creating a new blank identity, but I do not believe I can do that without being able to open Entourage. Same thing with a new user. If I am incorrect in this assumption please clarify and I will give it a shot. Or pass along any other hypotheses you may have. I really appreciate your help in this matter. Cheers.
 
D

Diane Ross

Thanks for the reply Diane. Unfortunately, even after deleting that preference
it still will not open. and gives me the same message. I would try creating a
new blank identity, but I do not believe I can do that without being able to
open Entourage. Same thing with a new user. If I am incorrect in this
assumption please clarify and I will give it a shot. Or pass along any other
hypotheses you may have. I really appreciate your help in this matter. Cheers.
Click to expand...

A new User is setup in System Preferences. If you can't do that you have
serious problems.

Yes, you would have to be able to open Entourage to create a new Identity ,
but in a new User you might be able to open Entourage to create a new
Identity.

Testing in a new User will quickly tell you if the problem is system wide or
if it¹s your User¹s folder that contains the problem.
 
J

Jemaine81

Excellent! (I think). I created a new user account and was able to sign into Entourage without a problem. So at least I know it's not system wide, which is a big relief. Alas, I now need to figure out the origin of the problem in my User's folder so I can get back into Entourage from my primary user account. I REALLY appreciate this help Diane. Whenever you get a chance, any thoughts on the next step would be greatly appreciated?
Cheers
N
 
D

Diane Ross

Excellent! (I think). I created a new user account and was able to sign into
Entourage without a problem. So at least I know it's not system wide, which is
a big relief. Alas, I now need to figure out the origin of the problem in my
User's folder so I can get back into Entourage from my primary user account. I
REALLY appreciate this help Diane. Whenever you get a chance, any thoughts on
the next step would be greatly appreciated?
Click to expand...

Troubleshooting Your User Account for a Problem

<http://www.entourage.mvps.org/troubleshoot/test_user.html>

All troubleshooting is a matter of elimination. Now you know where to look,
we should be able to track the problem down.

Note, one new user in Entourage 2008 found that rebuilding did not fix the
problem. They had to create a new Identity. Something is hinky in importing
and rebuilding the imported data for 08.
 
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