Outlook 2003 crash with viewer pane

[Akidd]

I have had a crash with Outlook 2003 since it was first released. I really
like it, and continue to use it - but this problem is very aggravating and no
suggestions I've tried have resolved it.

I am running XP SP2, up-to-date according to Windowsupdate page. Running
the latest video drivers, system bios. Office 2003 is likewise up-to-date as
per Officeupdate. This problem has existed through updates of all these
products and drivers though.

Every now and then - about every 3 or so days - when I first launch Outlook
it crashes. If I reload it it crashes. It ONLY happens if the viewer pane
is enabled. I've tried using Word as editor and not as editor. I've run
ScanPST - I've defrag'd the disk hoping I had a bad sector or something.
I've reinstalled Office 2003. No matter what I do eventually Outlook will
start crashing on starting it.

If I delete my OUTCMD.DAT or do a Repair with the original install disk the
crash stops and Outlook works again fine.

Tools|options|other|Advanced only shows one plugin "Exchange Property Page",
no COM Add-ins and only Exchange Extensions property pages in Add-In Manager.

The Event viewer after a crash shows:

Event Type: Error
Event Source: Microsoft Office 11
Event Category: None
Event ID: 1000
Date: 9/3/2004
Time: 9:10:26 AM
User: N/A
Computer: BIGBLACK
Description:
Faulting application outlook.exe, version 11.0.6353.0, stamp 408f2937,
faulting module exsec32.dll, version 11.0.6361.0, stamp 40da1046, debug? 0,
fault address 0x00007bf0.

For more information, see Help and Support Center at
http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.
Data:
0000: 41 00 70 00 70 00 6c 00 A.p.p.l.
0008: 69 00 63 00 61 00 74 00 i.c.a.t.
0010: 69 00 6f 00 6e 00 20 00 i.o.n. .
0018: 46 00 61 00 69 00 6c 00 F.a.i.l.
0020: 75 00 72 00 65 00 20 00 u.r.e. .
0028: 20 00 6f 00 75 00 74 00 .o.u.t.
0030: 6c 00 6f 00 6f 00 6b 00 l.o.o.k.
0038: 2e 00 65 00 78 00 65 00 ..e.x.e.
0040: 20 00 31 00 31 00 2e 00 .1.1...
0048: 30 00 2e 00 36 00 33 00 0...6.3.
0050: 35 00 33 00 2e 00 30 00 5.3...0.
0058: 20 00 34 00 30 00 38 00 .4.0.8.
0060: 66 00 32 00 39 00 33 00 f.2.9.3.
0068: 37 00 20 00 69 00 6e 00 7. .i.n.
0070: 20 00 65 00 78 00 73 00 .e.x.s.
0078: 65 00 63 00 33 00 32 00 e.c.3.2.
0080: 2e 00 64 00 6c 00 6c 00 ..d.l.l.
0088: 20 00 31 00 31 00 2e 00 .1.1...
0090: 30 00 2e 00 36 00 33 00 0...6.3.
0098: 36 00 31 00 2e 00 30 00 6.1...0.
00a0: 20 00 34 00 30 00 64 00 .4.0.d.
00a8: 61 00 31 00 30 00 34 00 a.1.0.4.
00b0: 36 00 20 00 66 00 44 00 6. .f.D.
00b8: 65 00 62 00 75 00 67 00 e.b.u.g.
00c0: 20 00 30 00 20 00 61 00 .0. .a.
00c8: 74 00 20 00 6f 00 66 00 t. .o.f.
00d0: 66 00 73 00 65 00 74 00 f.s.e.t.
00d8: 20 00 30 00 30 00 30 00 .0.0.0.
00e0: 30 00 37 00 62 00 66 00 0.7.b.f.
00e8: 30 00 0d 00 0a 00 0.....


I can't imagine what else to try. This is the only app on my system that
crashes regularly- including the rest of Office. What is corrupting my
OUTCMD.DAT file????

 

[Akidd]

I'll also add that technet has nothing on this as there is no useful Event
Catagory or Event Id.

 

[BillR [MVP]]

There's a similar problem referenced with Outlook 2000:
See if any of this applies or helps:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;325370
Note that your mapi files will be local files.

Outlook can crash on opening with the reading pane on if it has a problem
with the selected message. turning the reading pane off, starting Outlook
and deleting that message usually helps. This is in cases where I haven't
seen exsec32.dll referenced.

 

[Akidd]

Thanks BillR but this isn't my problem. I can rectify the issue by doing as
these steps state and delete OUTCMD.DAT - but why is this crash continuing to
show up all the time?

Plus a complete install and reinstall of Office doesn't resolve the problem.

I'm convinced I've found a bug or incompatibility.

 

[Akidd]

I should have added that I can delete the message the viewer is "viewing" at
the time of the crash, close and restart outlook, reenable the viewer and it
still crashes.

Is OUTCMD.DAT a cache of somesort that retains whatever caused the
viewerpane to crash? And if so, why am I so lucky in finding messages every
3 or so days that crash Outlook?

 

[BillR [MVP]]

Have you tried *all* the steps in the article? There is much more to delete
than just outcmd.dat.
as to why you are getting corruption remains a mystery.

What add-ins and level of customization do you have?

 

[Akidd]

Have you tried *all* the steps in the article? There is much more to delete

than just outcmd.dat.
as to why you are getting corruption remains a mystery.

ALL the steps means deleting several DLLs. I have since done this and will
report back if the crash exists - however deleting DLLs means something was
corrupted in a binary and since Ihave done a complete uninstall of Office and
reinstall - and I have run Office Repair multiple times I find it hard to
understand what a Repair is actually doing if it isn't checking file
integrity. I've also run a FC /B on all the files I renamed and they are
exactly the same down to the byte.

What add-ins and level of customization do you have?

Tools|options|other|Advanced only shows one plugin "Exchange Property Page",
no COM Add-ins.

Not sure what you mean by level of customization. I believe I'm pretty
vanilla as I don't have anything 3rd party running aned almost no options set
other than first install defaults. It pretty much meets my needs after a
fresh install.

 

[BillR [MVP]]

some dll's are only replaced when they are deleted and then a repair is
done.

 

[Akidd]

First off, thanks for your direction BillR.

some dll's are only replaced when they are deleted and then a repair is
done.

Not much of a repair then. checking for existence of files is only step one
in determining a filesystem problem with an installed app.

And as I said - I did do a complete uninstall of Office before too.

 

[Sadek]

Where would I find OUTCMD.DAT file. I searched (including the hidden files)
and it is not there.. Thanks

 

[Sadek]

It seems that this problem with crashing in Outlook 2003 is going without a
clear response from Microsoft. I've tried all the steps including creating
a new profile and importing the outlook data file into the new profile. The
preview pane is OFF. I also disable checking for new message automatically.
But the minute you start send and receive Outlook starts crashing again...

As I could see from some posts, Microsoft technical support was not able to
address this issue. I hope that our friends at Microsoft are reading in the
group to see that this problem is on going without any real solution...
Thanks.

 

[Brian Tillman]

Where would I find OUTCMD.DAT file. I searched (including the hidden
files) and it is not there.. Thanks

%APPDATA%\Microsoft\Outlook