Entourage X 1995-2001 problems- Help :o/

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Level 1

141 points

Entourage X 1995-2001 problems- Help :o/

I have been using this program for many trouble free years. Lately, the syptoms are:
upon auto launch when system stats up, it will not open. When force quit is accessed it is labeled 'inaccessable'. Force quit, restart Entourage and the error message always appears: "The action could not be completed. Mail Error." It used to say: something like;"Message saved" and the same email would show up, even though I delete it every time I saw it appear again. I finally thought to delete it from the 'deleted' folder. Now I get the 'Mail error. msg above.

Holding 'option' at launch of Entour. never get a rebuild dialogue box, always the "The action could not be completed. Mail Error" message. Next remedy tried. I have moved the following to the trash:
com.microsoft.Entourage.plist
Entourage Preferences
Entourages Settings (10)

Same old 'Mail error ' msg.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Dave

iMac 20" 2.16GHz,1.5GB & G3 PowerBook (10.3.9), Mac OS X (10.4.7)

Posted on Nov 12, 2007 5:17 PM

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Answer 1

Dave Kroske Author

Level 1

141 points

Nov 12, 2007 5:23 PM in response to Dave Kroske

I forgot to mention the symptoms:
-cannot see email in 'view pane' ( must open to read)
-icons do not work (must use menus to do everything)
-addresses do not auto fill in (must manually type each full address)
-cannot drag in attachments (must hit add, etc like a PC... can you imagine ;o)

Thanks in advance for any help.

Dave

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Answer 2

Dave Kroske Author

Level 1

141 points

Nov 13, 2007 9:42 AM in response to Dave Kroske

Also, per Help note, I had moved 'Main Identity' to desk top (and a copy to another disk drive) before the other things were put in trash (still in trash).

Today I
- deleted hundreds of messages from in box then again from 'deleted' folder.
- removed Entourage from 'Launch at Start Up'.

No change to symptoms, :o(

Any ideas to try?

Thanks, Dave

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Answer 3

Kurt Lang

Level 9

57,792 points

Nov 13, 2007 9:55 AM in response to Dave Kroske

Have you tried reinstalling Office? If you do, use the Remove Office tool (both in the Office folder and on the CD) to completely remove any files that belong to Office first. This will not remove your personal files from the hard drive, though I would make copies of everything to the desktop or other location first. Then reinstall and apply all available updates.

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Answer 4

Dave Kroske Author

Level 1

141 points

Nov 13, 2007 10:17 AM in response to Kurt Lang

I cannot find 'Remove Office' In MS Office X folder (Applic), nor thru spotlight search.

On Office X CD I am not sure how to search/look. It gives 4 options:
-Welcome
-MS Office X (drag to DT to install all)
-MS Office installer (dbl clk to choose components to install)
-Value Pack (open to install value pack components)

I opened Welcome, but did not want to risk starting an install to look for 'Remove Ofice'.

Any thoughts?

Thanks, Dave

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Answer 5

Dave Kroske Author

Level 1

141 points

Nov 13, 2007 10:38 AM in response to Kurt Lang

I am running 10.4.10

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Answer 6

Kurt Lang

Level 9

57,792 points

Nov 13, 2007 10:40 AM in response to Dave Kroske

Hi Dave,

From Microsoft's web site:

The Remove Office tool is available on the Microsoft Office v. X Installation CD-ROM, in the Remove Office folder. The Remove Office folder is located in the Value Pack folder. You can run the Remove Office tool directly from the Office v. X CD-ROM, or you can copy the tool to your computer's hard disk and then run it.

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Answer 7

Dave Kroske Author

Level 1

141 points

Nov 13, 2007 10:46 AM in response to Kurt Lang

Kurt,

I will try this after I get through a deadline project this morning.
I'll post back this afternoon.

Thanks for the direction to the uninstall!

Dave

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Answer 8

Dave Kroske Author

Level 1

141 points

Nov 17, 2007 5:53 PM in response to Kurt Lang

I finally had time to do the MS Office X un-install, then re-install. I should mention in my previous attemps to 'delete preferences' and 'rebuild prefs and fonts', I had moved the 'Main Identity' folder to desk top on 11-12 (and left it there). Upon testing and using Entourage, a second 'Main Identity' was created. I renamed it 'Main Identity,2' and moved to desk top to retest.

Prior to the un-install/re-install of Office X, I renamed the third 'Main Identity', 'Main Identity,3' and moved it to the desk top along with the previous two.

After reinstall, I tried to open Entourage.
Just get Entourage initial description box (no color wheel, no activity after a minute). I force quit Entourage.

I put 'Main Identity' folder into 'Office X Identities'. No change
I added the other two 'Identity' folders there also with their respective 'renamed' names. No Change

I tried Excel. An Excel workbook page opened but could not be used. I tried to open an excel doc of mine. no go.

Any help with how to get all my Office X programs to work would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks, Dave
PS. I did not remember that my Office X CD was an upgrade, not full, version. I had deleted 'Office 2001' during the uninstall process too(forgetting it was the predessesor!). When I could not find my Office 2001 CD, I thought I was screwed until I saw 'Office 2001' still in the trash. I dragged it into my 'Applications' folder (at same level as Office X), and the install process said it was successful.

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Answer 9

Dave Kroske Author

Level 1

141 points

Nov 18, 2007 8:02 AM in response to Kurt Lang

Hi Kurt,

Originally I had email inconvenience, now after 'Remove and Re-install, I have no access to any MS Office programs! I have not 'emptied trash', so everything moved there is still there.
I had Carbon Copy Cloned the OS volume to a volume on a separate HD. What I did not realize before starting 'Remove' was that it removed Office X from all four of my CC Clone backed up copies. With hind sight, I should have turned off the external HD to save those versions intact! Crap.

I am trying to remain calm, hoping some info needs to be moved to different folders, or folders renamed or something else.

Hoping, Hoping...

Dave

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Answer 10

Kurt Lang

Level 9

57,792 points

Nov 18, 2007 9:52 AM in response to Dave Kroske

What I did not realize before starting 'Remove' was that it removed Office X from all four of my CC Clone backed up copies.

!!!!!! Oh, that was nice of the removal program to let you know it was going to remove everything it found no matter where it was instead of just the startup drive. Thanks, Microsoft. Sheesh!

It makes no sense that you could get Entourage to work by letting it create a new Main Identity account before removing the suite, but not after reinstalling it. This normally works very well since any files for Office that may be damaged get removed. Have you applied all available updates? You can get them here. Looks like 10.1.9 is the only update needed, though there's five other smaller ones you can grab.

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Answer 11

Dave Kroske Author

Level 1

141 points

Nov 18, 2007 6:51 PM in response to Kurt Lang

Kurt,
You are correct, I forgot the step you mentioned to "apply all updates". I agree the 10.1.9 update is the only one that seems relavent to my system & programs. I just installed the update and verified it via the versions of files that were updated (though many of the ones listed were not in my system).

Upon launching Entourage, I get a dialogue box asking me to 'Select an Identity', listing:
Main Identity (long term folder up until 11-12)
Main Identity,1 (folder created by system 11-12)
Main Identity,2 (folder created by system sometime after 11-12)
(,1 & ,2 were ones I renamed prior to moving folder to desk top when trying to do a 'Typical Rebuild')

BEFORE I proceed, I wanted to inquire...
Since I was using Entourage in it's limited capacity for 3 days with (,1) or (,2) version, do these folders have info necessary to be included? OR, would just selecting the original 'Main Identity' make Entourage complete?

IF necessary info is in (,1) and (,2), is there a way to combine them?

To reiterate, I have stopped at the "Select an Identity" step of launching Entourage.

Thanks for any further insight.
(I am feeling closer to wholeness again... ;o)

Dave

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Answer 12

Kurt Lang

Level 9

57,792 points

Nov 19, 2007 5:56 AM in response to Dave Kroske

Hi Dave,

Since I was using Entourage in it's limited capacity for 3 days with (,1) or (,2) version, do these folders have info necessary to be included?

If you never created or received any email under Main Identity 1 or 2, then they're just blank databases you can delete. If you want to make sure they're empty first, then close Entourage. Put all of the Main Identity folders back on the desktop. Put Main Identity 1 back in its normal location and launch Entourage. If it's empty (nothing but the "Welcome" email generated on first use), close Entourage and move Main Identity 1 back to the desktop. Repeat with Main Identity 2. If both are empty, then just trash them.

If necessary info is in (,1) and (,2), is there a way to combine them?

You can manually. If there's anything in any of the folders (Inbox, Sent, etc.) you want to save, just drag and drop the emails onto the desktop. Each email will be saved as a file which will include any attachments. Create empty folders as necessary to keep them separate by Inbox, Sent, etc.

Lastly, put your original Main Identity folder back in its normal place and launch Entourage. Any files you dropped onto the desktop from the other two databases (if any) can then be dragged and dropped into the open email window. Once in, you can delete the individual email items on the desktop.

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Answer 13

Dave Kroske Author

Level 1

141 points

Nov 19, 2007 8:32 AM in response to Kurt Lang

OK, Main Identity is now (solely) in 'Office X Identity' folder (as original). Other versions in Trash. Entourage now opens again and is back to my previous 'troubling symptoms' condition. (after I did 'Remove Office', reinstalled and did 10.1.9 update, relaunched Entourage)

- I still get the error message at launch: "The action could not be completed. An unknown error (4362) occurred."
- all original issues remain.
1) cannot see email in 'view pane' ( must open to read)
2) icons do not work (must use menus to do everything)
3) addresses do not auto fill in (must manually type each full address)
4) cannot drag in attachments (must hit add, etc like on a PC)
5) Hold down 'option key' (10 secs before and continue holding thru launch and 10 secs after launch) still has no affect. Just get same error message (4362) and my compromised Entourage program.

Strangely, now the title shown at the top of my open mail window is:
Mail (dot) Main Identity,1

Looking back in 'Office Identities' folder where I had definitely only "man Identity', there is also 'Main Identity,1'. I had noticed when I was attempting to view the contents of each individual Identity, leaving only ONE in the Off.X Ident. folder, after launch, a second would be there too!

Thanks for any help here.

Dave

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Answer 14

Kurt Lang

Level 9

57,792 points

Nov 19, 2007 8:57 AM in response to Dave Kroske

Then from the sounds of it then, your old email database is damaged. Maybe severely. Entourage is skipping trying to read it and is instead creating a new database. Here's some info from Microsoft's site on things you can try to fix the problem. They have three different entries for the same error code number.

Error 4362 in Entourage 2001:
Do a database rebuild. Start Entourage 2001 holding down the Option key. When the Rebuild dialog box comes up, choose to do a Typical Rebuild. For more info see the Database Page.
Error 4362
The action could not be completed. An unknown error (4362) occurred.
When you try to use Microsoft Entourage X to send or to receive e-mail, you receive this error message: Error 4362. The solution is typically resolved by performing a typical or advanced rebuild of the database file.
Error 4362
The message could not be sent. An unknown error (4362) occurred.
If this occurs when sending a message with attachments, open the draft message window, and remove the attachments. Re-attach the files, and try sending again.
More Info on Error 4362
Sometimes this error indicates a problem Entourage is having with the Microsoft Database Daemon. Quit the daemon
Then go to System preferences/Startup Items and remove any entries of the database daemon from the 'login items' window. Now start up Entourage again and hopefully the problem will have been resolved.
Note: Some users reported this error when clicking on a corrupt email. 4362 is not the usual error for a corrupt message. If deleting the message does not solve the problem, try a rebuild. If this is your problem, then try the following:
Go to View menu/Preview Pane, or press command-\, to turn the Preview Pane off. Now when he click on the message, you will be able to delete it. If this is a POP account and a local folder, then go to Tools/Run Schedule/Empty Deleted Items Items Folder. If it is an IMAP account set up with its own Deleted Items Folder, quit Entourage so it will get purged, or if set up to "mark for deletion" press command-K to connect to the account to purge it.

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Answer 15

Dave Kroske Author

Level 1

141 points

Nov 19, 2007 1:03 PM in response to Kurt Lang

I thought I was making progress. I Shut Down, held 'Shift' key prior and during startup to "Quit Remaining Processes". Finally I was able to access "Rebuild Database.
followed: http://www.entourage.mvps.org/database/rebuild.html to do the rebuild.

I got a virgin Entourage to open up. Icons seemed to work, etc, but none of my emails, address book etc were there. I dragged the newly created "Main Identity" (renamed M.I. -rebuilt') to the desk top. I dragged my original "Main Identity" in to replace 'rebuilt'. Re-launched Entourage. All my data was there... along with the original problems. :o(

How was I supposed to add all my old data to a clean new Entourage program (without bringing the problem?

Any thoughts as to a mis step I made or other options to try from here.

Big thanks for any solutions.

Dave

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