Help needed to view email in Outlook

F

fmonte

Member
I have Office 2003 software on an XP machine. Ocasionally when I open Outlook to view my email I will get an error message that reads "the data file "personal folder" was not closed properly and the file is being checked for problems. It usually takes 3 to 5 minutes for this process and then I am able to access my email. This has been going on for years but I live with it. Yesterday, the "checking file" process never completed and I am completely locked out of the program not only to get at the email but also the tools, etc. Any ideas how I can avoid this problem once and for all will be greatly appreciated. Sincerely, Frank
 
Let me add, it doesn't happen when I close and open in this manner (hitting the x). It happens when something else happens, like a power outage, the machine locking up due to another program and I have to reboot without closing it using the x.
 
You most likely have errors on the drive causing this issue if you experience that many power outages while computer is on. You should run a diagnostic on the drive.
 
How do I do that? I looked in Accessories/system tools but don't see a scanner. the only thing I see is disk cleanup and disk defrag.
 
Also, it is not only power outages. More often it is just the computer locking up for one reason or another and I can't get to the x or the shutdown options so the only way for me to continue is to hold the power off button down until it shuts down. then when I reboot and go into Outlook, I will get the above message and up until yesterday it would complete the checknig process and I would be back up and running. I gave the process overnight to complete and it is just stuck. Could it be a virus?
 
What brand of hard drive do you have? Windows won't have the diagnostic program. The drive probably is full of bad sectors.
 
I think it is a seagate 1TB but I am not 100% sure of the brand. Is there a way to look that up without opening the case?
 
Freeze/power-loss explains your issue since Outlook can't cleanly close the local file that's open within Outlook. Since there's no time for it to wipe the lock file it just checks it for consistency since it wasn't properly closed. Sometimes you can get file corruption for these events if the file was being actively written to upon the time of the outage.

If you resolve the other issues with your PC you should see this symptom go away. If you have constant power issues in your area it's probably a good idea to get a UPS.
 
You can tell just by looking in device manager to see what model of hard drive you have. Look under disk drives. If you have a seagate drive then use seatools to check the drive.
 
Thanks John but I am afraid it is too late. Please read my post about not being able to boot up my computer. Any help will be greatly appreciated or even if you can't help me can you can assure me that I will not lose everything so at least I can sleep tonight. Take care. Frank
 
fmonte said:
Thanks John but I am afraid it is too late. Please read my post about not being able to boot up my computer. Any help will be greatly appreciated or even if you can't help me can you can assure me that I will not lose everything so at least I can sleep tonight. Take care. Frank
Click to expand...

Open the case of your computer and look directly at your HDD :)
The brand should be on top of it.

EDIT: I saw your post about not willing to open up the case but in that case you can't know without booting up or opening the case...
 
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