Office Outlook 2003 help

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I need help in getting Office Outlook 2003 working on my new PC.

I have two PCs: a Dell desktop purchased Jan 2006 using MS XP and Outlook Express email application.
Second: a Dell laptop purchased Dec 2013 using MS Win7 Home Premium and Office Outlook 2003 email application.

The Dell laptop was purchased because neither MS XP nor Outlook Express are supported by MS, even
though they can still function. Nonetheless, it was time to upgrade. However, I cannot disturb my Outlook Express
until I can get Outlook 2003 working on my new PC. Once that is functioning I can notify many enterprises that need
to send me email of my new email address (if in fact I need to change my email address; not sure).

I use COMCAST as my ISP. I have been working with their HELP folks trying to get email going on my Win7 PC, to no
avail so far. I have talked to several of their people, each of them having me enter the email settings dialogs, again
and again. I still cannot send or receive email on my Win7 PC. Not only that, but any test emails they send to me end
up in my Outlook Express app. I asked one of the HELP people how can I keep setting certain dialog screens with the
same text as is used in my Outlook Express app. I was told that any incoming emails should go into both email apps.

I should mention that not only has MS stopped supporting MS XP and Outlook Express, but Comcast told me recently that
I needed to get a newer cable modem, that the one I am using on my old PC is, itself, too old to continue to be used. I
went out and bought a newer cable modem for my new PC. Also, I should mention that I only have one coaxial cable
supplied by Comcast, and even though I now have two cable modems, one attached to each PC, I can only be
connected to one PC at a time. I am going to get a cable splitter and two short coaxil cables in order to have online
access by both PCs at the same time.

The last HELP person I talked to, after having me re-enter the settings yet again, said she was baffled and suggested I
look for an “IT” person to see if he can get me going right.

I am hoping I can get some help here.

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Replies

No, you do not need to change your email address, to move to Outlook 2003 from Outlook Express.

Do you have data from your ISP, to add the existing email account(s) to Outlook 2003? This would be username (usually email address, but not always the case), password, email server address, knowing the ports to use?

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Yes, they have walked me through all the settings a dozen times, all to no avail.
They even had me change the ports.

Thank you for your quick reply.

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Comcast uses POP email. Once the Email is accepted by Outlook Express, it is removed from Comcast’s email server and is not available for Outlook on the Windows 7 PC. You can configure outlook express to leave mail on the server:
https://support.tigertech.net/outlook-express-lmos

If you do so, mail should then be available on Outlook in the Windows 7 box.

If you also want to be able to read email on the XP box, configure Outlook on the Windows 7 box to leave mail on the server as well:
http://www.outlook-tips.net/beginner-user/configure-outlook-to-leave-mail-on-server/

Jerry

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Sorry, but I believe both app’s are set to keep emails on the servers. Also, I cannot send or receive emails from the Outlook 2003 app. The problem must be something else that no one expects. Maybe some underlying setting on the Win7 PC deep in its bowels is the culprit.

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Is your internet access working on Windows 7 without any issues?

There are really no underlying settings regarding email, on Windows 7. Do you have other accounts, from different providers, that you can use to try to delimit the cause for the problem?

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Internet access for other app’s are okay. In fact since I can open Outlook 2003 and see its “home” page I would think that that shows even Outlook can access the Internet, but there is something that is stopping it from sending and
receiving emails. Question: since I had to install a new cable modem on the Outlook PC, does Comcast require that it be registered or some such action before it will operate properly?
As to whether I have other accounts, from different providers, I am not sure what is meant by that. Do you mean do I have, say, a Gmail account too? Also, by delimit do you mean something else works similar to Outlook that could be used to test whether it is a general email problem, or is it just a problem with Outlook whereas the other thing works but Outlook does not?

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Internet access for other app’s are okay. In fact since I can open Outlook 2003 and see its “home” page I would think that that shows even Outlook can access the Internet, but there is something that is stopping it from sending and
receiving emails. Question: since I had to install a new cable modem on the Outlook PC, does Comcast require that it be registered or some such action before it will operate properly?
As to whether I have other accounts, from different providers, I am not sure what is meant by that. Do you mean do I have, say, a Gmail account too? Also, by delimit do you mean something else works similar to Outlook that could be used to test whether it is a general email problem, or is it just a problem with Outlook whereas the other thing works but Outlook does not?

The issue is not with your modem, if you can access the internet with other apps.

Yes, that was my question – do you have a gmail or similar account?

When you have a problem, a usual strategy is to try to find a cause. Elimination can be used for that. My first idea would be to see if Outlook can be used to access, say, an email account from a provider different from Comcast. If it works, then you will know the issue is with your provider. If it does not, then you will know Outlook is the problem.

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Yes, I thought I would use GMail at first on my new PC because so many of my emailers use it, but then I found out
that it did not store your emails on your PC but kept them on a server. I wanted to have a similar setup with my new
PC as I could with the old PCs email app, Outlook Express. I had already found how to establish a gmail a/c and set
one up but never used it because of what found out later about the copies.
As for doing the elimination thing, of course that is a very good way to do test things out, but I would not have the
skill to be able to set up Outlook to go to gmail to use it for a testing device. You know, before I was forced to
do all this stuff, buy a new PC, get it set up with email, and internet access, etc, etc, I thought I knew how email
worked – the ISP provides a server to receive all incoming emails and passes those on to the email app of the
recipient on his PC. And, any outgoing mail from the originator goes to the ISP’s server to be sent on their way to
the email addressee. And that was what I think I knew about emailing. But it seems there is more to the story than
that, but what it is I have yet to find out.
Thank you for helping me with this. It may be solved yet.

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Gmail can be configured to be accessible through POP, which basically means that you can configure it to download all your email to your computer, just like you seem to be used to do with your current accounts.

There is a lot of detailed help on how to configure Outlook 2003 to use a Gmail account, so you can give it a try:

http://www.techieinspire.com/step-by-step-how-to-add-gmail-to-outlook-2003-or-outlook-2007/

http://www.setup-outlook.com/outlook2003gmail.php

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Thank you again. I will give it a try, but not today. It has been a very long day for me and I
am beginning to see things double. I am going to sign off for today, and come back
tomorrow morning. Thank you.

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Flavet – because it seems you have a good internet connection I recommend that you allow someone to remote access your machine – for personal use you can download Teamviewer and then give someone a one-time authorization to log-in to your machine and provide you with some active assistance. It would be best to allow a trusted friend or a local service provider. The nice thing about doing it this way is that you can have someone very familiar with your email situation show you exactly the steps needed to establish email connectivity.
I do this all the time with many friends around the world and I have never failed to resolve a email issue.
Regards
Paul

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I need help in getting Office Outlook 2003 working on my new PC.

I have two PCs: a Dell desktop purchased Jan 2006 using MS XP and Outlook Express email application.
Second: a Dell laptop purchased Dec 2013 using MS Win7 Home Premium and Office Outlook 2003 email application.

The Dell laptop was purchased because neither MS XP nor Outlook Express are supported by MS, even
though they can still function. Nonetheless, it was time to upgrade. However, I cannot disturb my Outlook Express
until I can get Outlook 2003 working on my new PC. Once that is functioning I can notify many enterprises that need
to send me email of my new email address (if in fact I need to change my email address; not sure).

I use COMCAST as my ISP. I have been working with their HELP folks trying to get email going on my Win7 PC, to no
avail so far. I have talked to several of their people, each of them having me enter the email settings dialogs, again
and again. I still cannot send or receive email on my Win7 PC. Not only that, but any test emails they send to me end
up in my Outlook Express app. I asked one of the HELP people how can I keep setting certain dialog screens with the
same text as is used in my Outlook Express app. I was told that any incoming emails should go into both email apps.

I should mention that not only has MS stopped supporting MS XP and Outlook Express, but Comcast told me recently that
I needed to get a newer cable modem, that the one I am using on my old PC is, itself, too old to continue to be used. I
went out and bought a newer cable modem for my new PC. Also, I should mention that I only have one coaxial cable
supplied by Comcast, and even though I now have two cable modems, one attached to each PC, I can only be
connected to one PC at a time. I am going to get a cable splitter and two short coaxil cables in order to have online
access by both PCs at the same time.

The last HELP person I talked to, after having me re-enter the settings yet again, said she was baffled and suggested I
look for an “IT” person to see if he can get me going right.

I am hoping I can get some help here.

Wait….I think your internet setup is wrong. You can’t use two modems. Use ONE modem. Does this modem have a built-in router with multiple ethernet connections on the back and wireless capabilities?

If it does, connect an ethernet cable to both the desktop and laptop or connect wireless to the laptop, your choice.

If the modem just has one ethernet output you need to buy a wireless router to provide multiple ethernet outputs and a wireless signal to connect the internet to multiple computers.

With Comcast the first time you use a new modem, open a browser and enter your account info and Comcast will provision the modem(register the MAC address of the modem) into their system to allow internet access. If that screen doesn’t open you may have to call Comcast (the HORROR) and read the MAC address to perform the provision.

I think you should do all this first then tackle the email problems.

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I am totally disgusted with this problem and I am at my wits end. Since I last posted to this
thread I finally received a call from a Comcast help person (who sounded American and did not
have an accent that was nearly impossible to interpret). But, he only offered a lot of hot air
and did not solve the problem, but instead, after testing my connection to the Internet, said
the connection was good, and that he could not help me beyond that. He said to call Microsoft.
Bull.
I really am trying to avoid changing email providers and my email address. I don’t know if I would
be able to get everyone notified of the change. Oh, well, I think I will close out this thread, if I
can even do that.

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Wait….I think your internet setup is wrong. You can’t use two modems. Use ONE modem. Does this modem have a built-in router with multiple ethernet connections on the back and wireless capabilities?

If it does, connect an ethernet cable to both the desktop and laptop or connect wireless to the laptop, your choice.

If the modem just has one ethernet output you need to buy a wireless router to provide multiple ethernet outputs and a wireless signal to connect the internet to multiple computers.

With Comcast the first time you use a new modem, open a browser and enter your account info and Comcast will provision the modem(register the MAC address of the modem) into their system to allow internet access. If that screen doesn’t open you may have to call Comcast (the HORROR) and read the MAC address to perform the provision.

I think you should do all this first then tackle the email problems.

Flavet, thanks for the thanks, but you didn’t reply as to how your modem(s) are setup is.
Again there is no need for two modems.

Where did you get the new modem? Comcast or store?

What is the brand and model number of the new modem? (I use a Motorola SB6121 modem and a Linksys 4-port – wireless router all of which I purchased.) connected to 3 desktops and wireless to a laptop.

Comcast said to CHANGE the modem, not add to it.

If you get the the modem from Comcast it might have a built-in wireless and ethernet router capabilities.

Do you have ONE Comcast account and TWO Comcast e-mail accounts OR TWO separate Comcast accounts with individual e-mail accounts?

Sorry for all these questions but maybe if we knew your setup in detail we could understand how to specifically help you.

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@PvtBB – Long story short:
– Let me establish some abbreviations for terms to be talked about: pc1 – old PC; pc2 – new PC; cc – Comcast, my ISP; m1 – my old modem, a Motorola SB5101; m2 – new modem, a Netgate CMD31T; OE – Outlook Express, email app on pc1; OO – Office Outlook, email app on pc2.

– Have never used both m1 and m2 simultaneously; I have only one coax cable supplied by cc. Sometimes I would use it to connect m1 and sometimes to connect m2 to the Internet/ISP. Each modem while doing that had their own Ethernet cable attached to their PC.

– Other times I would use a single Ethernet cable and m2, switching it’s far end connector between pc1 and pc2. This is what I have been doing for a couple weeks now.

– m1 has been completly removed from all use and put on the shelf.

– m2 was purchased from a retail outlet, not cc. It has only one coax connector, and one Ethernet connector.

– Although I purchased a ROUTER even before I purchased pc2, thinking I might want to purchase an IPAD, I never put it into use; it too is on the shelf.

– Do I have one a/c or two? This is where my skill set falls short. I do not know how to classify what I have in the way of a/c’s with cc. All I did when I was trying to add email capability on pc2 was to contact cc and ask to be walked through setting up OO on pc2. cc was told I had an established email a/c with them on pc1. Since the setup screens for both OE and OO are very similar, and viewing OE’s setup before calling cc, I easily completed what I was told to enter by cc.

– Facts: I only have one ISP – cc. I only have one working email app with cc – OE on pc1. I want to establish with cc a means to eventually use pc2 with OO email app and discontinue using OE on pc1. However, I cannot discontinue using OE on pc1 until I can get OO working on pc2.

– Since I am only using one modem that meets cc’s requirements, that is no longer a consideration in this thread.

– As said above, I don’t know how to describe whether I have one a/c with cc, or two. Especially since the OO on pc2 is not operational, for the most part, and notwithstanding that it worked for a brief moment a few days ago (see earlier post above).

– Someone told me that regardless of how many devices I had that were email capable, if they each were configured correctly, each device would receive a copy of each incoming email to me.

I hope this answers all your questions in an understandable way. If not, ask for clarification.

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Did you try the Gmail test I suggested?

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I believe I did. I sent an email from my old PC (where both the PC and Outlook Express still work), to my gmail a/c on the new PC. The reason it took me so long to try your hint was because I had misplaced my notes about creating and registering the new gmail a/c some little time ago. I forgot the gmail address I set up for myself. (I am 84 years old, and I am really starting to lose it, much to my dismay.)

Anyway, I did receive the email at the new PC, and I was able back at the old PC to receive and read the reply I sent back to the original email I sent. So I guess that works okay, which I knew was working at the time I created the gmail a/c (created 9-5-2014). At that time I sent a message to two people I knew that used gmail and asked them to reply if they received my msg to them, which they did.

I have tried setting and resetting the required info for the Outlook app. until I am blue in the face. Besides, while doing these things I have visited Microsoft’s site and discovered that they no longer support Outlook 2003, just like they no longer support XP and OE. A big surprise to me! So I am going to abandon Outlook 2003 and resign
myself to using my gmail a/c even though I will have to try to notify everyone of
my email address change.

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I want to thank any and all that responded to my request for help, ruirib especially. Thank you all.

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Outlook 2003 is said to work even in Windows 8, so there is no need for you to dump it, if you prefer to use it. Multiple Lounge members use Office 2003 without any issues.

This POP test shows that there is nothing wrong with Outlook, the problem must be with the configuration for your ISP account, which is rather strange. Let me know if you want to proceed with this a little bit further.

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Well, I would like to stick with Outlook if I could get it to work. Question: in trying to provide the
setting for it, I found that there is a screen that shows a list of servers that seem to be related
to Outlook, but there was no SMTP server listed and the email account screen shows only
pop3/smtp as a type that is preassigned for the name of the account. I found this strange
because I believe I saw a similar screen on my old PC/OE settings screens. Yet, I was told to
use smtp.comcast.net as my outgoing mail server address on a later screen.

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Well, I would like to stick with Outlook if I could get it to work. Question: in trying to provide the
setting for it, I found that there is a screen that shows a list of servers that seem to be related
to Outlook, but there was no SMTP server listed and the email account screen shows only
pop3/smtp as a type that is preassigned for the name of the account. I found this strange
because I believe I saw a similar screen on my old PC/OE settings screens. Yet, I was told to
use smtp.comcast.net as my outgoing mail server address on a later screen.

Where is that screen?

While configuring Outlook to work with gmail, you had to insert a few configuration details in a couple outlook account setup screens. You typically need email address, username, password, receiving server details, sending server details and maybe port information, if your ISP requires use of ports different from the standard ports. Do you have all those details available?

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Another question: how in blue blazes do you get the reply text to flow properly. If I let the process entry typings go to the end of the box and flow down for the continued text, it winds up with every other line short containing what can only be viewed as the rest of the previous line as typed.

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Yes, I do. But can I beg off from trying to compose a reply that contains the settings until tomorrow morning? It is getting late here and I have something I must do before I retire for the night. No need to reply again today, that is, to this item. I am going to log off now. Thank you for your quick response. I am sorry I can’t respond in kind for now.

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I wouldn’t want you to post them here. I was just going to ask if you tried them, simply by inserting them the way you did with the ones from google. You can even follow the google instructions, replacing the google account and google servers related details by those from your ISP.

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@ruirib – You aren’t going to believe this – I can hardly believe it myself. I started up my new PC and went through the whole set of set up screens for configuring an Outlook email application. I did that intending to compose a post showing the full set of entries I had been making as instructed by Comcast.

When I got back to the last set up screen that has the FINISH button, I clicked it and lo and behold there was an active, thriving Outlook home page showing several recently received emails at the Comcast account. I was dumbfounded. But on further reflection I concluded that the Comcast help people were far less than honest when dealing with this problem.

My conclusion is based on the fact that in trying to chase down this problem earlier, I had gone to a Comcast forum to see if they could help. What I found at the forum was a vast multitude of complaints by users who could not access their emails. There was over 1,000 posts just the day I stumbled into the forum. I saw further that there were a vast number of previous outages going back just over recent days. So, I suspect that Comcast has been experiencing some kind outage that allowed my Outlook Express to continue working, but which made it impossible for a new account to be added on a different device (my new PC) until today.

I ran a couple tests, sending a test message to my second Comcast email address, then using that email to reply. So I see that the Outlook app. is working as it should.

What do you think about that?

I cannot thank you enough even though we did not reach the point of me following what you would have asked me to do today.

flavet

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I may have spoken too soon. Although today was the first time I was able to receive emails on my new PC via Office Outlook 2003, in doing some further testing to see if I could both send and receive emails using Outlook, the receive process seems to be working on a hit and miss basis. (Which I was seeing during earlier tests, but I had ignored.)

The first indications that Outlook was at last working (I thought) was when I clicked the FINISH button on the set up screens. See my previous post above. After seeing that emails were finally being received but before closing down Outlook in order to switch over to my old PC, I sent a test email from Outlook. I sent it to my second email account at Outlook Express which is working on my old PC to see if the sending function was working too. I switched PCs and looked for the test email and it was there. I then composed a reply using that test email back to Outlook on my new PC.

When the reply send seemed to be okay, I assumed that it was received at the Outlook inbox. Since I had to switch PCs in order to reopen Outlook on the new PC, that took a while. However, when I did get to reopen Outlook, I could not find any trace of the reply email. Shortly, a small window opened on top of the Outlook home page indicating a failure of the receiving server function.

So far that function (receiving) is not working (again). I say again because in order for me to have concluded that Outlook was finally fully functional I had to have seen a few emails that had processed into my Outlook inbox, which is what I saw today for the first time.

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Well, I am glad things are working as you want them to, that’s the key point here.

In what regards ISP support, well, I can’t say I am surprised. Having guys read from a pre-prepared menu of canned answers without actually knowing what they are talking about usually works out badly. The strange thing here is that they actually tried to guide you through the Outlook setup procedure, but maybe they simple gave you some bad guidance at some point.

Anyway, I am very glad everything is working and you can use Outlook as you wanted.

Regards

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You know, Outlook is not really a hit and miss kind of app. When the configuration incorrect, you don’t receive emails, send emails or both. Hit and miss means problems on the server side, that is, Comcast’s side, in this circumstance. That seems pretty clear to me.

Do you get any error messages when you choose Send / Receive?

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Just tested send/receive – yes, I get an error window. The window is the same window I see when I use the Test your Settings button on one of the settings windows. When clicked it does a test of five processes, and I have seen various of them fail, and others on that test complete. Occasionally, it completes all five successfully, but only rarely. When one or more of the tests fail, the window I see when I click the send/receive button is the same one that shows up when I press the Test Settings button. I started to compose a post earlier going into detail about the fact that I had been testing the settings I have been entering and reentering, and only once out of several attempts completed good during those tests.

Now, after I received incoming messages today for the first time and I did the further testing over the next hour or so, I kept seeing the error message saying the incoming server address could not be found at the server site, and said the server may be unavailable at the moment, to try later. However, the email process seems to keep on trying to get to the inbox but cannot, so it tries again, showing the error window each time.

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That seems to confirm they have either a problem with the server or, at the very least but less likely, with their DNS settings.

You can always try to contact their support service again, describing what is happening and informing them of the error message. You should make it clear that it works sometimes and it fails at other times, so it’s clearly a problem on their side.

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Try turning off your antivirus software, usually clicking the icon in the tray. Because a/v software installs itself between your mail software and the communications, it can sometime cause your problem.

Make sure Outlook is configured properly as described at http://customer.comcast.com/help-and-support/internet/configure-outlook-2003-xfinity-email. Double check every screen. Run the TEST, and all the items should check as satisfactory / completed. Any errors shown in the test are probably in your configuration / system.

You can also test your connection to a server. Open a CMD prompt (in the start menu, type CMD, and start it). Type ping [servername] … smtp.comcast.net (outbound server) or mail.comcast.net (inbound server). Your computer will make 4 attempts to connect to the server. Timeouts means it failed. If there are a significant number of failures, tell Comcast.

38241-temp

Modems: Set up just the new one. Comcast has been sending mails and automated calling saying they have up’d the network speeds and the older modems (DOCSIS 2.0) can’t run the fastest speeds, and recommend DOCSIS 3.0 modems. 2.0 is fine .. you just won’t connect much faster then 20 mbps (down speed). Invest the time and set up your router so both computers can be online at the same time. It’s crazy (and a waste of time) to keep connecting and disconnecting modems. ALSO, running without a router puts you on the public internet … just like Google, Yahoo, etc. That subjects you to increased attempted attacks on your computer. Once you get the router installed, you can look at the log file and see dozens of attempted intrusions a day.

When you have a router installed, you can also disable your firewall (and antivirus) temporarily and not have any significant risk of infection. This will remove additional elements that can get in the way.

Yes, you can have pop email installed on multiple computers for the same email acct., but once one computer downloads new messages, the mail server will not normally send them to another computer. I also suggest on the last configuration screen, you can specify how the server handles downloaded emails. I always keep messages on the server at least 15 days, in case my email program crashes and I lose my recent emails. You can usually access your emails again thru web access.

Good luck.

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Wow, this may take awhile for me to absorb and accomplish.

As a main frame programmer/analyst I rile at the half-baked products being produced for PCs and with their lack of explanatory user guides, etc. People expect too much of the skill and knowledge of others so things are almost always left out of scripts given over to those needing help. While well meaning, it fraustrates the helpee no end.

This is not to imply that this post is in that category, it is just something I have been concerned with for a few years.
It (this post) certainly is complete and is expected to be of great help in chasing this problem.

Here are some comments in answer to questions or statements in your post:

– I did view and follow the content of the Comcast file you mentioned. In fact I have gone back and reposted everything called for endless times, to no avail. I have run the ‘test’ contained in the Outlook setup at ToolsE-mail accounts… more times than I can count. I cannot see where my entries vary from what is called for in the file.

– The ‘connection to server’ test is something I am eager to do. Because the setup test error msg mostly indicates a problem finding a server.

– I have only used one modem (DOCSIS 3.0) recently.

– I have avoided putting a ROUTER into use due to my lack of knowledge about configuring it for security purposes. It seems to be the opinion of the skilled that adding a router without fully setting several security features is tantamount to insanity.

– Regarding multiple email-capable devices receiving incoming mail. I don’t follow what you said about this. Actively calling for incoming mail to be downloaded is not something I have ever had to do. If my email app. was closed when mail arrives at the server, it is saved and then forwarded to my inbox when the app. is activated. Likewise, if the app. is active when incoming mail arrives, it flows right into my inbox, automatically. Incidently, I have selected to have a copy retained at the server, both for my Office Outlook and my Outlook Express email apps. Finally, as I said in one of my posts above, the day I was preparing to provide answers to one of the earlier posts, I started up Office Outlook on my new PC and was walking through the setup process in order to see the names of the various screens and some of the names of boxes requiring entry. After going through all the setup screens and clicking the FINISH button, lo and behold, I saw about 8 emails appear in the inbox. These msgs were ones I had received over a couple of days recently. Again, these were msgs I had already seen on my old PC. However, later that day when I reactivated Outlook on the new PC it was again not operable.

I thank you for your post and I will be walking through it very soon.

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It seems to be the opinion of the skilled that adding a router without fully setting several security features is tantamount to insanity.

That is absolutely not correct. Cable modems,WITHOUT A ROUTER ALLOW TOTAL ACCESS by anyone on the internet. AT&T DSL (home) modems have a one-port router built-in to their modem so they are secure (and, technically, are a modem and router in the same case). Comcast Cable does NOT. Home routers come preconfigured for restricted access so users from the outside cannot get thru the router. Do not operate a cable modem for more than a few minutes without a router because your computer is totally bare on the web. Setting up your router could go as quickly as 5-10 minutes. Almost all have wizards to take you thru the simple process.

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– The ‘connection to server’ test is something I am eager to do. Because the setup test error msg mostly indicates a problem finding a server.

The exact wording of the error message would help.

Bruce

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@BruceR – I will fire up my new PC and check for the message. I have noticed that not only do I get a error condition upon running the test on that setup screen, Outlook seems to attempt to connect to Comcast servers upon Opening. I can then view the error tab which shows the error message. Incidentally, I happened to read something in Sunday’s local newspaper, in a article relating to questions and answers regarding computers and problems users pose. It said that using POP only allows connection to one server on one email capable device. So, that may be the reason for my problem. However, offhand, I don’t know if Comcast allows the use of a different protocal in place of POP3.

I have lost all faith in getting even the most basic questions answered by Comcast. They now use an offshore help group that have voice answers I cannot follow, and I strongly sense are just readings from canned scripts they have been handed.

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It said that using POP only allows connection to one server on one email capable device. So, that may be the reason for my problem.

You may have a “collision” if two devices try to read from the same account at the same exact time, but if that happens, you will get a specific error message.

I read my POP email in my laptop and two smartphones. I used to read it on my desktop, too. I rarely have any issues doing that and certainly never because of reading it from multiple devices.

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To all – I am on my new PC now. I have just concluded using Outlook in order to get the text that shows in the error messages that I get, both upon starting Outlook and when doing the test process in the Outlook setup screens. I am more convinced than I was before that there is something about some underlying miss coding or option selection that is causing this situation. Since I feel that I can not even ask Comcast what is the current time of day or anything even approaching help I guess I am up a tree for now. I think the next thing I may do is remove the current download and install of Outlook from the Microsoft Office 2003 CD, and then reinstall a new download onto my new PC, a Win 7 laptop.

For BruceR – Here is the text that appears when I open Outlook. A small error message window appears over the Outlook home page:

Window Title: Outlook Send/Receive Progress
1st line below title bar: 1 of 2 Tasks have completed successfully.
A little further down two tabbed boxes appear describing the tasks’ progress:
The Tasks tabbed window. It has three columns: Name, Progress, and Remaining:
1st task: green checkmark mail.comcast.net – Sending – Completed
2nd task: red ! mail.comcast.net – Receiving – Errors
The Errors tabbed window:
Red ! Task ‘mail.comcast.net – Receiving’ reported error (0x800408FC): The server name you entered can not be found on the network (it may be down temporarily). Please verify that you are online and that the server name is correct.

That concludes that situation. After opening Outlook and receiving that error message, and then writing down each window as set out above, I closed the error windows, then closed Outlook.
I reopened Outlook and again for the umpteenth time I went through the setup screens. One thing changed this time – when I clicked the test button, the test result screen showed that all five tests completed successfully (it has showed this on some previous occasions but that is all that resulted). I finished the setups once again, and went back and went through it again, and again, all five completed successfully.

Since I have a working gmail account on this same PC, I am going to see if Comcast can receive a msg sent from gmail in the Outlook app.

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@ruirib – I never have more than one PC active at anytime. I have one modem, no router, so just one PC can be online at a time. Since I only know so much about how email works I cannot comment further. I am going to try the gmail test when I post this post. Wish me luck.

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38245-WS-post

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Let us know how it goes. Good luck.

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Received the test msg eminating from the gmail a/c. But, only on my old PC, nothing on my new PC. Also nothing on the new but three test msgs sent to my inbox on the old PC. So although the Outlook test process seems, at least for the moment, to be working, it is only working half-way since msgs are only going to my old PC.

I still think that somewhere in the world a setting needs to be made that says for xyz a/c copies have to be sent to all of the email capable devices that a/c holder wants and expects.

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The error message you got before, means the email server could not be found. If you are able to access the internet without issues, from this new computer and you were able to receive some messages before and haven’t changed the mail server details in Outlook’s configuration, then this is quite weird.

Can you post the mail server details here? Just the mail server, no account details, please.

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@ruirib – Well, I can’t say I haven’t changed settings since I received the one and only batch (5) of msgs, but I feel that I have only repeatedly changed a couple or so of the settings. During those repeated changes, I feel certain that the same settings that were in place the time the batch arrived appeared in the setup screens.

Here are the settings Comcast calls for, for the servers: mail.comcast.net, port 995 (receiving); smtp.comcast.net, port 587 (sending). The comcast file that shows how to set up Outlook also indicates alternate ports that can be used if the primary ones don’t work: in: 110, out: 465.
Since this information is readily available to anyone, I am not revealing anything that is dangerous.

Today, I may just remove the Office Outlook 2003 application file from my new PC, and re-install it early next month. End-of-month times are busy for me, so I don’t want to be distracted with other problems.

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Have you tried the alternate ports?

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Yes, probably every combination there is.

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If you open a command prompt window and type ping mail.comcast.net or ping smtp.comcast.net, can you tell what you get?

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Each ping produces four lines of good results, so these are both good results and show that there is a good Internet connection in both directions. I have run this test just about every time I start up the new PC since I was told about it, and always get the same results.

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Each ping produces four lines of good results, so these are both good results and show that there is a good Internet connection in both directions. I have run this test just about every time I start up the new PC since I was told about it, and always get the same results.

OK … here is (probably too much) information to understand why you can PING a port and get a reply but a mail request is denied. Maybe it will help solve the problem, eventually. I include it mainly for others who may find the information interesting and provide a better understanding of the operation of the internet.

PING is a special protocol. It sends out a packet of data and servers are programmed (though the option can be turned off) to reply to a PING. If you don’t get a reply, either the server is down, or it’s configured to not reply to PING’s (sometimes used to prevent hackers from finding a site).

Email uses the Transmission Control Protocol (TCP), which is one of the core protocols of the Internet Protocol suite (IP) (aka TCP/IP) which also uses “port numbers”. Port numbers (0-65536) are an imaginary system for software to filter for specific requests. (For a list of typical port usage, see http://www.iana.org/assignments/protocol-numbers/protocol-numbers.xml). For example, if you type into your browser http://www.comcast.net it will lookup comcast.net for it’s IP address (69.252.80.75) just as you would do with a telephone directory. This is called DNS (Domain Name Service). Web sites are actually numbers only, like telephones. It then requests the page at that IP address at port 80 (standard for web page services). This is the same as typing http://comcast.net:80 or http://69.252.80.75:80. The HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol) is optional, as it defaults to it just as it does using port 80. “WWW” may not be optional … domain services acutally have entries with and without “WWW” in the address (sometimes, a site will not come up using just its name, but requires “WWW” because their domain service isn’t set up properly. This will get you to comcast.net’s home page. If you typed http://comcast.net:81 you should not get a reply because port 81 not a typical web page service and the server will receive, but ignore it. This is why the port information for email must be specific for the provider … whichever ports they use, though they are standardized for ordinary users.

To your problem: SOMEONE CORRECT ME IF I’M WRONG but according to MS Outlook send/receive settings are stored in a .SRS file. The normal location for Outlook’s files can be found at http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/outlook-help/outlook-file-locations-HP003082210.aspx. If you have Outlook mail working on another computer, you might try copying the file to the non-working one. You will need to close Outlook first. I suggest you rename your current file on the system you’re trying to fix, then copy the working file to the same location as the saved one. Start up Outlook, and see if that works.

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That’s a bit surprising, since that makes the error message you receive have less sense. If you repeat such commands, immediately after receiving the error message in Outlook, do you get the same results?

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Carefully check the server settings to make absolutely sure there isn’t a typo like a ,net instead of .net.

Jerry

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Outlook 2013 has not received Critical Updates from Microsoft since April. Ditto Outlook Express 6 (the most recent version). And likewise Windows XP. Therefore using any of the above in an internet-facing situation (e.g. to surf the web or check e-mails), is foolish in the extreme. Even if some here have told you it’s “safe because we haven’t heard of anyone getting infected that way yet.” Which is the same ‘logic’ used by clowns I run into occasionally who still have regular casual sex without using condoms, saying “It can’t happen here” doesn’t prevent infection. And the specific source of many infections is never even identified. Leave a window open to the bad guys, and eventually a bad guy will use it.

Microsoft’s free Windows Live Mail, aka Windows Mail, is their replacement for Outlook Express. It is similar, but better, has many new features and mainly it is secure (when run on an OS more recent than XP):
http://www.mail.live.com

Or use another, third party mail client (program) which is still updated. If it’s not still being updated it is insecure, since security holes found by hackers are no longer fixed. A firewall and an antivirus will not protect you against all these sort of hacks.

After you’ve done the above, ask your ISP for configuration info, or google the name of your e-mail program plus ‘Settings’ &/or ‘POP’ &/or your ISP name, you will find heaps of how to’s.

Still doesn’t work? Ask your ISP specifically if they block any ports by default. Some ISP’s specifically block the port Outlook Express (and maybe Windows Live Mail) uses, due to them having lost patience with some users running insecure programs like Outlook Express and consequently spreading malware to everyone in their e-mail address book (people who have not been asked whether they wanted to take this risk).

Wishing you good luck, or better, safe computing.

Asus N53SM & N53SN 64-bit laptops (Win7 Pro & Win10 Pro 64-bit multiboots), venerable HP Pavilion t760 32-bit desktop (XP & Win7 Pro multiboot), Oracle VirtualBox VM's: XP & Win7 32-bit, XP Mode, aged Samsung Galaxy S4, Samsung Galaxy Tab A 2019s (8" & 10.1"), Blu-ray burners, digital cameras, ext. HDDs (latest 5TB!), AnyDVD, Easeus ToDo Backup Home, Waterfox, more. Me: Aussie card-carrying Windows geek.

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Outlook 2013 has not received Critical Updates from Microsoft since April. Ditto Outlook Express 6 (the most recent version). And likewise Windows XP. Therefore using any of the above in an internet-facing situation (e.g. to surf the web or check e-mails), is foolish in the extreme.

Don’t you mean 2003?

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