Another stumper - Office+Windows+TS+?

Well here is another doozy(sp?) for you windows gurus out there thats been kicking my ***

Ok I have a server running windows 2000 and has terminal services. (this is the same server from a previous thread about the TS memory errors, which has been mostly fixed) Anyways, at random times while users are in Office products the application will flat out hang. Requireing a Ctrl+Alt+Del to close remote desktop then signing back in and all is well. But the slowdowns happens a good deal, about 1-2 times per day per user with ~10 users. It gives no error, neither on screen nor in the event logs that I have seen, atleast none out of the ordinary. I've been turn MS site upside down trying to find answers for this. Found a reghack on MS site and a list of tips from a google search that I will try but Im not expecting much. Only gotten through about 75 pages from google so far so hopefully ill find something on this...

One thing that jsut hit me is that I have Office 2003 installed AND Access 2000 on the machine, which I have a sneaky suspician is causing some of the problems. On that note can I just buy the upgrade for access and fix that or should I buy the full blown isntall for Access 2003 and reinstall that piece? (access itself was not included with 2k3, I installed that component off a 2000 Pro disc because the software was needed).

Also these files that are in use when the lockup occours are from mapped drives(which map to the local server) local access by browsing the C drive, or documents found in the my documents folders of user's profiles. Also, this problem occours in Outlook as well so its for the entire Office suite. If office products are not running there is no problem but after a certain time things will hang on a per user basis (as in, seems the sessions hang) I'm currently trying to gather some time info to see if I can find a pattern but Im not holding my breath.

Any help or documents you might know of about this problem are greatly appreciated, Thanks
-Pika!

wow, guess this really was a stumper? no ideas here?

Ive done a a few fixes and it has fixed the issues with word+outlook, but now it does it in just outlook, and frequently combind with adobe documents, whats going on here, anyone?

*edit* oh and I have also set the swap file on the server to a static size and installed all possible hotfixes for office and windows.

pik4chu said:

One thing that jsut hit me is that I have Office 2003 installed AND Access 2000 on the machine, which I have a sneaky suspician is causing some of the problems. On that note can I just buy the upgrade for access and fix that or should I buy the full blown isntall for Access 2003 and reinstall that piece? (access itself was not included with 2k3, I installed that component off a 2000 Pro disc because the software was needed).

Click to expand...

That actually might be the problem. For some reason the various versions of office and/or their components don't play well together. I'd try an office update first though before I do anything.

Well that might work, however there is something else. Despite hardware requirements for Remote Desktop. The only computers that seem to be having the problem are "crappy" ones. The office has several laptop users and a few desktop. of the 3 desktops, all seem to be having trouble. One is a PII something running Windows ME. Another is a P something running 98, seems to not have as many problems as the other ones. The last is another PII something running XP As for the issues. Windows ME seems to have the most lockups. Windows 98 only has a few, and Windows XP is giving some lockups as well as a lot of sporadic software errors (the memory reference errors mentioned in the other thread). There is a 4th desktop which runs ME, it has its own share of problems but doesnt seem to have any issues with Terminal Server. So I think this says something about the machines just not working right.

Also all the laptops are all decent machines P4 and faster, one of them is Centrino. All running Windows XP. Aside from an unrelated quirk here and there the laptops run w/o any problems.. Im going to try replacing one of the desktops, and if that fixes it, Ill proly rebuild them down to Windows 98 and maybe throw in a little extra RAM.. While also look into upgrading but sadly thats not too much of an option for various political reasons -_-

anything else? turns out everyone is experiencing the problem and they just didnt tell me =\ anyone have any other ideas at all?

lol guess Ill go for one more bump >.>

did another regidstry tweak for OptionLocks., and installed Access 2003 and removed all components of Office 2000, hopefuly this will fix it but time will tell. Anyone know of other things to try?