Time Out Error Communicating With Server in Outlook Express

Outlook Express DBX files store emails of corresponding folders. The files can get damaged due to several reasons counting unexpected shutdown, virus infection, network errors and others. Since OE doesn't provide any DBX file repair utility, you need to apply and use a suitable backup or a third-party DBX Repair Tool if backup fails.

For instance, the below error might occur when starting Outlook Express:

A time-out occurred while communicating with the server 0x800ccc19

This error doesn't allow you to download or send any email message.

Cause

Among other reasons, prominent reasons for this error to occur are:

• Antivirus software scanning OE mail folders
• SMTP or POP3 Mail Server or services issues
• Inbox.dbx and/or Sent Items.dbx is damaged

Solution

To resolve the existing problem, try following these steps:

• Configure the antivirus software to exclude the scanning of OE mail folders
• Make sure that your mail server is working ok
• Use 'telnet name_of_mail_server 25 (for SMTP) /110 (for POP3)' to check the availability of services. If it is working correctly, you will get a message with code 220 in case of SMTP server and a prompt asking you to enter username and password in case of POP3 server
• If applying the above steps doesn't solve the issue, your OE DBX file(s) might be damaged. Try these steps to solve:
1. From Windows Start menu, click Search and then 'All Files or Folder'
2. Type Inbox.dbx in the Named box and choose your primary hard disk partition in the Look In box
3. Click Find Now
4. After the folder is found, right-click it and choose to delete it or rename it
5. Repeat the above steps for Sent Items.dbx
6. Restart Outlook Express, it will automatically recreate the renamed or deleted folders but with no data

The above step starts the application to work but doesn't repair the damaged DBX files. To repair them, you need a powerful DBX Repair utility to effectively scan and restore the files' data. DBX Repair Tools prove to be a highly-competent utility to OE file corruption while providing interactive user interface.

Stellar Phoenix Outlook Express Recovery is an advanced tool to repair damaged DBX files created with Outlook Express 5 and 6. It is a powerful DBX Repair utility that preserves the original formatting and content of the recovered contents. The tool is also capable to restore *.eml messages that can be directly viewed in Outlook Express.