Exchange Server 2003/POP3 Connector... What am I missing?

[Doric]

OK, I have Small Business Server 2003 installed on my server at home (2 node network; a PC and a laptop), and Exchange installed for managing my Comcast email account.

Up until the morning before last, it seemed like it was working fine. I have Outlook 2003 installed on the laptop, and downloading my email from the Comcast POP3 server was seamless.

However, I set a specific synchronization schedule for the POP3 Connector, and very promptly afterward, I can hit 'Send and Receive' in Outlook all day long and nothing comes in. But the messages are leaving the Comcast server just as they should, at the times during the day that I've set in the Synchronization Schedule; I'm verifying this by checking the mail account on Comcast's website.

OK. So this is what I've checked:

- My email address is correct on the Active Directory user account.
- The mailbox is referenced correctly in the POP3 Connector (the emails are supposed to be downloading to my mailbox on the Exchange server).
- I've reconfigured the Outlook Exchange Server profile a couple of times now, exactly as I did the first time (and was working previously).

What else should I be looking at? These emails seem to be just vanishing into thin air. Any help is greatly appreciated.

 

[Doric]

Follow-up: I found three separate .ost files under Local Settings/etc., all with different 'last modified' dates; one of which is almost exactly the last time I was able to successfully download my email into Outlook.

So it seems to me that the emails are now being funneled to one of those .ost files, but my Outlook is not reading from the one that I need it to. Does that sound about right?

What are my options? Can I convert the .ost file to a .pst file and import the emails back into my Outlook mail account, and how do I determine what file my Outlook mail account points to? Is there something else entirely here that I'm missing?

Thanks.

 

[vietofmars]

contact MS support

 

[Doric]

Am I correct in the assumption that that call would cost me over $200?

 

[vietofmars]

Since you forked over more then that for Small Business Server 2003, I believe you get maybe two free calls to support?

Why don't you just set up outlook to get email through pop3 directly from Comcast? Why the hell are you trying to set up another server to get email off another server?

http://www.swinc.com/resource/exch_smtp_diatribe.htm

 

[Doric]

Actually, I only paid $90 for SBS, but your point is valid.

I set up Exchange for the express purpose of learning about Exchange 2003 before I implement it in my office.

I've been the office's net admin for a month now, and the existing system that was literally dropped in my lap is just plain crap.

Thanks for the advice, though. I think I might just end up taking Exchange out of the loop for now.