Entourage dies on opening, yet 'Your database is working correctly'?

[sck_nogas]

Okay, my first post... Been a lurker for a long time, but I've got a doozy of an issue and I need some help. :confused:

The Problem: Microsoft Entourage 2004 immediately dies when trying to open. I have done some self-help but I'm now reaching my Entourage-fu limit.

Here's what I know at this time.

1) My Macintosh is an Intel Mac Book Pro running OS-X 10.4.9 (fully patched) with Office 2004 11.3.4 (fully patched) and both were completely re-installed as of yesterday morning due to a hard drive replacement and my belief that I screwed up something. :(

2) I got a hard drive replaced, and re-built my machine on April 6th & 7th and a complete backup of my entire drive was done on April 8th. Then another backup was done before I re-installed again on April 10th, since I had thought Monolingual had screwed up, thus the most recent re-install. NOTE: I have NOT run Monolingual on this new image.

3) The 5.9 GB "Database" file for Entourage Identity (now known as "Backup 2007-04-10") which contains the past 4 years of data seems to be crashing Entourage when Entourage starts.

4) The OTHER 5.9 GB "Database" file for Entourage Identity (now known as "Backup 2007-04-08") also seems to be crashing Entourage when Entourage starts.

5) The message I get when I try to start Entourage with the either of the bad databases is...
The application Entourage quit unexpectedly.

2007-04-10 12:54:53 -0700

EXC_BAD_ACCESS (0x0001)
KERN_PROTECTION_FAILURE (0x0002) at 0x00000000

(CLOSE) (REPORT) (Attach Debugger...)

6) Yet, the Microsoft Entourage "Database Utility" says "Your database is working correctly" for both "Database" that have the issue.

7) I tried creating a blank "Working Identity" and Entourage works and once configured can connect to the Exchange servers correctly. So it's NOT an install issue, the software works fine.

8) I also created a new "Test Identity" with the "Mailing Lists", "Rules", & "Signatures" from the "Working Identity" and the "Database" from the "Backup 2007-04-10", but this also kills Entourage.

9) So, I've used restored my March 23rd backup of my identity file and that works fine. So, that is what I'm using now and thus I'm only missing about 2 1/2 weeks of email. BUT I really need that email!!!:eek:

10) The Microsoft Entourage "Database Utility" says "Your database is working correctly" for the "Database" files for EACH of the 5 different Identities.

11) I've even tried using 'EntourAid (http://www.thepropellerheads.com/software/entouraid/entouraid.html)' which is seems to be for EntourageX Database issues, and it's read some of my data, but is confused on where messages stop and start, so I get 5-10% of the emails back correctly, and in other cases, I can at least cut & paste details out of the corrupt emails so I can reply to people I need to.

12) I've tried a Database re-build on both versions of the backed up data, and the Database Utility says "Your database was successfully rebuilt", but they both have the same issue after the re-build.

13) I've tried a Database compaction on both versions of the backed up data, and the Database Utility says "Your database was successfully compacted", but they still have the same issue after the compaction.

14) My Exchange server doesn't have the data I need in the 'Dumpster' since I MOVED the emails, not deleted them. So, no easy restore option exists either.

So, what I need is Microsoft Office 2004/Entourage 2004 assistance to help me either...

A) Migrate my old saved data from the other identity into a new working identity

B) Repair my Identity so I can retrieve my old saved data.

C) Something else to help me get my data back.


So, anyone got any ideas?

Scott

[giskard22]

I didn't see that you've tried creating a new user on your Mac to see if Entourage can even be launched successfully with a clean set of preferences. If it can, you should look elsewhere in your ~ for the problem: perhaps files in ~/Library/Preferences.

[blubbernaut]

Wow, I've gotta congratulate you on a comprehensive and clear request and error report!

You mention two Entourage Identities that don't work, called "Backup ..date.." Did you rename the files, or is that what Entourage called them when you did a DB rebuild? Either way, is there not a DB in ~/Documents/Microsoft User Data/Office 2004 Identities/Main Identity just called "Database"?

Have you tried using that one? Or is that the one that only has emails up to 2 1/2 weeks ago?

I wasn't sure if your backup was fully restored or if you just copied certain files over. If it was fully restored, have you tried Spotlighting for an email that's missing within that timeframe? Entourage keeps a duplicate file for each email in ~/Library/Caches/Metadata/Microsoft/Entourage for Spotlight. I just tried opening one of those in a text editor and saw the whole email, so I wonder if it's possible that the missing emails are still catalogued there and could somehow be extracted (if you can decipher the filing structure).

[sck_nogas]

Okay... Sorry for the "misuse" of quotes, but I thought I'd do two replies at once. :D

Giskard22 - I did create a blank identity and that works perfectly, so it's not the install, see step #7. :)

Blubbernaut - In order for me to move the backed up "Main Identity" that did work, I renamed the "Main Identity" for the backup into "Backup {DATE}" thus I could determine which backup was working or not working. Once I determined that the March 23rd Backup was working, I re-named that into "Main Identity" and left the other two non-working identities as "Backup 2007-04-08" and "Backup 2007-04-10".

As for spotlight, I disable Spotlight of my Entourage Databases, since it would waste ALOT of disk space, so I don't do that. Seriously, 6 GB of email taking 12 GB of space? OUCH! But, that would have been a good idea, if I had used SpotLight.

What's next is to see if I can write my own "EntourAid" version for this database and see if I can parse the structure of the database file. Anyone got any documentation for the Database format?

Scott

[dianeross]

First, try holding the Shift key down when starting Entourage to see if it will open the problem Identity. You'll need to select it first or move the other Identity files out to make Entourage use the one you want to test. This will disable schedules that might be causing the problem.

Next, even though you have recently installed, I advise you to apply the Apple Combo updater. Running the combo updater overwrites potentially problem-causing files. Several users have reported this fixed some odd problems they were having with Entourage and other MS Office applications.. See this page for links http://www.entourage.mvps.org/troubleshoot/combo.html

See this FAQ for other options for crashes at start:
http://www.entourage.mvps.org/troubleshoot/crashes.html#crash6

[sck_nogas]

Tried 'Holding down the Shift key' when starting Entourage for either of the "bad" accounts, and got the same crash. :(

Re-ran the combo updater and still get the same problem.

Before I posted I checked the FAQ, and tried everything I could.

I only have one "Microsoft Database Daemon" running.
I tried moving the Preferences for Office out of the way.
I only have on language in Text Encoding.
I have run repair permissions, multiple times, after reboots too!
I have run repair disk.
I have rebooted my Mac, though didn't believe I was doing this.
I have updated both the Operating System and the Office Suite to the newest versions.
I have deleted my cache files.
I have checked for Font conflicts.
I have 3GB of RAM, and a 200GB drive, so I have plenty available.
I even left my Mac on overnight to run any "magic cron jobs".


To give background, I've been a Senior Unix SysAdmin for the past 18 years, am highly technically competent, deeply motivated, have several TB of storage available, and very patient. So, I am serious about writing a new tool to recover my email, though I warn you it will be a terminal based application, because I don't do GUI programming. Me like stone knives and bear skins... Unkh!

[dianeross]

Try testing in a new User. Go to System Preferences and create a new test user. Move your backup Identity (be sure to include all of the files not just the database file) to Shared. Log into the new Identity. First test to be sure Entourage opens OK with the default Identity that is created. When you know Entourage opens successfully, then drag over your problem Identities to the MUD folder. Use Switch Identity to view. Do they open in this new clean environment? If yes, then it is a problem in your User's folder. If not, then the database is corrupted or there is a system level problem. You mentioned you check for Font conflicts. MS applications can show problems like you are experiencing when there are font problems. Do NOT turn off Apple's Helvetica, or any other font found in /System/Library/Fonts.

Before you start doing an Archive & Install, is there any way to test your Identity on another computer? The more things you can eliminate, the quicker you will find what to try and fix.

Since you are serious about delving into the bowels of the database, see these instructions for opening the file in a text editor to clean it up.

Not for the faint of heart....http://www.entourage.mvps.org/database/corrupt.html

[sck_nogas]

Okay, results...

1) Create new user on machine, create a blank identity - Works. As in Entourage opens.
2) Copy corrupt identity to new user, try to open - Fails. Same error.
3) Repeat #1 on wife's G5. New architecture! - Her new user works. Well, the blank account works.
4) Repeat #2 on wife's G5... Fails. Same error.

So, it's not the environment. It most definitely is the Database. So, it's time to write a perl script to automate the re-build of the email from the database.

Scott
PS> My heart doesn't faint... It gets all cranky and writes code! :cool:

[rinse]

I hav ethe same thing happening to me... I have performed an archive and install of th esystem, too... didn't fix it.

:(

[tripleGS]

I had the same problems

1) Entourage quit immediately upon opening
2) Database rebuilds were attempted

I have an imap mailbox as my main account. I suspected that maybe an email in my imap inbox was the problem.

I have access to my imap mailbox from a web browser. I accessed it via the web browser, created a new imap folder, then moved the mornings email to a new folder (from my default imap inbox). This email was delivered around the time that Entourage started quitting.

This worked and Entourage did not quit on startup. Each time I selected the new imap folder "newmail" with the mornings email, Entourage would quit.

I'm now clearing the newmail box via the web browser and hope that my quitting problem is resolved.