outlook express 6 on NT4 cannot send or recieve mail

[ClareSnyder]

NT 4.0 SP6 with IE6.0 and OE6.0 - all updates.
About 2 weeks ago the machine stopped recieving e-mail. Cannot send messages either. When attempting to recieve there is no error message. When attempting to send it simply states "cannot send message".
I tried to export the messages to Outlook and it says cannot export. Error says something about MAPI or TAPI - can't remember which and I'm not at that system right now.
I tried to run Outlook and it says "outlook cannot run" or something very similar - has office 2000 pro installed.
What is the experience of you guys out there? Any good ideas? Do NOT want to loose accumulated messages.IE works just fine for surfing, and using the webmail from the ISP the e-mail is available - so it is not a show-stopper but it IS a MAJOR inconvenience.

Thanks

 

[ClareSnyder]

Found the problem - the hard way. After re-installing everything I could think of,and still getting the same problem, I discovered the messenger service was not running - and it pointed to the network card. I reinstalled NT from scratch - and it would NOT install network services.
Pulled the network card and installed a "known good" card (was working fine on Win98 machine) - still no joy. Replaced with another card, and the install went perfectly - and e-mail works.
A lot of hours by the wayside on THAT one!!!