Search indexer problem

[Vol4Ever]

My brand new Vista PC ran fine for about a week, and then the integral search features stopped working. Biggest problem is that now I can't search e-mails in Outlook 2007. Whenever I try, this error comes up:

"Outlook is currently indexing your items. Search results may be incomplete as items are still being indexed."

This same message has been popping up since last week, and there is no HD activity to imply that there is anything going on in the background.

When I go to INDEXING OPTIONS in Control Panel, it tells me that the indexing service is not currently running. Microsoft's solution was to modify the search options & reboot, but the "Modify" and "Advanced" buttons are both grayed out.

Any idea how to reset the internal search engine so it can rebuild a clean copy of the database? Thanks!

~Vol

 

[Vol4Ever]

FURTHER UPDATE: I launched the services application. The "Windows Search" option shows startup as automatic, but it's not running. I clicked on the "Start this service" and this message popped up:

Windows could not start the Windows Search on Local Computer. For more information, review the System Event Log. If this is a non-Microsoft service, contact the service vendor, and refer to service-specific error code 2147218141.

ARRRRRGHH!

 

[Vol4Ever]

No ideas on how to reset the integral indexer? Not being able to search is a royal pain-in-the-you-know-what . . .

 

[gpalmer711]

Check what the event viewer is showing

Click Start > Click Run > type eventvwr > Click OK

Greg Palmer
Freeware Utilities for Windows Administrators.

http://www.palmersoft.co.uk

 

[Vol4Ever]

Wow. Never knew that utility was there. On mine, it shows an absolute mess. In the "last hour" column:

21 errors
14 warnings
44 information

By the time you get over to the "totals" column:

978 errors
1,007 warnings
7,698 information

Here is a more detailed breakdown after expanding some of the categories:

ERROR CATEGORY
Event ID 1006 - Search - 7 in last hour
Event ID 7024 - Service Control Eventlog Provider - 7 in last hour
Event ID 7034 - Service Control Eventlog Provider - 7 in last hour

WARNING CATEGORY
Event ID 1008 - Search - 14 in last hour

WARNING CATEGORY
Event ID 1010 - Search - 14 in last hour
Event ID 1013 - Search - 7 in last hour
Event ID 7036 - Service Control Manager Eventlog Provider - 15 in last hour

I'm seeing a pattern here . . .

 

[gpalmer711]

I can't really offer you a solution, I've had a little poke around and can't find anything relevent.

What you could try is go back into the event view and pick one of the Errors.

In the General Tab you should see a link that says "Event Log Online Help" Click on that and it will search MS to see if there is a solution to that problem.

Also now you know about the Event Viewer you should also visit

http://www.eventid.net

if you get similar problems in the future. It's a great resource, basically you enter the Event ID and it will show you a list of possible solutions.

Greg Palmer
Freeware Utilities for Windows Administrators.

http://www.palmersoft.co.uk

 

[linney]

http://www.eventid.net

is also able to provide extra information for a small fee as a yearly subscription, which in your case may be worthwhile. However just Googling or searching MSKB (Knowledge Base) for the Event ID and Event Source can often turn up what you pay for at the linked to site.

Note to "gpalmer711 MVP" and other MVP's; the owner of Event Id.net, Adrian Grigorof, kindly allows MVP's a free 12 months subscription to that site. Greg, I suspect with your inbuilt ability to sniff out a freebie, you are already aware, or have long since used up the freebie donation. If you haven't all you have to do is ask via E-mail.

 

[Vol4Ever]

For others who may be monitoring this topic looking for an answer, you might want to watch another thread:

http://forums.microsoft.com/msdn/ShowPost.aspx?postid=1346303&siteid=1

I had posted the same problem on that forum & there are a couple of Microsoft techs who seem to be dialing into the problem. No resolution yet, but I think they are getting close.

~Vol

 

[Vol4Ever]

Update: PROBLEM SOLVED!!! See thread on Microsfot forums above for detail of the solution that worked for me. Basically had to manually add a directory and a couple of files that had somehow gotten deleted. Index is rebuilding now . . .

 

[gpalmer711]

Thanks for letting us know and glad you got it sorted.

Greg Palmer
Freeware Utilities for Windows Administrators.

http://www.palmersoft.co.uk