Bus error: Jake Billo’s weblog

I’m writing these instructions up for posterity, since this is now the second time this incident has happened and I wanted to preserve the instructions for the MDBVU32 tool. The first time, it was a bad read receipt causing an annoying popup for every sent message; an outstanding client can’t send or receive any messages. (Original instructions are at howto-outlook.com.)

This situation can occur on most versions of Outlook and requires a repair utility from Microsoft to fix. To avoid completely trashing the mailstore, grab a copy of MDBVU32 (the Microsoft Exchange Server Information Store Viewer) from Microsoft or from here.

Start the utility, then click OK to the first dialog. Then,

• Click MDB > OpenMessageStore, select the item with the “D” next to it for the default PST file.
• The message will be in either MDB > Open Root Folder or MDB > Open IPM Outbox.
• Select the stuck message in the middle column and select lpMDB->AbortSubmit(), then Call Function.
• Select OK, then log out by MDB > Store Logoff > OK > OK
• Close the application by Session > Session Logoff, then close any remaining windows.

If you’re lucky enough to have a BlackBerry device running OS 4.5, BlackBerry Internet Service is now enabled for Rogers and should also be ready for most - if not all other North American carriers.

4.5 OSes are officially available for most recent GSM/EDGE devices. I’d recommend staying away from beta releases, as they contain debugging utilities and aren’t as stable as carrier-certified versions.

To find out if your device has an official upgrade available, look at the stickied threads for your device at BlackBerry Forums. These forums include the 81xx, the 83xx and the 88xx.

If you don’t have OS 4.5, you can still add Hotmail, Windows Live and AOL accounts for push email through your carrier’s BIS site.

Here’s how to activate HTML email for devices running OS 4.5:

1. Sign into your carrier’s BIS site:

• Rogers
• Telus
• Bell
• Fido

2. From the site, click Service Books / Send Service Books.

3. When your device receives the service books, go into Messages / BlackBerry menu / Options and choose Email Settings. For each account, change “Enable HTML Email” to Yes.

From BerryReview.com:

RIM and Microsoft have tied together to bring tighter integration between Hotmail/Messenger and the BlackBerry. Just look at the promised features in the press release.

This is an awesome announcement - up until now, Bell in Canada and T-Mobile in the States have been the only carriers to offer MSN Messenger to their subscribers. Part of my work at RIM involved instant messaging provisioning and testing the Windows Live Messenger component in preproduction, so it’s awesome to hear that the service will be coming out on a wider scale. I expect it’ll be similar to Facebook’s deployment and this is a huge marketing chip for carriers like Rogers and Telus.

(I know a lot of people on Telus from HowardForums have tried to get the MSN Messenger client working, and you can’t do it without getting a Connection Error 65 - RIM has to enable your SIM or device for it. It’s not just a service book issue.)

Congrats to the teams at RIM and Microsoft on getting a deal worked out - MSN/Windows Live Messenger is definitely one of the most popular services here in Canada.

Additionally, this announcement will take Hotmail/Windows Live Mail from a second-class citizen (you had to pay for Hotmail Plus to access it on your device, ordinarily) to a top-tier mail account with push access. In effect, when using BIS, you’ll get the message on your device as soon as it lands in your inbox, and not from 2-15 minutes afterwards. Other providers with push email on the BlackBerry are Yahoo Mail and Gmail, and some GoDaddy hosted accounts.

I’ll post an update here once the release happens and I’ve had a chance to test the consumer software. With the release of the 9000Bold and this news, things are looking good for the future with BlackBerry devices.

For anyone with a Dreamhost account set up to take advantage of mail forwarding, check out this post on their support site. Mail forwards are being delayed 18-24 hours in my experience.

In the meantime, to check all email routed through Dreamhost, I’ve been using webmail access (http://webmail.yourdomain.com) and also have a second forward going to my Yahoo address. Yahoo accounts, by the way, take advantage of BlackBerry push-style forwarding.

Hopefully the DreamHost staff get this fixed soon!