Question:
I have tried to set up Outlook 2000 on my laptop (it uses Windows 98) to connect via dialup to the Exchange server running on my Small Business Server setup at work. I receive the following error:

“Network problems are preventing connection to the Microsoft Exchange server computer.”

Using exactly the same settings (dialup and mail) on my home desktop with Windows 2000 Professional I can get my work mail without any problems at all.

Do you have any suggestions on what I might try?

Answer:
Sounds like a network communication problem to me (sorry to restate the obvious).

You should verify that you’re using the same network protocols on your home machine and laptop.

Next, if you’re using TCP/IP, make sure that your IP address and subnet mask on the notebook are correct. Better yet, use DHCP to have the address and mask dynamically assigned when you dial-in.

If you’ve already got all of that, try pinging your Exchange server by name (ping mymailserver) and see if it responds. If not, you could try adding the Exchange server’s name and IP address to a HOSTS file on your laptop. If that works, then the problem is one of name resolution and the real solution is to get your WINS services running properly so the laptop can utilize them.

My money would be on something more fundamental, though: probably a missing protocol or incorrect IP address.