Messages may accumulate in the message transfer agent queue and the message flow from Exchange Server to the Microsoft Mail post offices may stop

Messages may accumulate in the message transfer agent (MTA) queue (the Microsoft Mail Connector queue), and message flow from Exchange Server to the Microsoft Mail post offices may stop. Additionally, you may receive the following error message in the application event log in the Windows NT Event Viewer: Mail flow worked previously. This problem may occur after a Microsoft Mail server has stopped responding.

To correct this problem, follow these steps:

1. Search for any error message in the application event log that includes the phrase, "Object at fault."
2. Using File Manager, delete the corresponding .dat file in the MDBData directory. For example, if you find the phrase "Object at fault 0600009B" in the application event log, delete the file Mtadata\DB00009B.dat.
3. At a command prompt, type:
   exchsrvr\bin\ mtacheck /v /f log file name.log
   This may also delete more DBxxxxx.dat files.
4. Restart the services. All the services start successfully.
5. Examine the Microsoft Mail Connector queue. All the messages are gone.

For additional information about when to use Mtacheck, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: For additional information about the command line syntax of Mtacheck, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: