Couldn't print so unistalled and now Office won't upgrade

[chris.stott]

Hi,

I recently upgraded from a PowerBook to an 24" iMac. Since the iMac
is my primary machine I uninstalled Office 2004 from my PowerBook and
installed it on my iMac. Everything was working fine until about a
week ago (I think after I installed the 11.3.4 patch).

(Only) Office was running extremely slow and I was unable to print
from using any of the apps. I am able to print using other
applications (Pages, etc.). Out of frustration I uninstalled Office
and tried to re-installed it.

I originally purchased Office 10 and then the upgrade to 2004. Office
10 works (loads fast but doesn't print). The upgrader installer tries
to launch and but fails. I copied the folder to the Applications
folder (as per the upgrade disk) and none of the apps work (they try
but just fail).

I'm not even sure where to look to fix this. Any help would be
appreciated!

Thanks,
Chris

 

[chris.stott]

Hi,

I recently upgraded from a PowerBook to an 24" iMac. Since the iMac
is my primary machine I uninstalled Office 2004 from my PowerBook and
installed it on my iMac. Everything was working fine until about a
week ago (I think after I installed the 11.3.4 patch).

(Only) Office was running extremely slow and I was unable to print
from using any of the apps. I am able to print using other
applications (Pages, etc.). Out of frustration I uninstalled Office
and tried to re-installed it.

I originally purchased Office 10 and then the upgrade to 2004. Office
10 works (loads fast but doesn't print). The upgrader installer tries
to launch and but fails. I copied the folder to the Applications
folder (as per the upgrade disk) and none of the apps work (they try
but just fail).

I'm not even sure where to look to fix this. Any help would be
appreciated!

Thanks,
Chris

One thing I forgot to mention. Based on previous newsgroup posts I
also followed these instructions

1) Start up from the OS X install disk, go to the Utilities menu & run
Disk
Utility - Repair Disk (*not* Repair Disk Permissions). If necessary
run it
more than once until no errors are reported. Restart from the HD.

2) Download & install the OS X 10.4.8 Combo Update (Intel), then run
Repair
Disk Permissions.

3) Reinstall your printer driver & repair permissions again.

Still no luck...

 

[CyberTaz]

Hi Chris -

If you did a drag 'n' drop install of Office 2004 you've wound up with the
original build version on the Install Disk, so quite possibly all you need
to do is download & install the Office 11.3.3 update then run Disk Utility -
Repair Disk Permissions. If that is successful use the 11.3.4 updater as
well, then repair permissions again. However...

In the event that it doesn't or if the update won't apply:

When you "uninstalled" did you use the Remove Office utility or simply drag
the folder to the Trash? If the latter you may have more work ahead to get
things on an even keel.

Do you have any 3rd-party "haxies" installed to enhance/modify OS X or
Office?

How did you go from the PB to the iMac - there seems to be a number of
related complaints by those who have 'migrated' from a PPC to an Intel Mac.
You may need to run Remove Office to eliminate Office all together, then
install Office X, upgrade to & update 2004, repairing permissions at each
step along the way.

 

[CyberTaz]

One other question - Did/does the iMac have the Office 2004 Test Drive
installed?

 

[chris.stott]

Hi Bob,

When I moved to iMac I used the migration tool provided by Apple - I
guess this is my first 'real' install of 2004 on my iMac.

For 2004 I dragged the upgrade version. When I click on the icons
they just bounce and then disappear. Would applying 11.3.3 make it
work? It is acting like it isn't even able to load the application?
(I haven't even put in the activation codes).

When I uninstalled I first used the Remove Office on of the Office X
disk - it only picked up on the Office X files. I then used the one
on the Office 2004 disk - it found Office preference files for Office
X and Office 2004. I had to run it a couple of times before it said
that they couldn't be found.

As for Haxies - I have QuickSilver, LittleSnitch, Default Apps,
Flip4Mac WMV, MySQL and Witch. I also have Parallels if that makes a
difference.

Thanks,
Chris

 

[CyberTaz]

OK - wasn't clear before, but if I'm understanding you now the current
status of your situation is:

1) You have Removed Office from the Mac completely, then
2) You have dragged the Office folder from the 2004 Upgrade disk,
3) Your Office apps won't launch

It appears the problem is this:

The Office 2004 *Upgrade* needs to have a prior version of Office installed
in order to work. However, you have _removed_ the prior version which was to
be _upgraded_ - It would be different if you were installing the full
version of 2004. Try launching an Office app while you have your Office *X*
disk in the drive. If we're lucky you'll probably receive a few prompts.
Comply with them & all should go smoothly from there on. Then you can apply
the Office updates, repair permissions - but the 11.3.3/.4 updates won't do
any good at this point.

If that doesn't work I suggest that you do the following:

1- Run Remove Office (2004 disk) again to clear any traces,
2- Do a standard installation of Office _X_, then repair permissions,
3- Now install the 2004 upgrade of your previous version, apply the 11.3.3
update & repair permissions again. If all goes well apply the 11.3.4 update,
repair permissions once again & you should be good to go.

HTH |:>)
Bob Jones
[MVP] Office:Mac

 

[chris.stott]

Hi Bob,

Thanks for your patience. I had already installed Office X. Since I
had Removed Office using all the available tools I tried your steps.
Here is what happened.

1- Run Remove Office (2004 disk) again to clear any traces,

Ran several times to make sure no traces of any version. Last run
couldn't find any version.

2- Do a standard installation of Office _X_, then repair permissions,

Completed. Office X works but I still can't print.

3- Now install the 2004 upgrade of your previous version, apply the 11.3.3
update & repair permissions again. If all goes well apply the 11.3.4 update,
repair permissions once again & you should be good to go.

Failed. When I launched the installer it just bounced and
disappeared.

I also tried installing the Office 10 patch. Still didn't make a
difference.

Chris

 

[CyberTaz]

Then it now appears you're facing two issues:

1- > Completed. Office X works but I still can't print.

Can you be more specific about what happens when you _try_ to print? Is
there an error message - if so what exactly does it say? Printing problems
are quite unlikely to be caused by Office - that is an OS/driver service. If
X works (except for printing) follow the guidelines here:

http://word.mvps.org/Mac/CantPrint.html

Once Office X is 'resolved' you can more clearly focus on getting back to
2004. Note: I checked a bit into Quicksilver & Witch. Although I've never
used either these are the type of 'haxies' that _can_ cause problems. It
isn't that either is overly suspect, but the combination of the 2 might be
contributing to your situation. Did the addition of either of them happen to
coincide with the origin of problems?

2- > Failed. When I launched the installer it just bounced and disappeared.

This seems to be a random issue with the Office Installer and "some" Intel
Macs. In these cases a drag 'n' drop installation usually works. However,
even if it is successful I seriously doubt it will resolve the printing
issue - as indicated above that is originating outside Office & need to be
resolved ****first*, otherwise it will just persist in 2004.

Regards |:>)
Bob Jones
[MVP] Office:Mac

 

[chris.stott]

Hi Bob,

The good news is that I fixed it and that it looks like it wasn't an
Office issue. The bad news I'm not exactly sure why.

1- > Completed. Office X works but I still can't print.

Can you be more specific about what happens when you _try_ to print? Is
there an error message - if so what exactly does it say? Printing problems
are quite unlikely to be caused by Office - that is an OS/driver service. If
X works (except for printing) follow the guidelines here:

http://word.mvps.org/Mac/CantPrint.html

I tried the recommendations on word.mvps.org without much luck. The
error message from Office was as follows:

Word cannot print due to a problem with the current printer. Make sure
you have a printer selected in Print Center. You may need to print
again or adjust your printer settings.

Once Office X is 'resolved' you can more clearly focus on getting back to
2004. Note: I checked a bit into Quicksilver & Witch. Although I've never
used either these are the type of 'haxies' that _can_ cause problems. It
isn't that either is overly suspect, but the combination of the 2 might be
contributing to your situation. Did the addition of either of them happen to
coincide with the origin of problems?

No. Both of them have been there for quite a while and printing
worked before.

2- > Failed. When I launched the installer it just bounced and disappeared.

This seems to be a random issue with the Office Installer and "some" Intel
Macs. In these cases a drag 'n' drop installation usually works. However,
even if it is successful I seriously doubt it will resolve the printing
issue - as indicated above that is originating outside Office & need to be
resolved ****first*, otherwise it will just persist in 2004.

After doing some sniffing around on the Apple support site it seems
like this is a problem with a number applications. The repeated
solution mentioned reinstalling Mac OSX but to maintain and archive
the user accounts on the computer. I did this based on the following
link:

http://manuals.info.apple.com/en/Tiger_Install_Setup_Guide.pdf

After doing that I reinstalled the print drivers, completed the
install of Office 2004 and everything worked. Doing the reinstall
removed all my Haxies. I'm a little tentative about adding them back
because I need to print more than I need those (Quicksilver still
works from my user profile). I'll likely reinstall Little Snitch (it
is a network tool) and FlipMac (so I can see Windows movies).

Thanks for all your suggestions.
Chris

 

[John McGhie [MVP - Word and Word Macintosh]]

Hi Chris:

Doing the reinstall
removed all my Haxies. I'm a little tentative about adding them back
because I need to print more than I need those (Quicksilver still
works from my user profile). I'll likely reinstall Little Snitch (it
is a network tool) and FlipMac (so I can see Windows movies).

FlipforMac is perfectly safe. LittleSnitch might be a problem: it interacts
with the network -- anything that interacts with the network needs to be
carefully tested.

Cheers

--

Please reply to the newsgroup to maintain the thread. Please do not email
me unless I ask you to.

John McGhie <[email protected]>
Microsoft MVP, Word and Word for Macintosh. Business Analyst, Consultant
Technical Writer.
Sydney, Australia +61 (0) 4 1209 1410