Error of type 2

[Gary Bledsoe]

Trying to open a text document in Word 2001 and I am getting an error
message:
"The application "Microsoft Word" has unexpectedly quit, because an
error of type 2 occurred. You should save your work in other open
applications and restart the computer."

Does this have some relation to the amount of memory available to the
application, or the amount of virtual memory? Has anyone else
encountered this problem? Is there a work-around or fix available?
Thanks.

 

[Beth Rosengard]

Hi Gary,

It is very possibly a memory error, yes. Try this:

Navigate to the Word application in the Finder, select it and Get Info
(Command i). Go to the Memory pane and raise Word 2001's Preferred memory
to 48000K. Leave Minimum memory at the default.

Note: 48000K is a recommended average but if you have low RAM and seldom
work with complex documents, less may be better for you; conversely, if you
have lots of RAM and regularly work with very complex documents, go as high
as necessary.

Also, be sure Virtual Memory is turned on (Control Panels> Memory) and set
it to physical memory (³Available built-in memory²) plus 1 MB. This is the
default setting when you first turn on Virtual Memory. Word is designed to
take advantage of Virtual Memory and runs better with it on.

If that doesn't help, check this article for other ways to troubleshoot
system errors: <http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=272766>

Hope this helps.

--
Beth Rosengard
Mac MVP

Mac Word FAQ: <http://word.mvps.org/FAQs/WordMac/index.htm>
Entourage Help Page: <http://www.entourage.mvps.org/toc.html>

 

[Clive Huggan]

Hello Gary,

Here is some info on allocation of memory to Word 2001 (only -- earlier
versions need less, OS X has a different setup):

Allocate more "preferred" memory to Word: the default setting of 10,000K
(which is 10 megabytes) is totally inadequate for longer, more complex
documents (especially with macros) and will almost inevitably cause
problems. First check the amount of physical memory (RAM) in your Mac by
clicking on the desktop and popping down the Apple menu to "About this
computer". Then quit Word if it's open -> go to the folder in which the
Word application is stored -> click once to select it -> Command-i ->
"Microsoft Word info" window opens -> pop down the menu next to "Show" and
select "Memory":

a. If you have 192 megabytes, or less, of physical RAM installed in your
Mac, set "Preferred Size" to at least 24000K (that is, 24 MB) but preferably
48000K (= 48 MB). If you have more than 192 megabytes of RAM you can
profitably set the preferred size as high as 80000K (= 80 MB). If you have,
say, 512 MB or more of RAM and you work on very complex and/or graphics-rich
Word documents, even 120,000K (= 120 MB) will be beneficial, provided you
don't operate other memory-hungry software at the same time. [See note
below.]

b. Leave "Minimum Size" at 7000K (this is very important).

Also, check the virtual memory setting: Go to the Apple menu -> Control
panels -> memory and ensure virtual memory is switched on and set at 1 MB
more than the physical memory installed.

NOTE: The above figures for RAM allocation to Word are as recommended for
Word 2001 (Word 98 needs less) by experts and have been shown consistently
to solve many operating problems in Word. If you want to minimize problems
in Word 2001 and you do not have 256 megabytes of physical RAM installed,
buying more will be one of the best purchases you have made. As one member
of this newsgroup said, "Word hungers for memory. The more you can feed it,
the happier its bloated appetite is". But you need to take care not to
allocate so much memory to Word that other applications cannot work well;
the amount you allocate should take account of the number of fonts you have
installed (because fonts load into memory at start-up and stay there) and
the number of applications running at the same time as Word ‹ remember that
if you do not quit an application (by choosing File menu -> Quit or keying
Command-q) but only close its window or document (by clicking the close box
or keying Command-w), the application will still be running and will use up
as much RAM as if you were working in it.

Clive Huggan
Canberra, Australia
===================