file corruption in Word. can't open Mac Word files

F

fotofah

I'm using Word as part of Office 2004 on my Mac G5, OS 10.3.9 (was
10.3.8 when this first happened a few days ago). The Word version is
v11.1 (under "About Word."

When I try open an existing Word file, created on my Mac, I get a box
saying: "Microsoft Word has encountered a problem and needs to close.
We are sorry for the inconvenience" with more, including the chance to
send the incident to Microsoft. I typically send that, for whatever it
will accomplish.

I may also get a warning box: "Word encountered file corruption while
opening test.doc. Part of this document may be recoverable. Attempt
recovery now?" I click yes, but it just loops through the error message
as above.

I *am* able to launch Word. I can't open files. I *can* save files, but
not open them again.

The below behavior happens if I'm in my normal user account (as admin)
on my office Mac. When I opened a "test" user account, Word seemed to
work fine. I suspect that somewhere there is a file, perhaps invisible,
under my account, that is corrupt and I can't find it to dump it. An
Applecare tech rep suggested it could be corruption in a cache file or
preference in my Library folder for Word. I think I found 2 .plist
files and Trashed them, but that didn't solve the problem. I couldn't
find any cache files named Word.

I've run (off a separate hard drive) Apple Disk First Aid, Diskwarrior
(latest version) and Tech Tool Pro (latest version.) They didn't solve
the problem either. :-(

Because I'm working on a university that had a contract with MS which
gives us low prices on software, but without my having access to MS
tech support on the phone, I'm in a fix, trying to get help (quickly!)
on this problem through avenues like this group.

- Dennis, photo (at) uofn.edu
 
D

Daiya Mitchell

Such consistent and reproducible problems in Word usually respond to one of
the standard troubleshooting measures, which you will find listed here:

http://word.mvps.org/MacWordNew/TroubleshootingIndex.htm
(hit refresh a few times in Safari, or use a different browser)

But if it works in a new user account, it may be quicker to just switch to
that account.
 
J

John McGhie [MVP - Word and Word Macintosh]

Hi Dennis:

My first stop would be renaming your Normal Template. Follow the link Daiya
sent you for instructions.

Whenever you open anything in Word, Word opens the Normal template to bring
all sorts of stored settings in.

Normal template corrupts from time to time. If you rename it, Word creates
a new default one that might fix the problem. If it does, and you have
anything stored in the old one, use Organiser (see the Help...) to copy back
the stuff you want. Then delete the old one.

You may also find it helpful to rebuild the Entourage database if you are
using Entourage. Word needs to read the Entourage database, and if it
can't, it crashes.

If renaming Normal doesn't fix it, you can keep the new Normal template or
re-name the old one back.

Cheers


I'm using Word as part of Office 2004 on my Mac G5, OS 10.3.9 (was
10.3.8 when this first happened a few days ago). The Word version is
v11.1 (under "About Word."

When I try open an existing Word file, created on my Mac, I get a box
saying: "Microsoft Word has encountered a problem and needs to close.
We are sorry for the inconvenience" with more, including the chance to
send the incident to Microsoft. I typically send that, for whatever it
will accomplish.

I may also get a warning box: "Word encountered file corruption while
opening test.doc. Part of this document may be recoverable. Attempt
recovery now?" I click yes, but it just loops through the error message
as above.

I *am* able to launch Word. I can't open files. I *can* save files, but
not open them again.

The below behavior happens if I'm in my normal user account (as admin)
on my office Mac. When I opened a "test" user account, Word seemed to
work fine. I suspect that somewhere there is a file, perhaps invisible,
under my account, that is corrupt and I can't find it to dump it. An
Applecare tech rep suggested it could be corruption in a cache file or
preference in my Library folder for Word. I think I found 2 .plist
files and Trashed them, but that didn't solve the problem. I couldn't
find any cache files named Word.

I've run (off a separate hard drive) Apple Disk First Aid, Diskwarrior
(latest version) and Tech Tool Pro (latest version.) They didn't solve
the problem either. :-(

Because I'm working on a university that had a contract with MS which
gives us low prices on software, but without my having access to MS
tech support on the phone, I'm in a fix, trying to get help (quickly!)
on this problem through avenues like this group.

- Dennis, photo (at) uofn.edu
Click to expand...

--

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. Consultant Technical Writer
Sydney, Australia +61 4 1209 1410
 
F

fotofah

Thanks for all the help.

About a week ago(?) I got a warning box that the database for Entourage
was corrupted. I sought to fix it, rebuild it (holding down the Option
key on launch, choosing for what I recall was the 3rd choice down for
fixing it). No matter how many times I tried, it would freeze my G5
with a kernel panic when it was about 2/3 through.

As it turned out, after running diagnostics on my boot volume, I had a
"key" problem which Disk First Aid couldn't repair and DiskWarrior
couldn't either. I did have a very recent backup of my entire boot
volume (thanks to SuperDuper), but since cloning all my files on to a
different internal hard drive, I haven't yet tried a rebuild of the
Entourage database.

(I was able to completely wipe the original boot volume, writing zeros
to it, following advice from Applecare tech reps about partitioning it
(it had been in 2 partitions), wiping it clean several times to get it
to "forget" it's original partitioning. On testing now, it shows no
hard drive problems at all with Disk First Aid and Diskwarrior. If it
had, Apple said they'd swap the drive for me.)

I'm anticipating getting Tiger here Apr. 29, as we have an Apple
Maintenance Program contract so we get a new OS as soon as it's out for
each of our Macs. So perhaps given that I have an "empty" internal hard
drive, I may just start fresh with Tiger, then reinstall my apps, and
try to copy back my User files. (I have tech info from Apple about how
to do that, but suspect it's a lot of work. <sigh>

I'll try dealing with the Normal Template, but also a rebuild of my
Entourage database.

Through my unfamiliarity with posting to these groups (via Google beta
groups), I posted first to this list, then a day later, to the group
for Mac users of Office. Paul Berkowitz had replied to my post there,
also with advice about the Normal template.

I was able to somehow set things up when I registered with Google
groups to have emails sent to me that included replies to my posting
there, but I'm not sure whether I'll have that also automatically
happen from this group or how to set that up now. That made it very
convenient to see when a reply like Paul's had been posted.

- Dennis
 
F

fotofah

Thanks for all the help.

About a week ago(?) I got a warning box that the database for Entourage
was corrupted. I sought to fix it, rebuild it (holding down the Option
key on launch, choosing for what I recall was the 3rd choice down for
fixing it). No matter how many times I tried, it would freeze my G5
with a kernel panic when it was about 2/3 through.

As it turned out, after running diagnostics on my boot volume, I had a
"key" problem which Disk First Aid couldn't repair and DiskWarrior
couldn't either. I did have a very recent backup of my entire boot
volume (thanks to SuperDuper), but since cloning all my files on to a
different internal hard drive, I haven't yet tried a rebuild of the
Entourage database.

(I was able to completely wipe the original boot volume, writing zeros
to it, following advice from Applecare tech reps about partitioning it
(it had been in 2 partitions), wiping it clean several times to get it
to "forget" it's original partitioning. On testing now, it shows no
hard drive problems at all with Disk First Aid and Diskwarrior. If it
had, Apple said they'd swap the drive for me.)

I'm anticipating getting Tiger here Apr. 29, as we have an Apple
Maintenance Program contract so we get a new OS as soon as it's out for
each of our Macs. So perhaps given that I have an "empty" internal hard
drive, I may just start fresh with Tiger, then reinstall my apps, and
try to copy back my User files. (I have tech info from Apple about how
to do that, but suspect it's a lot of work. <sigh>

I'll try dealing with the Normal Template, but also a rebuild of my
Entourage database.

Through my unfamiliarity with posting to these groups (via Google beta
groups), I posted first to this list, then a day later, to the group
for Mac users of Office. Paul Berkowitz had replied to my post there,
also with advice about the Normal template.

I was able to somehow set things up when I registered with Google
groups to have emails sent to me that included replies to my posting
there, but I'm not sure whether I'll have that also automatically
happen from this group or how to set that up now. That made it very
convenient to see when a reply like Paul's had been posted.

- Dennis
 
B

Beth Rosengard

F

fotofah

Thanks for all the help.

About a week ago(?) I got a warning box that the database for Entourage
was corrupted. I sought to fix it, rebuild it (holding down the Option
key on launch, choosing for what I recall was the 3rd choice down for
fixing it). No matter how many times I tried, it would freeze my G5
with a kernel panic when it was about 2/3 through.

As it turned out, after running diagnostics on my boot volume, I had a
"key" problem which Disk First Aid couldn't repair and DiskWarrior
couldn't either. I did have a very recent backup of my entire boot
volume (thanks to SuperDuper), but since cloning all my files on to a
different internal hard drive, I haven't yet tried a rebuild of the
Entourage database.

(I was able to completely wipe the original boot volume, writing zeros
to it, following advice from Applecare tech reps about partitioning it
(it had been in 2 partitions), wiping it clean several times to get it
to "forget" it's original partitioning. On testing now, it shows no
hard drive problems at all with Disk First Aid and Diskwarrior. If it
had, Apple said they'd swap the drive for me.)

I'm anticipating getting Tiger here Apr. 29, as we have an Apple
Maintenance Program contract so we get a new OS as soon as it's out for
each of our Macs. So perhaps given that I have an "empty" internal hard
drive, I may just start fresh with Tiger, then reinstall my apps, and
try to copy back my User files. (I have tech info from Apple about how
to do that, but suspect it's a lot of work. <sigh>

I'll try dealing with the Normal Template, but also a rebuild of my
Entourage database.

Through my unfamiliarity with posting to these groups (via Google beta
groups), I posted first to this list, then a day later, to the group
for Mac users of Office. Paul Berkowitz had replied to my post there,
also with advice about the Normal template.

I was able to somehow set things up when I registered with Google
groups to have emails sent to me that included replies to my posting
there, but I'm not sure whether I'll have that also automatically
happen from this group or how to set that up now. That made it very
convenient to see when a reply like Paul's had been posted.

- Dennis
 
F

fotofah

Thanks for all the help.

About a week ago(?) I got a warning box that the database for Entourage
was corrupted. I sought to fix it, rebuild it (holding down the Option
key on launch, choosing for what I recall was the 3rd choice down for
fixing it). No matter how many times I tried, it would freeze my G5
with a kernel panic when it was about 2/3 through.

As it turned out, after running diagnostics on my boot volume, I had a
"key" problem which Disk First Aid couldn't repair and DiskWarrior
couldn't either. I did have a very recent backup of my entire boot
volume (thanks to SuperDuper), but since cloning all my files on to a
different internal hard drive, I haven't yet tried a rebuild of the
Entourage database.

(I was able to completely wipe the original boot volume, writing zeros
to it, following advice from Applecare tech reps about partitioning it
(it had been in 2 partitions), wiping it clean several times to get it
to "forget" it's original partitioning. On testing now, it shows no
hard drive problems at all with Disk First Aid and Diskwarrior. If it
had, Apple said they'd swap the drive for me.)

I'm anticipating getting Tiger here Apr. 29, as we have an Apple
Maintenance Program contract so we get a new OS as soon as it's out for
each of our Macs. So perhaps given that I have an "empty" internal hard
drive, I may just start fresh with Tiger, then reinstall my apps, and
try to copy back my User files. (I have tech info from Apple about how
to do that, but suspect it's a lot of work. <sigh>

I'll try dealing with the Normal Template, but also a rebuild of my
Entourage database.

Through my unfamiliarity with posting to these groups (via Google beta
groups), I posted first to this list, then a day later, to the group
for Mac users of Office. Paul Berkowitz had replied to my post there,
also with advice about the Normal template.

I was able to somehow set things up when I registered with Google
groups to have emails sent to me that included replies to my posting
there, but I'm not sure whether I'll have that also automatically
happen from this group or how to set that up now. That made it very
convenient to see when a reply like Paul's had been posted.

- Dennis
 
F

fotofah

Thanks, Beth. I think I've worked out the Google group thing.

I first tried (as Paul Berkowitz had also advised) to simply Trash the
Normal template file for Word. That didn't solve the problem. I next
(after backing up my boot volume) did choice #3 to repair my Entourage
database. That went flawlessly. But...it still didn't solve the problem
with Word. :-(

I guess my next option is to use the Office Remover app in the
Additional Tools folder of MS Office folder to remove Office, then
reinstall Office 2004. (That was what Paul had advised me to my
not-really-intentional cross-post to the microsoft.public.mac.office
group.)

Correct?

- Dennis
 
F

fotofah

I just finished the Remove and then reinstalled Office 2004. That seems
to have solved the problem, at least for creating new Word files and
being able to open them without an error message. :)

So far, I'm able to open any Word file, including those which always
gave error messages during the past week.

- Dennis
 
B

Beth Rosengard

Hi Dennis,

Thanks, Beth. I think I've worked out the Google group thing.
Click to expand...

Are you sure? You posted your last message four times :).
I first tried (as Paul Berkowitz had also advised) to simply Trash the
Normal template file for Word. That didn't solve the problem. I next
(after backing up my boot volume) did choice #3 to repair my Entourage
database. That went flawlessly. But...it still didn't solve the problem
with Word. :-(

I guess my next option is to use the Office Remover app in the
Additional Tools folder of MS Office folder to remove Office, then
reinstall Office 2004. (That was what Paul had advised me to my
not-really-intentional cross-post to the microsoft.public.mac.office
group.)

Correct?
Click to expand...

The full procedure for removal and reinstallation is here:
<http://word.mvps.org/MacWordNew/RemoveReinstall.htm>
(If using Safari, hit Refresh once or twice; better yet, use another
browser.)

However, I'm not sure that's your problem. You said that you trashed the
Normal template but still can't open your Word files without erroring. Was
it only the old files you tried to open? Did you also try creating a *new*
document to see if you could save and reopen it? The answers to these
questions should tell us whether it's a Normal template and/or a corrupt
document issue or not. If the answer to the second question is yes and the
problem still exists, then we have to look elsewhere for the cause.

You also said in your first post that Word works fine in a test user. Did
you try moving a couple of the problem documents to this user to see if you
can open them there? That result could be interesting.

Finally, did you ever work through the other procedures that Daiya pointed
you to? They're here:
<http://word.mvps.org/MacWordNew/TroubleshootingIndex.htm>
(If using Safari, hit Refresh once or twice; better yet, use another browser
for this site.)
For instance, any chance of third-party conflicts?

--
***Please always reply to the newsgroup!***

Beth Rosengard
MacOffice MVP

Mac Word FAQ: <http://word.mvps.org/MacWordNew/index.htm>
(If using Safari, hit Refresh once or twice ­ or use another browser.)
Entourage Help Page: <http://www.entourage.mvps.org>
 
B

Beth Rosengard

Hi Dennis,

I posted my previous message before seeing this one but I'm glad you got it
working!

Beth
 
F

fotofah

I'm not sure about the multiple postings in the same group, except that
sometime when using the Google group site in Safari (on broadband), it
seemed as though it was taking many minutes to respond to my clicking
to post, so I sometime in impatience clicked more than once. But still,
that wouldn't explain the time intervals and seemingly nothing *in*
several of my replies (again, when I see it in the Google group). Ah,
learning curves! <sigh>

Sorry for the multiple postings.



- Dennis
 
R

Rob Daly [MSFT]

Dennis,

I'm glad to hear that your problem was solved. If you crash again on opening
a document like this, please post the crash log here too and share the
document if you can. You can get the crash log from the Microsoft Error
Reporting app that comes up when you crash by clicking the More Information
button. Thanks and I hope you don't encounter problems again,


--
Rob Daly
Macintosh Business Unit
Word Test

--
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