J
JMF
A couple of years ago while using my laptop with Win2K and Office2000, I
suddenly found that I couldn't open equations that I had made in Word. The
messages were things like "application server can't be found, would you like
to install it now?" And of course I did, and it made no difference.
But then, I noticed that in fact it wasn't just with equations, it was with
ALL embedded objects, whether Excel spreadsheets or charts or whatever.
(Although interestingly it did work with Microsoft Picture Objects.)
Oddly, at the same time I also found that I suddenly couldn't print out
e-mail messages from Outlook Express. Script errors.
Then, perhaps even more odd, one day MANY months later, everything suddenly
worked again. I decided it might have been one of the many operating systems
updates, whereby one of them messed it up and another one put it right
again.
Time passed and a couple of months ago I got a new laptop. This time XP home
edition and Office XP. I've used my new computer since then, and suddenly
three days ago ... the same problem all over again! Different operating
system, different Office, but same problem, EVEN INCLUDING THE PROBLEM WITH
PRINTING E-MAIL MESSAGES!
So I'm just amazed, and for the life of me would like to know what has
happened. The only thing I can think of that I recently did was uninstall
Norton Virus and replace it with AVG. But frankly I didn't do an official
"before" and "after" test so I couldn't swear exactly at which point things
"broke."
I did try one thing, though: my laptop came with WordPerfect installed, so I
tried embedding something in a WordPerfect file to see what happens. I must
say that the error message was at least more informative. It was this:
"OLE object could not be created. This is usually due to incorrect
information about the server in the Windows registration database."
So this is what I'm currently guessing: *something* has messed up my
registration database, so that OLE doesn't find the various programs.
Unfortunately I know nothing about this area of the operating system, but I
figure I should at least try to set it right. I remember that when I first
had the problem and tried reinstalling Office, it did *NOT* solve the
problem. But I just noticed that there is a "Windows Installer Cleanup," and
wonder whether that might be useful/necessary in this case, so that
reinstalling actually makes a difference (I had the feeling something was
being "remembered" from one installation to the next and that's why
reinstallation wasn't making any difference.)
So there it is, the problem. Anybody here have his interest piqued and some
idea about what could be done? It's a fascinating but very frustrating
problem and I'd prefer not to just wait until the next combination of odd
circumstances suddenly sets it all right again.
Thanks for any ideas,
John
suddenly found that I couldn't open equations that I had made in Word. The
messages were things like "application server can't be found, would you like
to install it now?" And of course I did, and it made no difference.
But then, I noticed that in fact it wasn't just with equations, it was with
ALL embedded objects, whether Excel spreadsheets or charts or whatever.
(Although interestingly it did work with Microsoft Picture Objects.)
Oddly, at the same time I also found that I suddenly couldn't print out
e-mail messages from Outlook Express. Script errors.
Then, perhaps even more odd, one day MANY months later, everything suddenly
worked again. I decided it might have been one of the many operating systems
updates, whereby one of them messed it up and another one put it right
again.
Time passed and a couple of months ago I got a new laptop. This time XP home
edition and Office XP. I've used my new computer since then, and suddenly
three days ago ... the same problem all over again! Different operating
system, different Office, but same problem, EVEN INCLUDING THE PROBLEM WITH
PRINTING E-MAIL MESSAGES!
So I'm just amazed, and for the life of me would like to know what has
happened. The only thing I can think of that I recently did was uninstall
Norton Virus and replace it with AVG. But frankly I didn't do an official
"before" and "after" test so I couldn't swear exactly at which point things
"broke."
I did try one thing, though: my laptop came with WordPerfect installed, so I
tried embedding something in a WordPerfect file to see what happens. I must
say that the error message was at least more informative. It was this:
"OLE object could not be created. This is usually due to incorrect
information about the server in the Windows registration database."
So this is what I'm currently guessing: *something* has messed up my
registration database, so that OLE doesn't find the various programs.
Unfortunately I know nothing about this area of the operating system, but I
figure I should at least try to set it right. I remember that when I first
had the problem and tried reinstalling Office, it did *NOT* solve the
problem. But I just noticed that there is a "Windows Installer Cleanup," and
wonder whether that might be useful/necessary in this case, so that
reinstalling actually makes a difference (I had the feeling something was
being "remembered" from one installation to the next and that's why
reinstallation wasn't making any difference.)
So there it is, the problem. Anybody here have his interest piqued and some
idea about what could be done? It's a fascinating but very frustrating
problem and I'd prefer not to just wait until the next combination of odd
circumstances suddenly sets it all right again.
Thanks for any ideas,
John