Microsoft Office 2008 OSX Word will not run.

[Jim Mahon]

I need some suggestions my Word 2008 OSX has suddenly refused to run.
It comes up with the message that it has encountered a problem and
needs to close.

I am in a bind as I regularly use word and have many documents in word
format. We are talking crisis here.

Should I delete it and reinstall? Suggestions would be appreciated. I
suppose there might be an update but when I check for an update with
excel it says no updates available at this time.

Jim Mahon

 

[CyberTaz]

Hi Jim -

Do Not "delete it and reinstall". That's rarely the solution & can cause
further problems - especially if the proper removal method is not used...
and *delete* isn't it

If Word [or any of the Office programs] are crashing on launch the most
likely cause is a permissions & updates issue. Make sure Office is at 12.1.5
& that OS X is at the most current level - 10.4.11 for Tiger, 10.5.6 for
Leopard. Then run Disk Utility - Repair Disk Permissions. Restart your Mac &
let us know how you make out.

If that doesn't resolve it there are additional steps to take once we narrow
down the possibilities.

 

[Jim Mahon]

Bob thanks for the reply.

In retrospect I guess I should have given some more information I
guess I was in panic mode. I am running the updated version of 10.5.6
on a Dual 2 GHZ G5. I followed your advice and updated my permissions.
However when I ran word again it again gave me the message that it has
encountered a problem and needs to close.

This time I went to the log and it gave me the following information.

------------------------------------------------------
Microsoft Error Reporting log version: 2.0

Error Signature:
Exception: EXC_BAD_ACCESS
Date/Time: 2009-04-09 19:23:23 -0400
Application Name: Microsoft Word
Application Bundle ID: com.microsoft.Word
Application Signature: MSWD
Application Version: 12.1.5.081119
Crashed Module Name: MicrosoftComponentPlugin
Crashed Module Version: unknown
Crashed Module Offset: 0x0017693c
Blame Module Name: MicrosoftComponentPlugin
Blame Module Version: unknown
Blame Module Offset: 0x0017693c
Application LCID: 1033
Extra app info: Reg=en Loc=0x0409

 

[John McGhie]

Hi Jim:

Yes, that has all the footprints of a mis-applied update.

I am afraid you WILL need to perform a full Remove Office using the Office
Remover, then re-install and re-apply the latest updates.

For some reason, this seems to hit the PPC and I don't know what the cause
is. Let's try this:

This is the "Scorched Earth" fix.

Whatever it is, if it's caused by Office, this should fix it.

First: Download and re-apply the latest Apple OS X Combo Update from here:
http://support.apple.com/kb/index?page=search&src=support_site.kbase&fac=Dow
nloads&q=Mac%20OS%20X%20Combo

Test now: that may fix it. If not: I am picking that one of the components
of your software has gotten out of synch with the others.

1) Quit all Microsoft applications.

Run the Remove Office utility. You must run Remove Office, or you'll make
the problem worse! And Office must be installed WHEN you run it, otherwise
Remove Office will do nothing because it can't find what it's looking for.

2) Run Remove Office TWICE to make sure it finds everything. Remove Office
is in a folder on your CD, and is also in a folder in your Office 2008
Application folder.

3) Track down all instances of pre-2008 Normal template on your computer,
and drag them to your desktop. The file is called simply "Normal" and has
no extension.

4) Find and drag the file Normal.dotm to your desktop. Unless you have
moved it, it should be in
/Users/ ~ /Library/Application Support/Microsoft/Office/User Templates/

5) If the following files exist, Remove or rename them:

~/Library/Preferences/Microsoft/Word Settings (10)

~/Library/Preferences/Microsoft/Word Settings (11)

User/Library/Preferences/com.Microsoft.Word.plist

User/Library/Preferences/Microsoft/Office 2008 (the whole folder!)

Then Repair Permissions with Disk Utility.

Then re-install, and reapply the 12.1.0 and 12.1.5 updates, in that order.

Repair permissions again, and it should work.

Be thorough with this, if you leave any of the old files behind Word 2008
will find them and won't replace them. Do it right and Word will construct
a new, clean, set of preferences and everything should now work.

Sorry it's such a chore...

Cheers

Bob thanks for the reply.

In retrospect I guess I should have given some more information I
guess I was in panic mode. I am running the updated version of 10.5.6
on a Dual 2 GHZ G5. I followed your advice and updated my permissions.
However when I ran word again it again gave me the message that it has
encountered a problem and needs to close.

This time I went to the log and it gave me the following information.

------------------------------------------------------
Microsoft Error Reporting log version: 2.0

Error Signature:
Exception: EXC_BAD_ACCESS
Date/Time: 2009-04-09 19:23:23 -0400
Application Name: Microsoft Word
Application Bundle ID: com.microsoft.Word
Application Signature: MSWD
Application Version: 12.1.5.081119
Crashed Module Name: MicrosoftComponentPlugin
Crashed Module Version: unknown
Crashed Module Offset: 0x0017693c
Blame Module Name: MicrosoftComponentPlugin
Blame Module Version: unknown
Blame Module Offset: 0x0017693c
Application LCID: 1033
Extra app info: Reg=en Loc=0x0409
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
--------------------

I hope this is of some help. I look forward to hearing from you.

Jim Mahon

--
Don't wait for your answer, click here: http://www.word.mvps.org/

Please reply in the group. Please do NOT email me unless I ask you to.

John McGhie, Microsoft MVP, Word and Word:Mac
Sydney, Australia. mailto:[email protected]

 

[Jim Mahon]

SWEET - Many thanks John.

That took awhile but worked like a charm and has resolved all my
problems with Microsoft Word and the other OFFice applications seem to
be behaving themselves. You have made my weekend much brighter.

Thanks for the exact, clear instructions. You were very, very helpful.
I owe you a pint next time I'm down under in Sydney .


Jim Mahon

 

[Jim Mahon]

Sweet this resolved all my problems.


Thanks for your clear instructions.

Thanks again. Jim Mahon

 

[John McGhie]

Hi Jim:

Only ONE pint? Remember we're Aussies, and this is a hot country ‹ breeds a
dreadful thirst

Thanks for getting back to us: it makes the game a lot easier if we find out
what works and what doesn't.

Next time you're planning to be in Sydney, give me a call and we will see if
we can lead you astray!

Cheers

SWEET - Many thanks John.

That took awhile but worked like a charm and has resolved all my
problems with Microsoft Word and the other OFFice applications seem to
be behaving themselves. You have made my weekend much brighter.

Thanks for the exact, clear instructions. You were very, very helpful.
I owe you a pint next time I'm down under in Sydney .


Jim Mahon

--
Don't wait for your answer, click here: http://www.word.mvps.org/

Please reply in the group. Please do NOT email me unless I ask you to.

John McGhie, Microsoft MVP, Word and Word:Mac
Sydney, Australia. mailto:[email protected]