Normal.dot not being recognised

[Steve]

I am working in a school where roaming profiles are not
used as set default profiles are used.

Where on Windows XP machines running Office XP. Where
after logon normal.dot exists in the templates directory.

Both the template locations are set to where they should
be in an applications directory in their home drive - and
they both work correctly under Office 2000 which
is also on the network.

Each student has their own normal.dot as they have to
have access to the macros they create during the course of
the year.

Each time they open Word the installer starts as if they a
new user ie it creates a new normal.dot which overwrites
the original or renames the original to normal.dot.old and
creates a new one. It only renames it after they logoff
and logon and restart word (intsaller starts); and only if
normal.dot.old does not exist, if it exists, it overwrites
normal.dot.

Any suggestions as to what could be causing it - could it
be offline files not being fully synched before word
starts as I belive it can take up to three logons for it
to happen and offline files are being deleted each time
the student logs off.

Thanks

Steve