Office 2003 word hangs on startup

[John]

My issue is Office 2003 hangs on startup for approx 30 to 60 seconds then
starts to work.

After I get Word or Excel up by waiting 30 to 60 seconds, the next time I
load word or Excel it loads normally. This happens on the initial running of
Word / Excel. I've tried logging in under a different user, using a new
profile and the same problem happens.

I'm running Windows XP Pro /sp2 and Office 2003 with the latest fixes.

Any idea's what is causing this problem?

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

AFAIK, that's normal--and true of many apps: for example, the first time I
load Adobe Acrobat in a given Windows session, it takes an eon. Subsequent
uses are much quicker. Presumably some elements are left loaded in memory.
Office used to have something called the Office Startup Assistant (OSA) that
"prefetched" critical bits of the apps for faster loading, but I think
perhaps more recent versions don't have/use this.

 

[John]

I have 712mb of RAM could this be the issue with Word?

 

[Terry Farrell]

No, that's a reasonable allocation for Office 2003 with XPP: normally I
state 512MB is the minimum for XP with 2003, but 1GB is the sweet point, so
you are somewhere in the middle and it shouldn't affect Startup.

Check the speed of Startup by starting in Safe Mode: from Start, Run type in

winword /a

and press enter. Does Word start faster now? If it is faster, then it is
pretty much as Suzanne suggests - those add-ins. But it may be worth doing
some other checks.

Check the size of your normal.dot: if it is getting big and bloated, think
of moving some of your customizations out of normal into another template
and put it into your Word Startup folder instead. Also important is the
printer driver which Word needs to start and work correctly: check that you
have the latest driver from the printer manufacturer's support site and then
delete and reinstall the printer.

Then go to your temp folder (usually under and make sure that when ALL apps
are closed it is empty. If not, delete all that you find. Empty the Recycle
Bin. Finally, run a full CHeckDisk from XP startup and follow up with a full
Defrag.

That will ensure that you are running optimally.

Terry

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

I didn't mention add-ins. They are certainly a consideration, but where I
see the lag is between the splash screen and getting a Word window. I can
then see the add-ins loading one by one (each adds a toolbar or menu). IOW,
the delay is in loading Word, not the add-ins. I am sure that one reason for
this in my case is a huge number of fonts installed. My Normal.dot is 271
KB--pretty heavily customized but not, I think, really bloated.

 

[Terry Farrell]

I agree that 271Kb is far from bloated: I'd start to think about breaking up
normal.dot when it approaches 1Mb. You should be able to easily prove it is
the add-ins delaying the start by temporarily moving everything out of
Startup and experience the difference. IIRC, a corrupt or bad printer driver
causes the splash screen to show for an excessive period.

Terry

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

My printer is driving me crazy, but it's not the driver that's the
problem--it's the paper feed, which is getting worse (when the stack in the
MP tray gets low, it grabs great gobs and puts them through at once, often
causing jams). In another thread, you advised me that I could order new
rubber rollers to correct this, and I asked you how difficult it would be
for an ordinary user (me or my husband) to replace the rollers. I don't
think you ever answered that.

 

[Terry Farrell]

I vaguely remember saying that a Roller kit is needed. Installation is
actually quite straight forward. I'm trying to remember where we get our HP
Printer spares from because they have on line plans and manuals covering
that information. I'll ask the lads at work to remind me.

Terry

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

Thanks, Terry. I would appreciate that.

 

[Mary Sauer]

Might try www.fixyourownprinter.com

I've had to change the pick up mechanism on our HP and this company had the
parts. When the pickup for the duplex went south, the company even sent a CD
walking me through each step.

 

[Terry Farrell]

Mary

Thanks for that: it looks prefect for Suzanne.

Terry

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

Indeed. Thanks, Mary. I'll look into this.

 

[Mary Sauer]

I hope they have your part. I was advised on an old printer to use hair spray on
the the rollers when they wouldn't pick up. Worked for a long, long time. The
printer died eventually.

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

I notice they sell a can of something called Roller Rejuvenator. It may be
hairspray!

They do have an HP LaserJet 4100 Pickup Jam Repair Kit. The problem is
described as "Paper jams with a groaning sound when paper is picked up."
That doesn't really describe my situation, but the cause, "Worn out
separation feed rollers fail to properly grip paper, causing paper jam,"
sounds about right. It is definitely the pickup rollers (and their failure
to properly separate the paper, causing pickup of several sheets at a time)
that are causing the problem. I'd rather risk $25 on a possible solution
than try to find somewhere to have the printer fixed, especially given that
I really can't do without it for even a day.

But I also noticed that they offer a kit to solve the problem of
multiple-sheet feed on 3100-series All-in-Ones, and that is the problem for
which I got a *free* repair kit from HP that worked for a long time (until
it was removed by the repair service that fixed my resolution problem). The
kit was basically a sheet of sticky tape with a cardboard applicator to
position it correctly.

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

Upon reflection, though, I would want to make sure that the rollers supplied
are for the MP tray, which is the only one affected, and that is not at all
clear from the page.

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

Good thing I checked. Although it wasn't shown when I searched for products
for LaserJet 4100, a search of the forums turned up the HP LaserJet
4000/4050/4100 MF Tray Multiple Sheet Feed Paper Jam Repair Kit which fixes
the problem described as "Printer picks up all of the pages in the Manual
Feed Tray and jams." This is much more like it! Unfortunately, it's $10
more, requires needle-nose pliers, and is rated as a harder install, but it
does include an instructional video, and the replacement part is said to be
longer-lasting than the OEM part.

 

[Terry Farrell]

In that case, it balances out in your favour <g>

Terry

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

I think so. I'll order it when I get a round tuit. <g>