Office Crashes on Launch

[stevek]

I've tried everything I can think of but I can fix this problem:

When trying to launch any of the Office applications, they crash just
after the splash screen comes up. However, if I double click an
existing document, they launch normally. All other applications on my
system run just fine.

I'm using Office X 10.1.9 on a MacPro running OS X 10.4.9. I have
deactived all of my fonts except those installed by the OS in the
System>Fonts folder. I've deleted all the various preference files
from User>Library>Preferences>Microsolt numerous times. I've
uninstalled Office (using "Remove Office" from the installation disc)
and reinstalled it. I've repaired my permissions several times. I've
logged in under a "clean" test account and the problem exists there as
well.

Nothing works! If anybody has any other ideas I would be most
appreciative.

Thanks,
Steve

 

[Diane]

I've tried everything I can think of but I can fix this problem:

You really need to list what you have tried. We aren't mind readers.

When trying to launch any of the Office applications, they crash just
after the splash screen comes up. However, if I double click an
existing document, they launch normally. All other applications on my
system run just fine.

I'm using Office X 10.1.9 on a MacPro running OS X 10.4.9. I have
deactived all of my fonts except those installed by the OS in the
System>Fonts folder. I've deleted all the various preference files
from User>Library>Preferences>Microsolt numerous times. I've
uninstalled Office (using "Remove Office" from the installation disc)
and reinstalled it. I've repaired my permissions several times. I've
logged in under a "clean" test account and the problem exists there as
well.

This indicates problems at the system level.

Nothing works! If anybody has any other ideas I would be most
appreciative.

Have you tried the combo updater?

Download the 10.4.10 combo update for your computer
Reboot/login using Safe Mode
Run Repair Permissions
Install the OS Combo Updater
Reboot

See Apple KB 30604: <http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=306043>

One user set out these steps to finally fix their problem:

Login as an administrator
Launch the Terminal (located in /Applications/Utilities)
Type cd /Library/Receipts/JavaSE6Release1.pkg/Contents and press return
Type lsbom -s -f Archive.bom > /tmp/files and press return (this will create
a file in the /tmp directory named files that lists all of the contents of
JavaSE6Release1.pkg)

Using your favorite text editor, open the file /tmp/files. Typing open
/tmp/files then pressing return will open the file with TextEdit, by
default. If you were using BBEdit, you could type BBedit open /tmp/files.
Replace all blank spaces, " " (type one space in the "find" field), with
(type a single backslash with a single space after it in the replace field)
and all entries of "./" with "rm /". If you opened the file in TextEdit,
choose "Find" from the "Edit" menu, and make these replacements. Essentially
you are generating a command list that will delete all the files installed
by JavaSE6Release1.pkg.

Back in the Terminal, type sudo bash /tmp/files and press return
Next type rm -r /Library/receipts/JavaSE6Release1.pkg and press return.
Finally, update prebinding by typing sudo update_prebinding. When prompted
for a password, enter your admin password, and press Return again. The
process may take a few minutes, and you may see various messages flash by.
The process is complete when the Terminal returns to a normal prompt. Do not
perform any other operations while the update prebinding process is taking
place.


If none of these fix the issue, the best thing to do is a archive install of
the OS.

 

[stevek]

Diane:

Thanks for your help. I assume you are trying to be funny with your
"mind readers" remark.

Apple KB 30604 relates to a problem that occurs after an upgrade to
QuickTime 7.2 but I am still using QuickTime 7.1.5 so I didn't think
it would be the cause. But I installed the 10.4.10 combo updater
anyway. The problem still exists. No way am I going to risk trying the
"terminal" suggestion since one false move may screw everything up and
I don't think that's the problem anyway.

Please remember, Word, Excel and PowerPoint open and work fine if I
open them by double clicking and existing document. It is only when I
try to open them via the dock or the Applications folder that they
crash. Does this info from the crash report help at all:

Date/Time: 2007-09-27 10:10:31.258 -0500
OS Version: 10.4.10 (Build 8R2232)
Report Version: 4

Command: Microsoft Word
Path: /Applications/Microsoft Office X/Microsoft Word
Parent: WindowServer [77]
Rosetta: Yes

Version: 10.1.8 (10.1.8 (060901), © 1983-2001 Microsoft Corporation.
All rights reserved.)

PID: 326
Thread: Unknown

 

[stevek]

Thanks for your help. I assume you are trying to be funny with your
"mind readers" remark.

Apple KB 30604 relates to a problem that occurs after an upgrade to
QuickTime 7.2 but I am still using QuickTime 7.1.5 so I didn't think
it would be the cause. But I installed the 10.4.10 combo updater
anyway. The problem still exists. No way am I going to risk trying the
"terminal" suggestion since one false move may screw everything up and
I don't think that's the problem anyway.

Please remember, Word, Excel and PowerPoint open and work fine if I
open them by double clicking an existing document. It is only when I
try to open them via the dock or the Applications folder that they
crash. Does this info from the crash report help at all:

Date/Time: 2007-09-27 10:18:06.318 -0500
OS Version: 10.4.10 (Build 8R2232)
Report Version: 4

Command: Microsoft Word
Path: /Applications/Microsoft Office X/Microsoft Word
Parent: WindowServer [77]
Rosetta: Yes

Version: 10.1.8 (10.1.8 (060901), © 1983-2001 Microsoft Corporation.
All rights reserved.)

PID: 337
Thread: Unknown

Exception: EXC_BAD_ACCESS (0x0001)
Codes: KERN_PROTECTION_FAILURE (0x0002) at 0x00000000

 

[John McGhie]

Hi Steve:

No, she was trying to say that we don't have quite enough information to be
able to diagnose the problem yet

I note that you have "Disabled all fonts except the OS X system fonts"?
That will crash Office: it needs some of its own fonts to form the text in
the user interface, among other things.

It is also dependant on QuickTime, so I would update that to the latest
version.

Crash on launch is usually "fonts", but it can be "preferences" or "Normal
template". Have you deleted the font caches and rebooted? Have you deleted
the preferences and rebooted? Have you renamed the Normal template and
rebooted?

Cheers

Thanks for your help. I assume you are trying to be funny with your
"mind readers" remark.

Apple KB 30604 relates to a problem that occurs after an upgrade to
QuickTime 7.2 but I am still using QuickTime 7.1.5 so I didn't think
it would be the cause. But I installed the 10.4.10 combo updater
anyway. The problem still exists. No way am I going to risk trying the
"terminal" suggestion since one false move may screw everything up and
I don't think that's the problem anyway.

Please remember, Word, Excel and PowerPoint open and work fine if I
open them by double clicking an existing document. It is only when I
try to open them via the dock or the Applications folder that they
crash. Does this info from the crash report help at all:

Date/Time: 2007-09-27 10:18:06.318 -0500
OS Version: 10.4.10 (Build 8R2232)
Report Version: 4

Command: Microsoft Word
Path: /Applications/Microsoft Office X/Microsoft Word
Parent: WindowServer [77]
Rosetta: Yes

Version: 10.1.8 (10.1.8 (060901), © 1983-2001 Microsoft Corporation.
All rights reserved.)

PID: 337
Thread: Unknown

Exception: EXC_BAD_ACCESS (0x0001)
Codes: KERN_PROTECTION_FAILURE (0x0002) at 0x00000000

--
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, Consultant Technical Writer
McGhie Information Engineering Pty Ltd
http://jgmcghie.fastmail.com.au/
Nhulunbuy, Northern Territory, Australia
+61 4 1209 1410, mailto:[email protected]

 

[stevek]

John:

You did not specify which fonts Office needs so I activated all the
fonts that came with Office (Arial, Century Gothic, Comic Sans, etc.).
I updated QuickTime to the latest version. I deleted the font caches
and rebooted. I deleted the preferences and rebooted. I renamed the
Normal template and rebooted.

Nothing has changed. Office still crashes on launch.

Steve

 

[Diane]

You did not specify which fonts Office needs so I activated all the
fonts that came with Office (Arial, Century Gothic, Comic Sans, etc.).
I updated QuickTime to the latest version. I deleted the font caches
and rebooted. I deleted the preferences and rebooted. I renamed the
Normal template and rebooted.

Nothing has changed. Office still crashes on launch.

If you create a new User in System Preferences, does Office launch in the
new User?

Helvetica Fractions in particular is known to cause problems, as is Times
Phonetic. Don't just disable these fonts in Font Book, but physically remove
them from your system and try your applications again.

See this page for more help:

Multiple applications quit unexpectedly or fail to launch

<http://www.thexlab.com/faqs/multipleappsquit.html>

 

[litttle.creature.inc]

Well, my thoughts are on different track. If Steve can launch the
application while clicking on file and cannot from dock, would it be
possible, that you have actually installed 2 Offices? Or better 1 and
0.5. So that the office called from Dock is a rest from some all
version and do not work?
Can you run office program if you click on its icon in application
folder?

 

[stevek]

Office does not launch from either the icon in the dock or from its
icon in the application folder. As noted in my original post, Office
also does not launch by either of those methods when logged in with a
different user account. I do not have Helvetica Fractions or Times
Phonetic on my computer and I never have.

Steve

 

[CyberTaz]

I noticed that you claim to be running Office 10.1.9, but your crash log
indicates 10.1.8 - you might try re-applying the 10.1.9 updater.

If that doesn't correct the situation I tend to agree with Diane about the
system level concern. Things don't seem to be "connecting" the way they
should. You might try booting from the OS X install disk & go to the
Utilities (?) menu to run Disk Utility - Repair Disk (*not* Repair Disk
Permissions). If it finds any errors you may have to run it more than once.
Alternatively, Disk Warrior, Drive Genius or TechTool Pro could be used if
you have either of them.

 

[stevek]

Bob:

I am running the Office 10.1.9 update but per the Read Me included in
the updater, the version number of Word is 10.1.8. Both Excel and
PowerPoint are 10.1.9 but not Word. As a matter of fact, Entourage is
listed as 10.1.6.

Steve

 

[stevek]

Bob:

I have now run Repair Disk via the OS X install disk. No problems were
found.

Steve

 

[CyberTaz]

Hi Steve -

You're really making it tough on us, ya know

Have you tried holding Shift while logging in? If not, try that in order to
bypass any startup items to keep them from interfering with the launch of
one of the Office apps directly or from the Dock. See if that makes a
difference. If so, it's a matter of determining *what* the pesky bugger is.
If not, were back to the OS.

I'm still leaning toward outside interference of some sort. If the Office
software were at fault even double-clicking a file icon would result in the
same failure to launch.

 

[stevek]

Bob:

Sorry to report that I have already tried "safe mode" with no changes
to the behavior.

Steve

 

[CyberTaz]

The only thing that comes to mind is if there were two separate Office
installations - or perhaps leftover files from a drag-to-Trash attemp to
uninstall. That could cause the icons in the Office folder to *not* be able
to launch the remnants of that installation, and if the Dock shortcuts
pointed to those it would explain their behavior. The files could still be
associated with the valid installation.

Beyond that I just don't know what else to suggest. If you're
[understandably] reluctant to go the Terminal route it would seem that an
Archive & Install is all there is left. Before you do, though, you might try
posting the issue on the Apple Discussions board:

http://discussions.apple.com/category.jspa?categoryID=177

Perhaps Dr. Smoke or one of the other techno-brains will be able to offer
something. I did a brief search but didn't find anything that was directly
comparable - Perhaps you have a particularly unique situation. Even though
it only seems to effect Office - no other programs respond this way,
right? - I can't see how its something other than a core OS issue...
Prebinding and a bunch of other geek-speak that I don't even pretend to
comprehend well enough to guide someone through it If it were something
closer to the surface the Safe Boot / Safe Login should have bypassed it.
And - as before - if it were anything in Office or its support files the
apps wouldn't launch correctly when you dbl-click a file icon.

Quite frankly, this is diametrically opposed to the typical problem. Usually
the apps launch directly and from the Dock, but *don't* from a file icon. If
that were the case I could steer you to the LaunchServices prefs & stuff,
but that isn't gonna work here, I'm afraid.