Office does not start up at all

[jeff18]

On my Core 2 Duo MacBook Pro, I can not load Office recently. When I
open Word, for example, the the icon bounces once, then disappears. No
error message or anything, it just disappears. My first instinct was
to just reinstall it, however the weird thing is that even the office
on my CD doesn't work! In fact, not only does Word not work, but every
single Office related application, such as the uninstaller on the CD
does not work!

Any ideas on how to troubleshoot this?

 

[CyberTaz]

Hi Jeff -

Did you run Disk Utility - Repair Disk Permissions following the
installation?

Do you have the MS Office Test Drive installed on the MBP? That has to be
uninstalled using the Remove Office utility, *not* simply dragged to the
Trash. You should find Remove Office in the User:Applications: MS Office
2004:Additional Tools:Remove Office folder.

Which version of OS X are you running?

Have you applied the Office 11.3 updater?

It's appropriate that *none* of the DVD content will run from the DVD.

HTH |:>)
Bob Jones
[MVP] Office:Mac

 

[jeff18]

I am running 10.4.

I just tried reparing my disk permissions. Unfortunately, the same
behavior results.

My version of Office was updated to 11.3 before the incident.

My MacBook Pro did come with the Office test drive. Unfortunately, I
did in fact ignorantly remove my Office test drive by simply dragging
it to the trash. Is there anything I can do about that now?

Any other ideas?

Thanks,
Jeffrey Rosen

 

[jeff18]

Also, in response to "It's appropriate that *none* of the DVD content
will run from the DVD."

Just to clarify, the Office installer itself will not run, among the
other Microsoft applications on the DVD. It's as if every single
Office related application has decided that they will not open up
anymore. All of my other applications are not affected.

 

[John McGhie [MVP - Word and Word Macintosh]]

Hi Jeff:

I believe there is an issue with running Rosetta applications from a
non-boot partition. (That's a dimly-remembered wild guess...)

Can you try running the Office Remover application from your hard disk?
(It's in the Additional Tools folder of the Microsoft Office 2004 folder of
the Test Drive version).

Then do a drag-and-drop installation from the CD.

It should work then: if not, get back to us.

Cheers

Also, in response to "It's appropriate that *none* of the DVD content
will run from the DVD."

Just to clarify, the Office installer itself will not run, among the
other Microsoft applications on the DVD. It's as if every single
Office related application has decided that they will not open up
anymore. All of my other applications are not affected.

--

Please reply to the newsgroup to maintain the thread. Please do not email
me unless I ask you to.

John McGhie <[email protected]>
Microsoft MVP, Word and Word for Macintosh. Business Analyst, Consultant
Technical Writer.
Sydney, Australia +61 (0) 4 1209 1410

 

[CyberTaz]

Hi Jeff:

I believe there is an issue with running Rosetta applications from a
non-boot partition. (That's a dimly-remembered wild guess...)

Yeah - I think that's what was in the back of my feeble mind when I wrote
the comment. I should have been more specific, but that's as crystallized as
it would get I still find it odd that even the *installer* won't run :-?

Can you try running the Office Remover application from your hard disk?
(It's in the Additional Tools folder of the Microsoft Office 2004 folder of
the Test Drive version).

Then do a drag-and-drop installation from the CD.

That sounds like a plan, but I haven't had an opportunity to plink at an
Intel as yet - was hoping that Steve would drop the prices at MacWorld... Or
at least offer some sort of "show special". Obviously, that didn't happen
But I haven't given up the ghost as yet. In fact, I'm still waiting for the
close to his keynote - you know... Where he says something like "BTW, We
still make Macs".

It should work then: if not, get back to us.

Cheers

Regards |:>)
Bob Jones
[MVP] Office:Mac

 

[John McGhie [MVP - Word and Word Macintosh]]

Hi Bob:

This is sort of like opening a creaky door to a dusty attic -- but deep in
the recesses is some dimly remembered bit about "especially the installer
won't run..."

I think the installer is one of the main problems. In Tiger, it won't run
from the disk, you have to copy the contents to the boot volume. In which
case you might as well drag-and-drop it

I could be way out here...

Cheers

Yeah - I think that's what was in the back of my feeble mind when I wrote
the comment. I should have been more specific, but that's as crystallized as
it would get I still find it odd that even the *installer* won't run :-?

That sounds like a plan, but I haven't had an opportunity to plink at an
Intel as yet - was hoping that Steve would drop the prices at MacWorld... Or
at least offer some sort of "show special". Obviously, that didn't happen
But I haven't given up the ghost as yet. In fact, I'm still waiting for the
close to his keynote - you know... Where he says something like "BTW, We
still make Macs".

Regards |:>)
Bob Jones
[MVP] Office:Mac

--

Please reply to the newsgroup to maintain the thread. Please do not email
me unless I ask you to.

John McGhie <[email protected]>
Microsoft MVP, Word and Word for Macintosh. Business Analyst, Consultant
Technical Writer.
Sydney, Australia +61 (0) 4 1209 1410

 

[Michel Bintener]

Hi Bob:

This is sort of like opening a creaky door to a dusty attic -- but deep in
the recesses is some dimly remembered bit about "especially the installer
won't run..."

I think the installer is one of the main problems. In Tiger, it won't run
from the disk, you have to copy the contents to the boot volume. In which
case you might as well drag-and-drop it

I could be way out here...

Cheers

Hi John,

I haven't followed this thread too closely, and I'm slightly tired right now
so I can't be bothered going through it again, but if this is the installer
you're talking about (as opposed to the uninstaller, Remove Office), I can
confirm that this one does run from the disk. I have reinstalled Office a
couple of times on my old PowerPC Macs running Tiger, and I have also used
it to install Office on my Intel iMac. There might have been a problem with
the uninstaller not running from the disk, but I can't say, as I've always
used the local version of Remove Office (in Microsoft Office 2004/Additional
Tools/Remove Office).

--
Michel Bintener
Microsoft MVP
Office:Mac (Entourage & Word)

***Always reply to the newsgroup.***

 

[CyberTaz]

Hi Gang -

Knock Wood, I've only had to do an original installation plus 1 reinstall
and I'm absolutely certain (which in my case = 95%) that I ran the installer
from the DVD both times. I do know I didn't do a drag 'n' drop install
because I normally like to poke around a little even if I don't actually do
any customizing. Perhaps it is the Remove utility that doesn't run from the
disk.

 

[picardmeister]

I would try the following in this order:
- http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=303677
- creating another user account and trying to run it again
- doing a drag/drop install (to the new account) and trying again
- attempt to launch Office apps in safe mode
(http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=107393)

In
http://groups.google.com/group/micr...8696/f5867de908b6d7a5?lnk=gst&q=haxies&rnum=4,
the problem turned out to be Unsanity Haxies.

Please do reply if any of the above steps work along w/which one did
the trick or if none do any good.

 

[andrewy]

Just wanted to let you all know that I have EXACTLY the same problem as
Jeff.
I also got in touch with MS Support, they said to wash the disc w/ soap
and water. for real...craaaazy.

I'll give some of your suggestions (new user acct) a try and get back.
Does anyone know if Parallels can be upsetting the Rosetta balance?
I noticed that others may have the indicated that they had Parallels
installed. Just a guess.

Thanks.
Dru

 

[Diane Ross]

I also got in touch with MS Support, they said to wash the disc w/ soap
and water. for real...craaaazy.

Windex works too. This was the tip Netflix gave for CDs.

--
Diane Ross, Microsoft Mac MVP
Entourage Help Page
<http://www.entourage.mvps.org/>
The Entourage Blog lists the EHP as one of the top five Microsoft Entourage
resources.
<http://blogs.msdn.com/entourage/>

 

[Barry Wainwright [MVP]]

Just wanted to let you all know that I have EXACTLY the same problem as
Jeff.
I also got in touch with MS Support, they said to wash the disc w/ soap
and water. for real...craaaazy.

I'll give some of your suggestions (new user acct) a try and get back.
Does anyone know if Parallels can be upsetting the Rosetta balance?
I noticed that others may have the indicated that they had Parallels
installed. Just a guess.

Thanks.
Dru

That can certainly help if the installation is failing due to a dirty disk
giving read errors, but from your description of the problem you have most
certainly bought a cheaper upgrade version of the programme rather than the
full retail version. The upgrade version needs to be able to 'see' an older
version of the apps before it will install.

You now have two options:

1. go out and buy the full retail version (if your friend's children are in
school, they shoulld qualify for the much cheaper Student & Teacher edition,
which comes with three product keys so it can be installed on three
different machines)

2. buy a 2nd-hand version of Office 2001 or Office X on ebay (Office 2001
is selling for $10 or less!). Then, when the installer for your current
Office 2004 copy asks for the old version, just put the old version's CD in
the disk drive (no need to install the old version)

 

[John McGhie [MVP - Word and Word Macintosh]]

Hi Dru:

Yes. Soap and water is what I would recommend, too. The point they were
trying to make is "Don't use a solvent-based or abrasive cleaner" Most
people don't know that the data on a CD is actually on the opposite side,
just under the paint on the printed side.

It's actually more important to avoid damaging the label than it is the
clear side.

Anyway, I digress...

Parallels of itself doesn't upset the balance of a computer any more than
any other piece of software. In a multi-tasking environment, any piece of
software is going to have an impact on that environment.

However, the applications that Parallels host (Operating Systems) can have a
large impact. Parallels and Windows XP plus Microsoft Office 2003 will ask
for around 1 GB of RAM. If it's not free, OS X will swap out pages from
memory until it makes enough room.

I cannot imagine it swapping out Rosetta, since Rosetta is a fairly
high-priority task. But if Rosetta was not already active it may not have
enough RAM free to start it. I would have thought by that time the system
would be running very slowly and emitting multiple error messages.

Cheers

Just wanted to let you all know that I have EXACTLY the same problem as
Jeff.
I also got in touch with MS Support, they said to wash the disc w/ soap
and water. for real...craaaazy.

I'll give some of your suggestions (new user acct) a try and get back.
Does anyone know if Parallels can be upsetting the Rosetta balance?
I noticed that others may have the indicated that they had Parallels
installed. Just a guess.

Thanks.
Dru

--

Please reply to the newsgroup to maintain the thread. Please do not email
me unless I ask you to.

John McGhie <[email protected]>
Microsoft MVP, Word and Word for Macintosh. Business Analyst, Consultant
Technical Writer.
Sydney, Australia +61 (0) 4 1209 1410

 

[andrewy]

Bob,

Sorry, but I can't recall posting to another thread (Jim's?). Refresh
my memory if you could. Thanks.
But sorry for confusing things. Let me try again...

It seems that quite a few have similar symptoms/results and it goes
something like this:
- Install Office for Mac 2004 on an Intel Mac (Core duo MacBook in
this case)
- Appears to install using the Office Assistant (the automated
install)
- Applications (Word, Excel, etc.) appear to be there...so click on
the icon, but the apps don't open.
- Oh, oh, something is wrong...forgot to remove the Test Version.
- So, remove the Test Version by dragging into the trash (this might
be the problem, i know)
- Then, try to remove recently installed version using the Removal
Tool, but the tool on the installtion disc doesn't seem to work.
- So, drag the files to the trash as best as possible (incl the Plist
files)
- Repair permissions, re-start, etc.
- Try to re-install Office for Mac...but NOW, the Office Assistant
doesn't do anything (but bounce a bit).
- So, drag the entire folder (which is an option) to the Applications
folder.
- Apps appear to copy over.
- But again, Office for Mac apps don't open when clicked on.
- Run to message boards to see if the smart folks can help.

Seems like Jeff's situation to me. But i could be wrong.
In my humble opinion, I think that the problem is that not ALL of the
previous files have been removed, which is preventing a successful
install.

Thanks for all your help.

 

[CyberTaz]

The post I'm referring to is in this same newsgroup & entitled:

"Sorry to create a new post, but I have tried the other posts'
suggestions... can't install new Office 2004?"

Your entry is dated 1/25/07 as quoted below:

John,
I have exactly the same problem and have tried what you have tried.
Sorry i don't have a solution, but wanted to let you know that others
share your pain. I spoke to MS support and guess what they said i
should try...that i should wash my disc with soap/water. I'm serious.
Anyway, if I come across any solutions, I'll return and post.
Thanks.

-Dru

Regards |:>)
Bob Jones
[MVP] Office:Mac

 

[John McGhie [MVP - Word and Word Macintosh]]

Hi Andrew:

Yes, I think you are correct. You have not performed a "Clean Remove
Office" on the machine, so there are bits of the Test Drive hanging around.

Worse, you have then copied the Paid-For version in twice, once with the
installer, once with drag and drop. Things are getting very confused

I think the best thing to do is to re-install the TEST DRIVE version. Then
run Remove Office. I don't believe that Remove Office works at all unless
it can find the entire Test Drive application on the disk. When you run
Remove Office, encourage it to remove anything it finds

Then reboot.

Then do a drag-and-drop install of the paid-for version. You MAY find that
you then have to run Remove Office on that too, to fully remove the
shattered remains.

Then reboot again.

Then do another drag-and-drop install.

Then apply the 11.3 and 11.3.3 updates BEFORE trying to run any of the
applications. Many of the Office 2004 applications will not start at all if
their updates have not been applied, because the version on the CD can't
read the current format of the Entourage database.

Sorry: It's a bit of a fiddle. But I think you have conflicting preference
files scattered throughout the system" you have to get them all out and
start clean.

Cheers

Bob,

Sorry, but I can't recall posting to another thread (Jim's?). Refresh
my memory if you could. Thanks.
But sorry for confusing things. Let me try again...

It seems that quite a few have similar symptoms/results and it goes
something like this:
- Install Office for Mac 2004 on an Intel Mac (Core duo MacBook in
this case)
- Appears to install using the Office Assistant (the automated
install)
- Applications (Word, Excel, etc.) appear to be there...so click on
the icon, but the apps don't open.
- Oh, oh, something is wrong...forgot to remove the Test Version.
- So, remove the Test Version by dragging into the trash (this might
be the problem, i know)
- Then, try to remove recently installed version using the Removal
Tool, but the tool on the installtion disc doesn't seem to work.
- So, drag the files to the trash as best as possible (incl the Plist
files)
- Repair permissions, re-start, etc.
- Try to re-install Office for Mac...but NOW, the Office Assistant
doesn't do anything (but bounce a bit).
- So, drag the entire folder (which is an option) to the Applications
folder.
- Apps appear to copy over.
- But again, Office for Mac apps don't open when clicked on.
- Run to message boards to see if the smart folks can help.

Seems like Jeff's situation to me. But i could be wrong.
In my humble opinion, I think that the problem is that not ALL of the
previous files have been removed, which is preventing a successful
install.

Thanks for all your help.

--

Please reply to the newsgroup to maintain the thread. Please do not email
me unless I ask you to.

John McGhie <[email protected]>
Microsoft MVP, Word and Word for Macintosh. Business Analyst, Consultant
Technical Writer.
Sydney, Australia +61 (0) 4 1209 1410

 

[Diane Ross]

Then do a drag-and-drop install of the paid-for version. You MAY find that
you then have to run Remove Office on that too, to fully remove the
shattered remains.

These are Known Issues using "Remove Office" and the Test Drive in Microsoft
KB articles:

1. You may need to run the Remove Office application more than once.
2. "Successfully Removed" is not always true.
3. Problems can occur using the installer. The installer cannot overwrite
certain files. Use the drag-and-drop method of installation.

--
Diane Ross, Microsoft Mac MVP
Entourage Help Page
<http://www.entourage.mvps.org/>
One of the top five MS Entourage resources listed on the Entourage Blog.
<http://blogs.msdn.com/entourage/>

 

[John McGhie [MVP - Word and Word Macintosh]]

Thanks Diane:

I hadn't seen that one

Cheers

These are Known Issues using "Remove Office" and the Test Drive in Microsoft
KB articles:

1. You may need to run the Remove Office application more than once.
2. "Successfully Removed" is not always true.
3. Problems can occur using the installer. The installer cannot overwrite
certain files. Use the drag-and-drop method of installation.

--

Please reply to the newsgroup to maintain the thread. Please do not email
me unless I ask you to.

John McGhie <[email protected]>
Microsoft MVP, Word and Word for Macintosh. Business Analyst, Consultant
Technical Writer.
Sydney, Australia +61 (0) 4 1209 1410

 

[andrewy]

John/Diane:
I reinstalled the Test Drive from MS. But the Remove Tool still did
not work. I tried the Remove Tool from both the DMG window and the
downloaded folder. I also tried drag/drop combinations, but none of
the combinations seem to allow the Remove Tool to work.

Shucks...but all of your suggestions sound good.
Maybe we're getting there, but have to try a couple more new things?

Appreciate all your help!