Office X apps open VERY slowly, but run fine.

[rtm]

I am an Office v.X (10.1.6) for Mac (12" G4 laptop; OS X; 10.3.9) user
(posting for first time). I experienced recent application crash
(Entourage and other apps open at the time) after which I experienced
new onset problem of all Office apps opening VERY slowly (e.g, 3-5
minutes during which spinning color wheel appears and can hear hard
drive being accessed at an intermittent regular rate; ~ 1 Hz).

Once open, all apps run without difficulty or speed decrement. With
Entourage, the delay occurs after splash screen opens; with all others,
the delay is after file opens on screen (but the file/document not
accessible until color wheel disappears and cursor appears).

Have attempted a variety of interventions to date, all wiithout effect,
including:

1. Run Disk Repair / Verified-Repaired Disk Permissions
2. Rebuilt Entourage v.X database file (first typical, then advanced)
3. Manually uninstalled / reinstalled Office X (twice)
4. Uninstalled / reintalled Office X using Value Pack app
5. Trashed Carbon Registration Database
6. Verified that hard drive is not malfunctioning (using Apple apps,
but not Codewarrior or other apps).
7. Consulted my local university IT helpdesk, who had no further
suggestions.

The problem is isolated to Office apps (i.e., all other apps open
promptly). One minor issue of unclear relationship is that some Excel
files (typically new enclosures I receive), even with a .xls extension,
now may appear on desktop with different program icon (e.g., SPSS,
instead of Excel).

Would appreciate any ideas for further interventions / diagnostics I
might try before paying for Microsoft Customer Support.

Thanks.

Bob Malison

 

[Scott Rogers]

I'm having the same problem on a computer running system 10.4.2. I
thought it might have been because of that, but I guess not. It is
rather maddening. I'd be very interested in any solutions anyone find.

 

[Nigel]

I am an Office v.X (10.1.6) for Mac (12" G4 laptop; OS X; 10.3.9) user
(posting for first time). I experienced recent application crash
(Entourage and other apps open at the time) after which I experienced
new onset problem of all Office apps opening VERY slowly (e.g, 3-5
minutes during which spinning color wheel appears and can hear hard
drive being accessed at an intermittent regular rate; ~ 1 Hz).

Once open, all apps run without difficulty or speed decrement. With
Entourage, the delay occurs after splash screen opens; with all others,
the delay is after file opens on screen (but the file/document not
accessible until color wheel disappears and cursor appears).

Have attempted a variety of interventions to date, all wiithout effect,
including:

1. Run Disk Repair / Verified-Repaired Disk Permissions
2. Rebuilt Entourage v.X database file (first typical, then advanced)
3. Manually uninstalled / reinstalled Office X (twice)
4. Uninstalled / reintalled Office X using Value Pack app
5. Trashed Carbon Registration Database
6. Verified that hard drive is not malfunctioning (using Apple apps,
but not Codewarrior or other apps).
7. Consulted my local university IT helpdesk, who had no further
suggestions.

The problem is isolated to Office apps (i.e., all other apps open
promptly). One minor issue of unclear relationship is that some Excel
files (typically new enclosures I receive), even with a .xls extension,
now may appear on desktop with different program icon (e.g., SPSS,
instead of Excel).

Would appreciate any ideas for further interventions / diagnostics I
might try before paying for Microsoft Customer Support.

Thanks.

Bob Malison

Since no one has offered a solution let me have a go. I suspect its a bad
plist file or that it is looking for some resource or server on the network
and cant find it. If you create another user does the same thing happen?
If you run activity monitor or type "top" in terminal what processes are
taking all the time. Also what machine and how much memory? A start anyway

Nig

 

[rtm]

Nigel,

Thanks for your kind offer to help. I tried both of your suggestions.

1) The delayed in start-up persisted under a new user.

2) Not expert at terminal, but following your recommendation at typing
top, main activity (%CPU) appeared to be Microsoft, top, WindowServ,
kernel_tas. Fairly consistent whether opening Entourage, Windows or
Excel. Here's a copy of list after I opened 3 Office applications,
Acrobat and Internet Explorer (I apologize if this gibberish once
e-mailed, but on the chance the data is helpful to you).

[editted by sender for newsgroup]

Thanks.

-Bob