Preferences quits repeatedly

[annej]

I would like to change my preferences. Everytime I try to open
Preferences, Entourage crashes. I don't remember the last time I
tried to access Preferences but this is the first time that it quits.

I have MAC OS X - 10.4.8 and have Office 2004.

I haven't yet tried to reinstall Office.

Thank you for your help.

 

[Michel Bintener]

Quit Entourage, then try to delete the following two files:

~/Library/Preferences/com.microsoft.Entourage.plist

~/Library/Preferences/Microsoft/Entourage Preferences

("~" stands for your user account)

Entourage should recreate new files the next time it is launched.

I would like to change my preferences. Everytime I try to open
Preferences, Entourage crashes. I don't remember the last time I
tried to access Preferences but this is the first time that it quits.

I have MAC OS X - 10.4.8 and have Office 2004.

I haven't yet tried to reinstall Office.

Thank you for your help.

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

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

 

[annej]

Hi Michel,
thank you. I deleted the files (the only enoutourage file had been
created yesterday. I then restarted Entourage and tried to open
Preferences. The same thing happened.

Any other ideas? Can I reinstall Entourage without losing all my
folders, etc?

Anne

 

[Michel Bintener]

Hi Michel,
thank you. I deleted the files (the only enoutourage file had been
created yesterday. I then restarted Entourage and tried to open
Preferences. The same thing happened.

Any other ideas? Can I reinstall Entourage without losing all my
folders, etc?

Anne

Hi Anne,

yes, you can, but chances are high it won't change anything at all. Since
deleting the preferences did not work, see if rebuilding the database
prevents Entourage from crashing.

<http://entourage.mvps.org/database/rebuild.html>

If that doesn't work, post back.

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

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

 

[Allen Watson]

You might also try locating this folder and moving it elsewhere temporarily,
then try setting prefs.

~/Library/Preferences/Microsoft

If that succeeds, some file in the Microsoft prefs folder is the problem. If
you've customized a lot of preferences, you may want to try copying
individual files from the folder you moved back into the newly re-created
folder (it gets recreated when you launch Entourage), and testing after each
copy until you isolate the one causing the crash.

If that does NOT succeed, then delete the newly recreated Microsoft folder
and move the old one back, and try something else...

Allen

 

[Diane Ross]

thank you. I deleted the files (the only enoutourage file had been
created yesterday. I then restarted Entourage and tried to open
Preferences. The same thing happened.

Any other ideas? Can I reinstall Entourage without losing all my
folders, etc?

Testing in a new User will quickly tell you if the problem is system wide or
If it's your User's folder that contains the problem.

If it crashes in the new user then it's system wide. Apply the combo updater
first to see if it will solve the problem.

Mac OS X 10.4.8 Combo Update (PPC)

<http://wsidecar.apple.com/cgi-bin/nph-reg3rdpty2.pl/product=11795&cat=1&pla
tform=osx&method=sa/MacOSXUpdCombo10.4.8PPC.dmg>

Mac OS X 10.4.8 Combo Update (Intel)

<http://wsidecar.apple.com/cgi-bin/nph-reg3rdpty2.pl/product=11797&cat=1&pla
tform=osx&method=sa/MacOSXUpdCombo10.4.8Intel.dmg>

If it works in the new User see Troubleshooting Basics:

<http://www.entourage.mvps.org/troubleshoot/basics.html>

--
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/>

 

[annej]

Testing in a new User will quickly tell you if the problem is system wide or
If it's your User's folder that contains the problem.

If it crashes in the new user then it's system wide. Apply the combo updater
first to see if it will solve the problem.

Mac OS X 10.4.8 Combo Update (PPC)

<http://wsidecar.apple.com/cgi-bin/nph-reg3rdpty2.pl/product=11795&cat...
tform=osx&method=sa/MacOSXUpdCombo10.4.8PPC.dmg>

Mac OS X 10.4.8 Combo Update (Intel)

<http://wsidecar.apple.com/cgi-bin/nph-reg3rdpty2.pl/product=11797&cat...
tform=osx&method=sa/MacOSXUpdCombo10.4.8Intel.dmg>

If it works in the new User see Troubleshooting Basics:

<http://www.entourage.mvps.org/troubleshoot/basics.html>

--
Diane Ross, Microsoft Mac MVPEntourageHelp Page
<http://www.entourage.mvps.org/>
One of the top five MSEntourageresources listed on theEntourageBlog.
<http://blogs.msdn.com/entourage/>

hello.

Thank you very much for sending all these suggestions. The problem
persists and I would now like to re-install Entourage. Before I do, I
want to tell you what I did and ask how to re-install properly.

- i troubleshooted preferences (with the applecare folks) and it
crashed every time so it is not a preference problem
- i was able to open preferences when i changed users
- i ran the disk utility, rebuilt the dbase
- i exported my mail to a back up folder (main identity.rge)

In order to re-install:
- do i have to remove Entourage before i re-install? if so, can i do
this just be dragging it to the trash
- will i lose my emails and if so, can i just import them again from
the back up folder (mainidentity.rge)

Thank you! i hope this will do it.
Anne

 

[Diane Ross]

Thank you very much for sending all these suggestions. The problem
persists and I would now like to re-install Entourage. Before I do, I
want to tell you what I did and ask how to re-install properly.

- i troubleshooted preferences (with the applecare folks) and it
crashed every time so it is not a preference problem
- i was able to open preferences when i changed users
- i ran the disk utility, rebuilt the dbase
- i exported my mail to a back up folder (main identity.rge)

In order to re-install:
- do i have to remove Entourage before i re-install? if so, can i do
this just be dragging it to the trash
- will i lose my emails and if so, can i just import them again from
the back up folder (mainidentity.rge)

Can you believe that your exact problem showed up today on the Entourage
talk list. I don't remember this ever being asked in any version of
Entourage and now it shows up twice at the same time.

His solution was to re-install Office.

First, it's best to do a complete Office re-install not just application
specific.

If you drag the Microsoft Office folder to the trash and delete it, it will
remove the applications, but it will not remove preferences and other hidden
files.

Run "Remove Office" located in the Office 2004 --> Additional Tools folder.
Using "Remove Office" does not delete your Microsoft User Data folder that
contains your email messages. Templates and the Normal file are located in
the Office folder and should be saved first.

See <http://www.entourage.mvps.org/install/remove_office.html> for full info
on removing Office.

Install Office from the CD, update to 11.3.3 then 11.3.4, restart. Enter
your CD key and you should be set.

If you don't upgrade Entourage will not be able to open the database. An
early upgrade changed the database structure.

Using Repair Permissions after installing MS Office or any application that
uses an installer is often advised. To use Repair Permissions:
1. Open Disk Utility in your Applications/Utility folder.
2. Click on the First Aid tab and select Repair Permissions
3. Click on the icon for your boot volume.
4. Click the repair permissions button.

Don't run from CD. Updates contain a newer versions of the application's
permissions.
--
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/>

 

[Keysaw]

Thank you very much for sending all these suggestions. The problem
persists and I would now like to re-install Entourage. Before I do, I
want to tell you what I did and ask how to re-install properly.

- i troubleshooted preferences (with the applecare folks) and it
crashed every time so it is not a preference problem
- i was able to open preferences when i changed users
- i ran the disk utility, rebuilt the dbase
- i exported my mail to a back up folder (main identity.rge)

In order to re-install:
- do i have to remove Entourage before i re-install? if so, can i do
this just be dragging it to the trash
- will i lose my emails and if so, can i just import them again from
the back up folder (mainidentity.rge)

Thank you! i hope this will do it.
Anne

I had the exact same problem a couple of months ago. One user would
crash when accessing Preferences, the other would not on the same
machine. Reinstalling Office 2004 did NOT help.

If I remember correctly, the trouble turned out to be a corrupted
com.microsoft.Office.prefs.plist file (in /user/myusername/Library/
Preferences/Microsoft). However, I did several things at the same time
to try and fix the problem and finally stumbled on the solution.

Keith

 

[Barry Wainwright]

I had the exact same problem a couple of months ago. One user would
crash when accessing Preferences, the other would not on the same
machine. Reinstalling Office 2004 did NOT help.

If I remember correctly, the trouble turned out to be a corrupted
com.microsoft.Office.prefs.plist file (in /user/myusername/Library/
Preferences/Microsoft). However, I did several things at the same time
to try and fix the problem and finally stumbled on the solution.

Keith

That is th emost likely cause.

 

[Dave Bulman]

That is th emost likely cause.

I'm also experiencing this problem. I dumped any related prefs files (as has
been previously suggested), including the one suggested above but with no
success.

Dave

 

[Yancee]

I would like to change my preferences. Everytime I try to open
Preferences, Entourage crashes. I don't remember the last time I
tried to access Preferences but this is the first time that it quits.

I have MAC OS X - 10.4.8 and have Office 2004.

I haven't yet tried to reinstall Office.

Thank you for your help.

I had the same problem. The only thing that worked for me is to
re-install MS Office. I first did a backup of my mail identities and
moved backup to another drive. Then i uninstalled MS Office. Then did
the re-install. To get to the latest updates, I had to start at the
first update and progress from there.

 

[Diane Ross]

I'm also experiencing this problem. I dumped any related prefs files (as has
been previously suggested), including the one suggested above but with no
success.

Did you get all of these?

~/Library/Preferences/com.microsoft.OfficeNotifications.plist

~/Library/Preferences/com.microsoft.DatabaseDaemon.plist

~/Library/Preferences/com.microsoft.Entourage.plist

~/Library/Preferences/Microsoft/Entourage Preferences

Next step would be to test your entire User preferences. There have been
reports of third party application preferences causing problems with
Entourage. Usually some font management application. In one case, the
culprit was a bad preference called com.markzware.FC5.FontDBWtSys.

Test for other preference conflicts

<http://www.entourage.mvps.org/troubleshoot/test_user.html#test2>

FWIW, one user found that re-install of Office fixed the problem.

--
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/>

 

[Sue Lay]

Dear Diane

I am having identical problems to Anne.

I have followed all advice so far, and it still quits in a new user so the
problem is system-wide. I have applied the combo updater.

What is the next step please?

Thanks,
Sue

 

[Diane Ross]

I am having identical problems to Anne.

I have followed all advice so far, and it still quits in a new user so the
problem is system-wide. I have applied the combo updater.

Sound like time for an "Archive & Install". Just be sure to check Preserve
Users and Network Settings when you select Archive & Install.

General advice on performing an Archive and Install

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