Problem with (1) Office database & (2)Updates installation failures

[giggy]

Version: 2008
Operating System: Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard)
Processor: Power PC

I have two problems that may be related (or not):
(1) When I open Word or Excel it takes a very long time and then I get this: "There is a problem with the Office database. Office might be unable to access the database or the database file might be damaged. Without the database, you might be unable to use the Address Book, Scrapbook, and other features that store your personal information." It goes on to explain how to "rebuild the database". I did this properly though without success. (I only want to use Excel and Word).
(2) The second issue is that I am repeatedly unable to Update Office when prompted to do so online. It seems that the update downloads as it should (though I don't see this download anywhere on my hard disk). In any case, when I am prompted to designate on to which disk I wish to install it, I see a faint image of my hard disk in the window, which finally appears distinctly with a big red exclamation mark on it. Just below it, it says: "You cannot install Office 2008 Update (12.1.0) on this volume. A version of the software required to install this update was not found on this volume." (I have no other disks). Any advice? It would be very much appreciated. Thanks so much. g

 

[Anthony Perez]

How was this installed in the beginning? Sounds like link corruption between
the application and the volume it's on. Also, was there an external drive
used?

 

[cwilliams1]

I have two problems that may be related (or not):

(1) When I open Word or Excel it takes a very long time and then I get this: "There is a problem with the Office database. Office might be unable to access the database or the database file might be damaged. Without the database, you might be unable to use the Address Book, Scrapbook, and other features that store your personal information." It goes on to explain how to "rebuild the database". I did this properly though without success. (I only want to use Excel and Word).
(2) The second issue is that I am repeatedly unable to Update Office when prompted to do so online. It seems that the update downloads as it should (though I don't see this download anywhere on my hard disk). In any case, when I am prompted to designate on to which disk I wish to install it, I see a faint image of my hard disk in the window, which finally appears distinctly with a big red exclamation mark on it. Just below it, it says: "You cannot install Office 2008 Update (12.1.0) on this volume. A version of the software required to install this update was not found on this volume." (I have no other disks). Any advice? It would be very much appreciated. Thanks so much. g

-----------------------------------------------
Wow. Sounds like you're having a bunch of problems. After looking at the version of Office you are using and the version of Mac you are using, I have ruled out one possibility that you can try.
1. The messages you are getting have something to do with the Office database. OK, go to your Applications folder and locate your Microsoft Office 2008 folder.
2. Open the folder and click on the "Office" folder that is included inside it.
3. In that folder, locate "Microsoft Database Utility" and use that utility to either repair or examine your current database.
4. After it is done examining or repairing your database, open Word & Excel to make sure everything tested positive. If you still get the same message, you must try the next steps.

5. Locate your Office 2008 Identities. You can do this by going to your Finder and clicking and going to your Documents folder. Once there, locate another folder labeled "Office 2008 Identities" and open that. Once you open that, you find all of the folders with your identities for Office. DELETE ALL THE FOLDERS but leave the "Newsgroup Cache" document there, if it is there.
6. Next, make sure that you empty your trash so Office can't find the old identities.
7. Open Word or Excel to see if that procedure worked. If it did, great! If not, try uninstalling Office with its uninstaller. Restart your computer then reinsert the Office CD-rom and install Office again. When reinstalling, make sure ALL OTHER APPLICATIONS ARE CLOSED. If not, this can interferer with the installation and cause problems.

If reinstalling does not work, you may want to call Microsoft at (1-800-MICROSOFT) for assistance.

Good luck.

 

[Daiya Mitchell]

A message for (e-mail address removed):

5. Locate your Office 2008 Identities. You can do this by going to your Finder and clicking and going to your Documents folder. Once there, locate another folder labeled "Office 2008 Identities" and open that. Once you open that, you find all of the folders with your identities for Office. DELETE ALL THE FOLDERS but leave the "Newsgroup Cache" document there, if it is there.

DOING THIS WILL DELETE ALL DATA SAVED IN ENTOURAGE AND ANY BACKUPS YOU
MIGHT HAVE HAD. Even if you don't have mail or calendar in there, other
things are stored there--the Word Address Book, the Scrapbook, etc.

CWILLIAMS, PLEASE STOP GIVING THIS ADVICE WITHOUT THIS WARNING:

6. Next, make sure that you empty your trash so Office can't find the old identities.

THIS IS NOT NECESSARY AND JUST INCREASES THE CHANCE OF ACCIDENTAL DATA
RISK. Office will not find identities that have been moved to the desktop.

 

[Daiya Mitchell]

I don't think they are related, though it's possible that #2 will vanish
after fixing #1. If so, please let us know--that would be valuable
information.

For #1, if you don't use the scrapbook or address book in Word/Excel,
and don't use Entourage, you should be safe to create a new database.
Quit all Office apps. Navigate to
[username]/Documents/Microsoft User Data/Office 2008 Identities/
and move the Identity folder to the desktop. Office will create a new
identity, with a fresh Office database, when you launch any program.
Assuming that works, then after you are sure no data stored in
Word/Excel is missing, you can trash the old Main Identity folder.

For #2, see here:
http://entourage.mvps.org/error/install_update.html

 

[Diane Ross]

"There is a problem with the Office database. Office might be unable to
access the database or the database file might be damaged.

I have seen issues like this were moving the entire Microsoft User Data
folder to the desktop and letting Entourage create a new one THEN you can
move back the individual folders like your Identity. No rebuilding required.

Note, when you move the Microsoft User Data folder out of Documents,
Entourage will create a new one with a blank Identity. You will need to
replace this blank Identity. If your Identity still does not work, then try
rebuilding.

How to rebuild:

Quit any applications that are running, including virus-protection
applications, all Office applications, Microsoft Messenger for Mac, and
Office Notifications/Reminders, because they might interfere with
rebuilding.

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

Always backup first.