System hangs when trying to open a document in Word 2000

[A McLaen]

Hi

I would be grateful if anyone can help me with this one.
I have been using Word 2000 for years without problems.
Now suddenly when I trying to open a document in Word 2000
I get the following message on the screen:

The system is dangerously low in resources. Would you
like to terminate the following application:
Word (not responding). I do terminate the application,
but then the whole system hangs and I have to re-boot.

I know I recently had a virus that Norton deleted, and can
only presume that it corrupted the file. I have
uninstalled and re-installed Word, but without any joy.
It is only Word that is affected.

Any assistance would be grateful.

A McLaren

 

[Beth Melton]

Is the error specific to one document or all documents you attempt to
open? If it is document specific then it could be caused by a corrupt
template, if the document is based on a template or the document may
be corrupt.

If the document was not based on a specific template then search for
Normal.dot and rename those you find to OldNormal.dot. You may have
more than one Normal.dot available and it is possible the document is
using a corrupt Normal.dot. Word will create a new one upon starting.

If this resolves the problem, any customizations can be copied to the
new Normal.dot via the Organizer (Tools/Templates and Add-Ins) Once
this is complete OldNormal.dot can be discarded. If the problem still
exists then you can delete the new Normal.dot and rename your
OldNormal.dot to Normal.dot.

Failing that, then here are a few things to try for a corrupt
document:

If the document contains graphics then in Word go to
Tools/Options/View and turn in "Picture Placeholders" and "Draft
Font".
If the document contains links then on the General tab make sure
"Update automatic links at Open" is turned off.

Try using a document link to retrieve the corrupt document:
- Create a new document
- Copy some text from another document
- In the new document use Edit/Paste Special and select "Paste Link"
- Go to Edit/Links and change the source of the link to the document
you can not open

If this works then return to Edit/Links and break the link to the
source document.

For additional troubleshooting steps/methods take a look at this
article:
http://www.mvps.org/word/FAQs/AppErrors/CorruptDoc.htm

You also try a recovery utility such as those from
http://www.officerecovery.com/, however they aren't free downloads.


Please post all follow-up questions to the newsgroup. Requests for
assistance by email can not be acknowledged.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Beth Melton
Microsoft Office MVP

Word FAQ: http://mvps.org/word
TechTrax eZine: http://mousetrax.com/techtrax/
MVP FAQ site: http://mvps.org/