Unable to Install Microsoft Office 2004 Updates

[EricMac]

I tried both the auto-update from within an individual office product
(Excel) as well as the download from the Microsoft website. In both
cases I am able to download the update, but once it starts it gives me
an error message that says:

Software could not locate the correct version of the software reqruired
to install this update.

Upon checking Component Plugin it shows that I have installed 11.2.5
(060523).

I have tried to install Office 2004 Update 11.2.6 as well as 11.3.0 and
neither one works - both give me the same error as above.

Office 2004 works fine and I have no problems running all of the
applications, but it seems that I am unable to apply any updates. I
could find nothing on this error message in the Knowledge Base.

Thanks for your help and assistance....

Regards,

EricMac

 

[Diane Ross]

I tried both the auto-update from within an individual office product
(Excel) as well as the download from the Microsoft website. In both
cases I am able to download the update, but once it starts it gives me
an error message that says:

Software could not locate the correct version of the software reqruired
to install this update.

Upon checking Component Plugin it shows that I have installed 11.2.5
(060523).

From the Read Me: Before you install this update, make sure that the
Microsoft Office 2004 for Mac 11.3.0 Update is installed on your computer.

I have tried to install Office 2004 Update 11.2.6 as well as 11.3.0 and
neither one works - both give me the same error as above.

Office 2004 works fine and I have no problems running all of the
applications, but it seems that I am unable to apply any updates. I
could find nothing on this error message in the Knowledge Base.

Run "Remove Office" located in the Office 2004 --> Additional Tools folder"
then apply the updates in this order:

11.3.0. (This update includes all of the improvements released in all
previous Office 2004 updates.)

11.3.2 Update

--
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/>

 

[Diane Ross]

Run "Remove Office" located in the Office 2004 --> Additional Tools folder"
then apply the updates in this order:

11.3.0. (This update includes all of the improvements released in all
previous Office 2004 updates.)

11.3.2 Update

One more thing....

Seemingly unrelated is an Apple OS update. Some users have reported that
problems were solved by using the Apple10.4.8 Combo updater from the Apple
web site rather than using Software Update. Re-install it, repair
permissions & restart. Then try the updaters again.

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>

You can find more info about these updates here:

<http://www.apple.com/support/downloads/>

--
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/>

 

[EricMac]

Thanks Diane -

Unfortunately neither of these options worked. I tried the
second one first - I re-installed the Apple 10.4.8 Combo Updater. MS
Office 2004 updater 11.3.0 could not find the proper files to update
the software.

I then tried Remove Office and re-ran the Office updater
11.3.0. Same error message. It seems it just cannot get past the
scanning files part of the update process. All of the Office 2004
programs continue to work fine with no problems, but I would obviously
like to have the latest updates.

I am running this on a 12" Powerbook G4 (dual 1 Ghz, 1.5 Gb
memory, running OS X 10.4.8).

This does not seem to be a common problem, as I don't see
it listed on either this or other boards. Any further assistance that
you can provide me would be greatly appreciated.

Regards,

Eric

 

[Diane Ross]

Thanks Diane -

Unfortunately neither of these options worked. I tried the
second one first - I re-installed the Apple 10.4.8 Combo Updater. MS
Office 2004 updater 11.3.0 could not find the proper files to update
the software.

I then tried Remove Office and re-ran the Office updater
11.3.0. Same error message. It seems it just cannot get past the
scanning files part of the update process. All of the Office 2004
programs continue to work fine with no problems, but I would obviously
like to have the latest updates.

I am running this on a 12" Powerbook G4 (dual 1 Ghz, 1.5 Gb
memory, running OS X 10.4.8).

This does not seem to be a common problem, as I don't see
it listed on either this or other boards. Any further assistance that
you can provide me would be greatly appreciated.

Regards,

Eric

Create a new User in System Preferences and see if the installer works in
the new User. If your Office folder is in the root applications folder this
will update it for all users.

Just to be clear, you do have Office 2004 not Office X.

 

[Diane Ross]

I'm seeing the same thing - Office 2004 v. 11.3.0 Update issued 10/10/06 -
claims it can't find the programs to update, refers me to the Read Me doc,
which verifies that I'm doing everything I should be.

PowerMac G5, 1.8GHz, 1 GB DDR SDRAM, OS X v. 10.4.8. Like you, I want to
keep up to date.

This has been going on for some time, looks like Microsoft really doesn't
care to address it.

As you probably know, MVPs aren't Microsoft employees. Our suggestions and
fixes are things we have learned. Other than trying the update in a new User
to see if there is a problem with your User's folder, I don't know what else
to suggest. I'll pass on the problem to see if I can escalate a response
from Microsoft on how to resolve this issue. With the holidays it could take
some time. I expect most will be away from their office for a while.

--
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/>

 

[EricMac]

Again thanks for your help Diane. I created a new user and tried the
updater again and it still came up with the same error. AND yes I am
running Office 2004. I tried a several things before seeking help
here including:

- correcting preferences
- running sudo periodic daily weekly monthly
- redownloading the updater (sever times)
- rebooting (several times)

I am still at a loss here. Glad to hear that I am not alone in this,
but sorry to hear that others are having the same problem.

One other thing I should mention is that I upgraded from Office X to
Office 2004 when it came out, so when I ran the Remove Office program
it detected Office 98, Office 2001, Office X (including test) and
Office 2004 (including test). I checked all of the boxes except the
libraries for Office 98 and Office 2001.

Merry Christmas and thanks for your help here.

Eric

 

[Diane Ross]

Again thanks for your help Diane. I created a new user and tried the
updater again and it still came up with the same error. AND yes I am
running Office 2004. I tried a several things before seeking help
here including:

- correcting preferences
- running sudo periodic daily weekly monthly
- redownloading the updater (sever times)
- rebooting (several times)

Try running Repair Permissions. I recommend this after all installs with a
restart of your computer. Directions here:

<http://www.entourage.mvps.org/glossary/repair_permissions.html>

It probably won't fix your problem, but it's good preventative maintenance.

I am still at a loss here. Glad to hear that I am not alone in this,
but sorry to hear that others are having the same problem.

One other thing I should mention is that I upgraded from Office X to
Office 2004 when it came out, so when I ran the Remove Office program
it detected Office 98, Office 2001, Office X (including test) and
Office 2004 (including test). I checked all of the boxes except the
libraries for Office 98 and Office 2001.

Hopefully, we will see some improvement in how the test drive and "Remove
Office" works in the next version of Office.

Merry Christmas and thanks for your help here.

Happy Holidays to you and all list members.

 

[bmiller]

Hello all,

I was troubleshooting this same issue on my machine and managed to fix
it. I found that my hard drive has possibly serious issues developing
and this seems to be the first symptom. Essentially it boils down to
corrupted data on the hard drive but not bad enough to prompt the Mac
OS to show an error. Here's a brief description of my steps:
- Ran Remove Office, removed all versions and files, everything.
- Manually Trashed MS Office folder (Remove Office did not delete it).
- Emptied Trash.
- Tried booting from OS CD (10.3.5) and running Disk Utility Verify
Disk = verify disk failed.
- Tried running Disk Utility Repair Disk = also failed.
- Tried Disk Utility from a OS 10.4 DVD = failed.
- Booted up with and ran Disk Warrior - it rebuilt the directory data
after informing me that the hard disk had a malfunction. (Evidently
it's on it's way out but is still running now.)
- Booted to the hard drive and ran Disk Utility Repair Permissions =
many issues repaired.
- Installed Office 2004.
- Installed updates in order starting with Office SP1. Note that I had
downloaded each update rather than using Auto Update.
Now it's working. I launched Word, Excel, and PowerPoint after each
update to verify they still worked. I did get one error when starting
Word that some libraries were missing. One of the updates fixed that.
Also, PowerPoint tells me some fonts are missing, and the updates did
not fix that (it still works though). Perhaps I deleted more than I
should have with Remove Office.

So, in a nutshell, my advice for this issue is, first, to make sure
your hard drive and data are intact. Other than the updates failing I
had no indication that a problem existed with the drive and data.
Everything else worked fine.

 

[Diane Ross]

I was troubleshooting this same issue on my machine and managed to fix
it. I found that my hard drive has possibly serious issues developing
and this seems to be the first symptom.

Thanks for the feedback. Glad to hear your problems are now fixed.

--
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/>

 

[EricMac]

Thank you for your post. It seems that I also have a problem with my
hard disk. I am religious about running Repair Permissions and Sudo
Periodic but had never tried to run Disk Utiliities - Verify on my root
drive. As I am out of the country and do not have access to my OSX
DVD to boot and repair the root drive I am hoping things will hold
together until I can perform this task next week (I'll be a MacWorld
then in SF).

Once that issue is resolved I will then try to re-install the updates
per Diane's suggestions.

Regards,

Eric

 

[Bob Greenblatt]

Eric,

Some of the MVPs will also be at Macworld in Microsoft's booth. Feel free
to stop by and meet us, and hopefully we can solve your problem in person.