Word 2000 Freezes

[Mitch]

Hello,

I had been using MS Word 2000 SP-3 without any problems, but something had
occurred in the last few days that causes the program to freeze when starting.

When trying to open a document or open Word, the program freezes at the
splash screen.

I had uninstalled and reinstalled Office 2000 along with the SP-1 and SP-3
updates. This did not correct the problem and took me a very long time to do
(especially on dial-up and on an older computer).

I had deleted the Normal.dot template file and was able to get into Word,
but once a new template is created the same problem occurs. I also cannot
open any document files (even if the Normal.dot file is deleted).

I had deleted the registry entries in the HKEY_CURRENT_USER -> Software ->
Microsoft -> Office -> 9.0 -> Word -> Data folder, but that did not fix the
problem

I also noticed that when I am able to get into Word it starts out the
document as Document5 instead of Document (or Document1... I forget what the
default is). I did not see any files in the C:\WINDOWS\Application
Data\Microsoft\Word\STARTUP folder. I am not sure if the program is
searching for documents to recover.

I really need help correcting this problem. Any suggestions are
appreciated. Thank you.

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

You've obviously got some temp file build-up. See
http://www.gmayor.com/what_to_do_when_word_crashes.htm

 

[Mitch]

When I rebooted my system and deleted Normal.dot, I got into Word 2000 and
saw that it went back to Document1. I deleted all of the files in the Temp
folder.

When I open Word 2000 (after deleting Normal.dot) and then try to open a
file, the program freezes. I have to use CTRL-ALT-DEL and close Word 2000.
When I restart the program, that is when it begins at the next Document
file... Document2, Document3, etc. So, I do not believe the problem is from
trying to recover the other Document files.

I still have the problem with the program freezing at the splash screen
(when Normal.dot existis) or trying to open a file (when Normal.dot does not
exist).

Please let me know what else I can try. Thanks.

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

If you have eliminated Normal.dot and the Registry as sources of the
problem, the only thing left to consider is add-ins or your printer. Try
working through all the steps at
http://word.mvps.org/FAQs/AppErrors/ProbsOpeningWord.htm

 

[Mitch]

Here's a summary of what has gone on:
-When opening MS Word 2000 (Word), the program freezes at the splash screen.

-When opening Word with Normal.dot deleted, the program will come up.

-When opening Word with Normal.dot recreated, the program freezes at the
splash screen.

-Running winword.exe /a does not open the program when Normal.dot exists.

-I had uninstalled Office and then reinstalled it and upgraded to SP-3 but
still had the same problem.

-I deleted the registry entry
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\9.0\Word\Data but that did not
correct the problem.

-I am not on a Network and do not have problems with the printer attached to
the computer.

-I do have Norton Antivirus 2005, but I have the Enable Office Plug-in
option unchecked.

-With Word open and Normal.dot deleted, the program cannot open up any files.

The open file dialog doesn't work correctly... when you click on a document
name, the file name doesn't appear in the File Name text box, and the program
will freeze when you click the Open button. The action for opening files
appears to be corrupt since I have the same problem with opening Excel files.
Access will open up files, but the file name doesn't appear in the File Name
text box.

Please let me know if you have any suggestions.