Word 2000 won't start

W

win007nie

Recently I was housekeeping on my machine. I have Windows XP and Office 2000
Professional. I downloaded a critical update from Microsoft (.net Framework
3.5) and removed a copy of Visual Studio 2008 PE. Word 2000 will not open, I
get a application hang error (?). I have tried reinstalling Office 2000 with
all of the appropriate service packs and no luck, Word still won't open. I am
at wits end. Does anyone know how to remedy this?
 
W

win007nie

Suzanne:

I tried everything suggested on the FAQ sheet with no luck. At one point I
had no normal.dot file on my machine even after uninstalling and reinstalling
Office 2000. I then networked my old machine with Windows 2000 Professional
and Office 2000 Professional and copied the normal.dot file from it to the
machine that isn't working. I copied the normal.dot file into a user file but
still no luck. Is there a place I should copy the file so Office can find it?
Is this a registry problem? If I uninstall Office 2000, can I erase the
Office folder from the registry to facillitate a clean install? I appreciate
your help.

David
 
T

Terry Farrell

Normal.dot is a system file and is usually hidden until you change the
options in Windows Explorer to Show System Files and to Show Hidden Files
and Folder. Then you will be able to find normal.dot.

Note that it is normally in the user's profile which if you are in Win XP
will be something like:

Username/Application Data/Microsoft/Template
 
T

Terry Farrell

BTW, if this is a fresh install, normal.dot will not be created until you
have made a change in Word that requires a normal.dot for saving the change.

Have you installed a Printer driver and set it as the Windows Default?
What happened when you tried to start Word in Safe Mode?

Terry
 
W

win007nie

Terry:

I copied a copy of the file in the template you described and it still won't
work. if i copy it into the system file would that work?

David
 
W

win007nie

Terry:

If you mean 'starting word in safe mode' as Run winword.exe /a it opens. the
printer driver is installed and is the windows default.

David
 
T

Terry Farrell

If Word starts in Safe Mode (winword /a), then there is nothing wrong with
Word. Your problem is down to a bad third party add-in, a corrupt normal.dot
or a corrupt printer driver. There is absolutely no need to copy across
normal.dot as Word does not need a normal.dot until it has to save a
preference/setting that you change when it creates it itself.

When in Word in Safe Mode, look at the File Locations TAB under Tools,
Options and click on User Templates which will show you the location of your
normal.dot. You can then use Explorer to navigate to that location and
rename it normal.bad.

Terry
 
W

win007nie

Terry:

Thank you for the information. I have determined the location of normal.dot.
I have removed all copies of that file to allow Word to create a new one.
When I open Word in safe mode, I create a document and save it to my desktop.
I then try to reopen Word and no luck. I open Word in safe mode look at where
the normal.dot file should be C:\Documents and Settings\Winnie\Application
Data\Microsoft\Templates and there is no normal.dot. I am guessing this is
because there is a bad third party add-in or a corrupt printer driver. I
switched the default printer to Microsoft XPS Document Writer and tried
again. No luck. I have an HP 1220C printer.

Do I need to reinstall the HP 1220C printer driver?

Do I need to find the corrupt third party add-in?

The driver I can handle, the third party add-in I'll need help with.

Would this have anything to do with uninstalling Visual Studio 2008 and
would reinstalling the program help at this point?

Is there a certain rhythm of uninstallation and re-installation I should be
following?
 
W

win007nie

Terry:

I just documented everything I have done and it was lost in the post.

I did as you suggested and found Word is not creating a new normal.dot.

In safe mode it would be located at C:\Documents an
Settings\Winnie\Application Data\Microsoft\Templates.

I switched the default printer to Microsoft XPS Document Writer, no change.

I have a HP1220C printer, should I reinstall that driver?

Where would I find the corrupt third-party add-in?

David
 
W

win007nie

This is the third time I have tried this. I followed your instructions. No
Change. Changed Printers, no change. Reinstall HP1220C driver? find third
party addin?
Make new normal.dot? doesn't happen when in safe mode I checked where it is
supposed to end up. Tried to give you more information, post wouldn't have it.
 
W

win007nie

Terry:

I was getting error messages when I posted the last three posts. I am glad
the information arrived.

David
 
T

Terry Farrell

Don't worry about normal.dot, As Suzanne has said, Word won't create a
normal.dot from Word Safe Mode. Once you get Word running correctly again,
you will need to make a change that requires normal.dot to store your
change. Typical changes requiring normal.dot are the default font, paragraph
settings, page setup margins, etc.

Now we know that it isn't a normal.dot problem (an important step in
diagnosis) we need to find the culprit. It is highly unlikely that the
printer driver is incompatible with your older version of Word, but check
that the driver you have is the latest for your OS by going to HP Support.
Download any newer driver if needed then delete the printer and reinstall it
again. Test Word again to make sure it isn't corrupt.

If it still won't open (and I suspect it won't), it leaves third party
add-in or macros. Typical add-ins that cause problems would be AntiVirus,
scanners, fax utilities, PDF utilities, etc.

These are usually inserted into Word by placing templates in the Word
Startup folder which are loaded when Word is launched. You will again find
the location of your startup folder by running Word in Safe Mode and going
to Tools, Options. File Locations TAB. If you find templates in the folder,
disable them by changing the .dot extension to .bad. Then test to see if
Word starts again.

Note that with all these failures in Word, you will almost certainly have a
mass of abandoned temp files in the temp folder. With applications closed,
the temp folder should be empty, so delete all those files. See
http://www.gmayor.com/what_to_do_when_word_crashes.htm for help with this.

Terry
 
W

win007nie

Hey Guys!

Boy I must have really messed things up. I have tried uninstalling and
reinstalling my printer allowing the Plug and Play feature guide me through
the process.

I visited HP Support and ran their device and driver checker, which finished
unsucessfully I might add, before uninstalled and reinstalled the printer as
stated above.

I looked in the temp folders as you suggested. They are all empty even when
Word is open in Safe Mode. I did notice there are two copies of winword.doc
in the template folder for Microsoft Office and Word.

I had installed AVG as an Anti-Virus program, uninstalled it and installed
Windows Live One Care trial, which is my current Anti-Virus program.

I am still at a loss.
 
W

win007nie

Terry:

On another note, when I try to open Word and check the task manager it
appears to be opening two sessions of Word. The task manager says they are
both not responding, the CPU usage is 100% and when I end one task they both
close.

Is there corruption in the start up?
 
T

Terry Farrell

I think that you need to get someone in with computer experience as I am not
able to help you with this. Sorry.

Terry
 
A

Andrew B

It's not just third party add-ins which are suspect...

I recently had a similar problem - Word 2000 which had been working fine
now would not start.

After trying all the standard things, I uninstalled Microsoft Office Live
Add-in which had arrived through Windows Update on 23rd January. Problem
solved! If you have this add-in (listed as an installed program) try removing
it.

You can also try looking in the registry at the key
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Office\Word\Addins. The only key
installed as standard by Office 2000 is msodraa9.ShapeSelect. Any others may
cause a problem (Microsoft Office Live add-in adds a key here called
OLConnectorAddin.Connect). A Google search on the key often gives the name of
the offending application.
 
T

Terry Farrell

Interesting. The Office Live Add-in doesn't cause problems in Word 2003 or
Word 2007, so I guess that it was never tested with Word 2000 because it is
out of the support cycle.

Terry
 

Ask a Question

Want to reply to this thread or ask your own question?

You'll need to choose a username for the site, which only take a couple of moments. After that, you can post your question and our members will help you out.

Ask a Question

Similar Threads

Word 2000 won't start Part Two 2
On-going issue w/word 2000 and Vista home Premium 9
Word minimizes to taskbar and wont restore 2
Word 2000 Not Responding 3
Does Word 2000 work under Windows 7? 3
converter mswrd632.wpc won't start 1
Word 2000 fails to start 1
Word 2000 doesn't open completely on Vista 1

Top