Word 2004 freezes during startup

[tjevans]

I've run Office 2004 with no problems for months. Suddenly, over the weekend, Word freezes while it is starting up. It does this while it is checking (or whatever it's doing when you see all the fine print changing in the splash screen) VBA. It's always at that point that it freezes.

Word is the only Office app that does this.

Here's what I've tried so far:
(1) Remove all preference files for office and office apps;
(2) Remove and reinstall Office;
(3) Remove and reinstall Word (only).

This problem persists despite those efforts. Does anyone have any ideas?

 

[Daiya Mitchell]

Test your Normal template, which can randomly corrupt, and which Word
does call on at startup. Directions here:
http://word.mvps.org/mac/MacWordNormal.html

Also see the directions re Font Problems at the bottom of this page:
http://word.mvps.org/Mac/DamagedPrefs.html

 

[tjevans]

Thanks, Daiya. Unfortunately, neither one of those solutions worked. As a matter of fact the files referenced in the font problems didn't even exist on my system.

Here's some more clues (perhaps) to the mystery. While I cannot launch word from the word icon, I can launch word from the project gallery. However, I am unable to type anything in the resulting document, and all the menus are greyed out.

 

[John McGhie]

Hmmm... OK, that's probably "Preferences" (there's not much else that you
have not tried).

Go up one level on that website Daiya sent you to, and follow the general
trouble-shooting procedure, which will tell you how to delete your
preferences.

Note: The sequence is important, and you need to repeat each step in
sequence, even if you have done it before.

Hope this helps

Thanks, Daiya. Unfortunately, neither one of those solutions worked. As a
matter of fact the files referenced in the font problems didn't even exist on
my system.

Here's some more clues (perhaps) to the mystery. While I cannot launch word
from the word icon, I can launch word from the project gallery. However, I am
unable to type anything in the resulting document, and all the menus are
greyed out.

--
Don't wait for your answer, click here: http://www.word.mvps.org/

Please reply in the group. Please do NOT email me unless I ask you to.

John McGhie, Consultant Technical Writer
McGhie Information Engineering Pty Ltd
http://jgmcghie.fastmail.com.au/
Nhulunbuy, Northern Territory, Australia
+61 4 1209 1410, mailto:[email protected]

 

[tjevans]

Alas, that didn't help either.

 

[Daiya Mitchell]

Option 1--try some diagnostic tricks to narrow down the source of the
problem--let us know the answers to:

Hold down shift while launching Word. Does the problem re-occur?

Logout of your OS X user account, and hold down shift while logging back
in. Does the problem re-occur?

Create a new OS X user account and test in it. Does the problem re-occur?

Option 2--assume it's a font issue.

If you don't have a font cache, that's probably an important clue--Word
checks that on startup. And font problems might mesh with unable to
type. Work through all the steps listed here:
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=313535

 

[tjevans]

None of those solutions worked either. The problem re-occurred in all of them.

 

[Daiya Mitchell]

Okay, still broken in a different user identity means problems at the
level of the system, not preferences or anything.

This could still be fonts, see the steps here:
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=313535

When you did the remove and reinstall, did you run the Remove Office
utility? If you removed Office by dragging it to the trash, Office is
likely now a big mess, and you might need to go to another remove and
reinstall. But if you ran the utility, you should be okay.

It's possible that removing and reinstalling only Word managed to get
you a "dirty" installation, but I'd try the fonts first, as it makes
sense with the symptoms you report.

 

[tjevans]

Daiya,

I meant to add to my previous reply that I had also tried the fonts using the steps on the URL you sent. Sorry for the confusion.

I also though about the "dirty" installation with only reinstalling Word, so I have also removed and reinstalled the entire Office suite.

Nothing seems to be helping.

As an aside, I was going to purchase Office 2008, but since these problems appear to be system level, I'm nervous that they would persist even past the upgrade.

 

[Bill]

I'm having this issue as well. Word, and Excel freeze on my MacBook. PowerPoint appeared to be OK at first, but actually froze within 20 seconds.

I recently upgraded to Leopard.

 

[Daiya Mitchell]

I'm clueless. Is there anything on this page you haven't tried yet?
http://word.mvps.org/Mac/TroubleshootingIndex.html

What version of OS?

 

[Daiya Mitchell]

See if the information here helps:
http://www.officeformac.com/ProductForums/Word/976

 

[tjevans]

Nope. Nothing seems to help.

 

[John McGhie]

OK, last try:

Download and run the latest Apple Combo Updater.

There was a nasty issue in an updater a few months ago that caused problems
for Office 2004. It was fixed with a later updater.

You are quite correct: If we can't solve this issue, you should indeed
expect problems with Office 2008.

We're staring down the barrel of an Archive and Install...

Sorry about that, but we're out of ideas...

Nope. Nothing seems to help.

--
Don't wait for your answer, click here: http://www.word.mvps.org/

Please reply in the group. Please do NOT email me unless I ask you to.

John McGhie, Consultant Technical Writer
McGhie Information Engineering Pty Ltd
http://jgmcghie.fastmail.com.au/
Nhulunbuy, Northern Territory, Australia
+61 4 1209 1410, mailto:[email protected]