Word 2004 taking 30% CPU even when idle w/ no doc open

[rbfraven]

Just an update. I just discovered that my Dreamweaver MX 2004 (also
with no open files) also has the same CPU consumption problem. It is
now taking more than Word 2004 - 60-70%. Unix top shows most CPU is
User and not System for both Word and Dreamweaver. My fan comes on
soon after either one is started. It is good bet that the same cause
is affecting both pieces of software. It is possible that the cause is
hardware (an aging Ti book) but the fact that it started only after
recent Apple and Word updates and that other G4 PBs are seeing this
also (at least for word) leads me to suspect one or a combination of
the software updates (10.4.10, QT 7.2 and Office 11.3.6). I will
concentrate now on pursuing this as a 10.4.10 problem.

Bob Fowles

 

[qiaobing321]

I discovered a simple work-around: just open any pull-down menu in the
Word (e.g., click Word->About Word and leave it open) and this will
stop whatever stupid thing Word is doing in the background. This way
you don't need to close all your docs and quit Word in order to get
your CPU back.

 

[rbfraven]

That is very interesting and works just as you say.

I had posted previously that DreamWeaver was also consuming excessive
CPU. That is only true while it is waiting for the first file to be
opened. After that CPU usage is normal (low). So Word 2004 is the only
app I have found that always uses 50% CPU with or without open files.

John McGhie suggested disconnecting any "high-precision" mouse. I have
an optical IntelliMouse and I tried disconnecting it but that made no
difference.

I tried the update_prebinding mentioned previously but that made no
difference.

The next thing to try is an Archive-Install. I wouldn't be surprised
if that fixes it as I have never done a clean install since I got my
G4 500Mhz PB in Spring 2001. Who knows what cruft is floating around
under the hood after installing all updates since 10.1 plus dozens of
apps and their updates.

In my case, I will just tolerate it until I upgrade to a MBP with
Leopard.

Thanks for the update.

Bob Fowles

 

[rbfraven]

I solved my "Word 2004 Excessive CPU Problem" with the help of
http://groups.google.com/group/micr...250f?lnk=gst&q=renaud&rnum=2#cc8809032f4c250f
and especially the blog http://mactip.blogspot.com/2007/07/dependent-dylib-is-not-prebound.html
which it references. I had previously run update_prebinding but failed
to notice an error message. Apparently that error prevented
update_prebinding (UP) from completing (see link). UP uses the data
file /var/db/dyld/update-prebinding-paths.txt which is a list of files
to be operated on. By using -debug on UP you can see exactly where UP
stops. In my case it was failing on a group of files in /usr/X11R6/lib
and not doing any after those. I made a copy of the file and with
emacs edited those lines by inserting "#" at the beginning to comment
out those filenames. After re-running UP, MS Word now uses less than
3% which is quite a reduction from the 50% it was using. My thanks to
Renaud Blanch (1st link above), the blog author (2nd link above) and
anyone else who responded to my earlier posts about this problem.

I'm grateful to have this solved after 2.5 months but several
questions remain including (1) Which update 10.4.10, QT 7.2 or MS
Office 11.3.6 caused the problem?, (2) How does this file get updated,
and (3) Why was it in error?

Bob Fowles

 

[Elliott Roper]

I solved my "Word 2004 Excessive CPU Problem" with the help of

I'm grateful to have this solved after 2.5 months but several
questions remain including (1) Which update 10.4.10, QT 7.2 or MS
Office 11.3.6 caused the problem?, (2) How does this file get updated,
and (3) Why was it in error?

From reading the article in Apple's KB it looked as though the QT 7.2
update broke (probably installed a wrong version of) some library
needed by the Rosetta PPC emulation. It is strange that the problem did
not show on all machines or all Rosetta programs, and for those who
were affected, how it affected them in different ways, from a complete
non-start to your cpu hogging. QT 7.2 became available about the same
time as Office 10.3.6 so there remains a slight possibility that the
order those updates were applied was relevant. I fervently hope not.
The two should have been utterly disjoint.

I did QT 7.2 last and it did not bite me, although I later did the
combo and pre-binding steps when all the problem variations became
known. I never saw anything wrong here. I just did it for safety.

 

[John McGhie]

Hi Bob:

Many thanks to YOU for getting back to tell us what your solution was.

That's a particularly nasty bug to find...

Cheers

I solved my "Word 2004 Excessive CPU Problem" with the help of
http://groups.google.com/group/microsoft.public.mac.office/browse_thread/threa
d/d9bc05d5f147fe55/cc8809032f4c250f?lnk=gst&q=renaud&rnum=2#cc8809032f4c250f
and especially the blog
http://mactip.blogspot.com/2007/07/dependent-dylib-is-not-prebound.html
which it references. I had previously run update_prebinding but failed
to notice an error message. Apparently that error prevented
update_prebinding (UP) from completing (see link). UP uses the data
file /var/db/dyld/update-prebinding-paths.txt which is a list of files
to be operated on. By using -debug on UP you can see exactly where UP
stops. In my case it was failing on a group of files in /usr/X11R6/lib
and not doing any after those. I made a copy of the file and with
emacs edited those lines by inserting "#" at the beginning to comment
out those filenames. After re-running UP, MS Word now uses less than
3% which is quite a reduction from the 50% it was using. My thanks to
Renaud Blanch (1st link above), the blog author (2nd link above) and
anyone else who responded to my earlier posts about this problem.

I'm grateful to have this solved after 2.5 months but several
questions remain including (1) Which update 10.4.10, QT 7.2 or MS
Office 11.3.6 caused the problem?, (2) How does this file get updated,
and (3) Why was it in error?

Bob Fowles

--
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]