Word 2007 hangs on startup

[Wabster]

Office Ultimate 2007 (student) downloaded and installed on a XP system a year
ago but not used much. Now when Word is opened it hangs.

It's a startup template/normal.dot issue I assume, but I can't seem to find
where they are to alter them and just now start Word with the /a switch.

A removal of Office and reinstall didn't help. Same thing happens with
Excel. Can't ask MS support coz I don't have a valid Product ID that I know
of.

How can I access what templates etc are being used prior to the "hang" to
deselct them and re-add one by one to eliminate the problem?

 

[Stefan Blom]

See http://word.mvps.org/FAQs/AppErrors/ProblemsStartingWord.htm for
troubleshooting.

 

[Wabster]

Thanks for the reply Stefan I appreciate it. Many of the help screens etc
refer to a Tools menu.

Now I can get to Word options thru the Office Button but if I need to get to
say Tools + Options + File Location I have no Tools menu item that I can find
despite going cross eyed endeavouring to do so.

Where Is the Tools menu located, believe me I have searched, I am a few days
into this problem- thankfully I have no deadlines to meet

Cheerz Wabster

 

[Stefan Blom]

I should have mentioned that the article hasn't been fully updated for Word
2007 yet. The options (or most of them at least) previously found in Tools |
Options are now in Office button | Word Options. For the File Locations
dialog box, look in the Advanced category. If you scroll down to the bottom,
you'll find a File Locations button there.

 

[Wabster]

Hi Stefan,

I went around in circles ensuring broken files and normal.do?? were removed
so the Word program could run unfettered. It continued to work fine in /a and
/safe modes but that isn't good for regular use obviously.

Eventually I got an error when it crashed in normal start up mode, rather
than switched above.

The error said, inter alia, that ogaaddin.dll was causing problems, and it
asked did I want to remove it.

I went into the add-ins area and removed both the OGA and Live addins.

I have restarted Word maybe 20 times overnight and this morning and it works
perfectly.

It may be too early to insist that the OGA addin is the definitive problem
but at the moment that is my theory.

What problems the addin being removed will cause me I have no idea,

Cheerz Wabster/Mark.

 

[Stefan Blom]

I think you've found the culprit too: a poorly written add-in is one of the
possible problems listed in the article I linked to.

I'm glad you got it sorted!

 

[Wabster]

Hi Stefan,

Yes I think I have found the solution.

It is frustrating that I have have spent many hours solving a problem that I
believe is of MS's making, given that I expect an addin called ogaaddin.dll
is Office Genuine Advantage and comes from Microsoft itself.

I am going to follow this group for a while and see if the problem arises
again, but regardless I hope if MS monitors these groups that someone will
take it on board and see if the addin can be modified to prevent this
happening. I don't know how these issues get filtered back to MS, of if they
do.

I had many many crashes before I was lucky to get an error message that
pointed to the dll I mentioned.

Again, thank you for your help, I appreciate it.

Cheerz Wabster/Mark

 

[Stefan Blom]

Are you sure that the DLL is from Microsoft? Check the file properties. Of
course, even if it is, Microsoft products can be buggy too.

FWIW, I couldn't find any information about "ogaaddin.dll" at
http://www.support.microsoft.com.

 

[Wabster]

Hi there Stefan,

Hex dump out of the file ogaaddin.dll.

000880 ········Office Genuine
Advantage·ÉÉÉÉÉÉÉhttp://go.microsoft.com/fwli
0008C4
nk/?LinkId=110203&clcid=0x%x&PartnerID=%d&LegitCheckError=%d·ÉÉÉP.Aq

File location c:\windows\system32, dated 31-12-08 on my machine.

Definitely MS, definitely Office Genuine Advantage.

And definitely buggy.

Why it has chosen now to be a problem I've no idea, but it is

Maybe other instances of problems with hanging or freezing can be attributed
to this file, I've no idea. I worked the last 10 years of my career doing
computer support on Win NT and MS application but have too little contact
with 2007 variants as I am now retired. Hence being a student again .

This is part of the reason I'm posting all this stuff to share the problem,
whether it reticualtes back to anyone in MS I've no idea.

Anyway, no doubt it is MS file negatively effecting Word 2007

Cheerz Wabster/Mark

 

[Wabster]

Hi again Stefan,

I guess I am on a bit of a roll on this topic now, I've got my dander up a
bit at MS as I'm convinced it is a problem of their making.

If you google ogaaddin.dll there is a bit of info about it. The most
relevant to my issues is that "on February 21st, 2009 Microsoft has released
an updated v1.7.111.0 of Office Genuine Advantage Validation Tool."

This corresponds with the timing of the issues I've been having and on which
I might add, I have wasted way too much time.

I tried to post a request for assistance to MS but needed a product ID but
as I bought it via Digital River a year ago as a student buy, and got a hard
DVD as well as D/l the install files, I have no identifiable Prod ID :-(

I simply don't have to time to try and navigate the labyrinthine channels of
getting info and complaints to Microsoft.

It is this sort of issue - underhanded and unidentified add ins - that make
me seriously consider abandoning MS totally and moving to Ubuntu and Open
Office for productivity software.

I'm grateful for your help again. I intend to port a new topic warning
peoiple with performance issues of this problem, if I can save just opne
person from the waste of time I've endured then it is worth the slight extra
effort by myself,

Cheerz Wabster/Mark.

 

[Stefan Blom]

Thank you for giving further information on this. I'm afraid I won't be able
to help you, though... Have you considered asking in a Windows newsgroup?

 

[Wabster]

Hi Stefan,

I don't intend to do anything else on this topic. I understand you can do no
more, I just wanted someone out in the professional user community to know
what I have discovered The hope there is that as you guys see more
questions of a similar nature you may be able to help others out.

What am I going to do? I'm following people's experiences on installing the
new version of Ubuntu, V9.04 on Twitter. I'll dual boot it and use/learn Open
Office.

Regards, and thanks again, Wabster/Mark.