Word and Excel crash on startup - every time

[webweaver]

Version: 2008
Operating System: Mac OS X 10.4 (Tiger)
Processor: Power PC

I cannot use Word or Excel at all. Both programs crash on startup when clicking on their respective icons in Finder or Dock.

I am able to open an Excel file by clicking on the filename itself, but cannot save or print the file, as it crashes. With Word, the program always crashes, even if I click on a filename to open it.

This has been going on for a while, and I have spent considerable time going through the Mactopia forum archives and trying everything that's been suggested.

I am using Office 2008, and downloaded and installed the latest update today. Still crashing.

I am using a Mac OSX running Tiger 10.4.11, Power PC.

I have tried:
- trashing all suggested preferences including com.microsoft.Excel.plist, com.microsoft.office.plist, com.microsoft.Word.plist and the entire Office 2008 folder
- running disk utility on my Mac and repairing permissions
- resetting my printing system on my Mac - I currently have no printers listed
- removing all Office software on my mac using the Remove Office tool and reinstalling from the setup disk (after trashing all preferences etc)
- updating the new Office version with the latest downloads

I have also searched my computer for the Normal template so that I could trash that - but I do not have a Normal template! I have no templates at all anywhere on my computer. Is this because I can't even start Word and Excel and they need to start in order to create an initial template?

Hope you can help. Just let me know if you want me to post an error log.

Thanks in advance.

 

[CyberTaz]

Based on your description I really don't believe the problem lies with
Office itself. Go to the Apple Downloads site, retrieve the OS X 10.4.11
COMBO Update & apply that. Then run permissions repair & see if the
situation improves. Post back with details once you've tried that.

HTH |:>)
Bob Jones
[MVP] Office:Mac

 

[webweaver]

oh my Lord!

I cannot believe it! It worked!

After so many months of fighting with Word and Excel it seems they have come back under my control again.

Thank you SO much!

 

[CyberTaz]

Glad it worked for you! Unfortunately we all have a tendency to not look
beyond the "obvious" on occasion Thanks for the confirmation.

Regards |:>)
Bob Jones
[MVP] Office:Mac

 

[pointg0d2]

Hey CyberTaz,
I am having an issue opening all programs in Microsoft Office 2004. I am currently running Mac OS X version 10.5.5. Yesterday everything was fine and I had no issues and all of a sudden I could not do anything. I have tried ignoring, relaunching and reporting the issue. I have tried opening documents from emails, off a usb drive and searching for documents in spotlight. I have been going crazy all day trying to figure this out.

 

[CyberTaz]

This thread is a resolved issue for a different user with a different
version of Office. If the solution that worked for the OP didn't work for
you the problem must be a different one. We're more than glad to help if we
can but you need to help us as well. "Hijacking" another thread merely makes
it more difficult for everyone - including yourself - to get to the root of
your problem.

Please post a NEW message - not a REPLY - and include version-specific
information for your Office 2004 installation... That could be anywhere from
11.0.0 to 11.5.2 & where you fall in that range can make a lot of
difference. Updating may be the first step to take but that's hard to
determine if we don't know where you stand as of now.

Also, you've mentioned some of the things you've "tried" but you've provided
absolutely no description of what the problem is. What happens if you go to
your Applications folder & launch one of the apps directly? Have you tried
running the programs from a different Use Account?

We need to know exactly what is going on, how you're going about doing
whatever is not working as expected & exactly what's happening instead.

What else has changed that may have caused the problem - have you updated OS
X, installed any new software, moved/deleted any files or folders that may
be a part of what Office requires? Are there problems with any other apps?

Regards |:>)
Bob Jones
[MVP] Office:Mac

 

[bueblu]

Hi.
my mac (Mac OS X 10.5.5, processor intel core 2)and office 2008 are updated.

whenever I open word 2008 it crushes after few seconds.

I tried to reinstall it but nothing changed
any suggestion?

Thanks

FB