Word crashes immediately

[Edgar]

A year ago I installed a Microsoft critical securiy patch. Since then MS
Word 2003 crashes almost immediately upon loading. It always sends an error
report and I have examined the "details" but find the information less than
informative. Using System Restore did not solve the problem. The machine has
not had a network connection the last year, so I was unable to really
troubleshoot the problem until now.

I tried doing a "repair" from the install CD--no help. I removed Word via
the install CD, re-booted then installed Word from the instal CD--no help. I
removed Word via the install CD, re-booted then installed Word from my Office
XP Developer instal CD--no help.

Any thoughts? Just flailing about, I think I might have a registry or dll
problem--something not getting removed by the un-install. Is there a way of
printing out (to a text file??) the error report data? Is there a way of
identifying the exact problem?

 

[garfield-n-odie [MVP]]

See http://word.mvps.org/FAQs/AppErrors/ProbsOpeningWord.htm .

 

[Edgar]

Thanks for this pointer. I have spent the last half hour following all the
steps. I still have the same problem. Using
Run winword.exe /a
does give me a functional Word (I only tried a few times with very short
test docs.) What now?

Is there a way of printing out (to a text file??) the error report data? Is
there a way of identifying the exact problem?

BTW, this is an old computer. I see (via regedit) MS Office keys for
versions 8, 9, 10 and 11! I have upgraded a number of times. The most recent
full version of Office I own is Office XP Developer with Front Page. I
upgraded it to Office 2003. (version 9 had Publisher, XP Developer did not
but 2003 did. 2003 lacks many of the programs in Developer.) I need some from
Developer and everything from 2003.

 

[garfield-n-odie [MVP]]

What now? Please read and follow ALL of the instructions in
steps 2(a), 2(a)(i), 2(a)(ii), 2(b), and 2(c) in the referenced
article. See where it says, "If [the /a switch] fixes it, either
your Normal.dot template or one of the files in Word's Startup
path are probably corrupt, so the next steps to try are..."?

 

[Edgar]

Thanks for sticking with me on this! I really have followed all the steps and
instructions carefully. I do note some odities. After deleting the Normal.dot
file (and making sure there is no other .dot file on any drive) and Run of
winword.exe /a does NOT result in a new Normal.dot file being created. I
created an OLDStartup directory and moved everything from the Word startup
path into it--there is nothing in the current Word startup pat folder.

With regedit I renamed HKEY...Office\8.0\Word as HKEY...Office\8.0\WordOLD
and did the same for Office\10 and Office\11.

I unistalled the Office 10 Word and re-installed the Office 11 Word--the new
\11\Word key was there but contains no \Data subkey (only the \8.0\Word had
one--I renamed it ...DataOLD).

FYI crash detail:

Office 10 Word2002: winword.exe imts4off.dll 000029f8

Office 11 Word2003: AppName: winword.exe AppVer: 11.0.6568.0
AppStamp:42e178a5
ModName: imts4off.dll ModVer: 1.0.0.1 ModStamp:3ba20b5f
fDebug: 0 Offset: 000029f8

I note that the DLL imts4off has the same offset...maybe I need to rename it
and try a repair...

 

[Edgar]

Many hours later I finally have solved the problem! It turns out that I have
a Logitech iFeel Mouseman Optical Mouse; the software comes from Immersion
Technology. Neither Logitech nor Immersion support the software any longer.
One DLL (imts4off.dll) seems to have broken when I installed a Microsoft
update/patch last May.

Deleting the DLL did not solve the problem as Windows simply re-installed it
(where was it getting the new version from to install?) and the problem
resumed. Logitech's web site (after lots of digging) said the mouse would
work without the iFeel drivers, using the current Mouseware.

I went into Control Panel - Add/Remove Software and removed both Immersion
products (the likely culprit was the Office add-in) then re-booted. I checked
my drives and found lots of leftover folders and files--deleted them. Fired
off regedit and found lots of keys and references to Immersion stuff--deleted
them. Re-booted did some tests of Word as a stand-alone and when used as
Outlook's editor--all seem good!