Word crashes when typing - cause partly found

[Martin]

Word 2002 on XP.

Invariably after about 10 lines or so of typing the error-report box pops up
and Word sets about recovering the document. It doesn't happen if the
user is typing an e-mail.

I ran through all the stuff in
http://word.mvps.org/FAQs/AppErrors/ProbsOpeningWord.htm

except the stuff on the Startup path which I find confusing and inaccurate
regarding the registry entry
HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Office\10.0\Word\Options\"Startup-path".
There's no such "startup-path" entry in the registry - and none in my copy
of Word 2000 either.

Word similarly "crashes" using Run winword.exe /a and also in Windows "Safe
Mode" but into the second page of typing i.e. it seems to get further before
the error-report box pops up.

By elimination, I found that the problem does NOT occur provided I disable
the HAL speech synthesis (for visually impaired users).

I contacted Dolphin, the manufacturers of HAL. They've made a couple of
suggestions eg checking for updated map files, running RAM tests and
checking the hard drive. However, if anyone has any additional
suggestions, I'd be most grateful to hear them,

Thanks

Martin

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

If you are using Office 2000, then of course the Registry entry will not be
HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Office\10.0\Word\Options\"Startup-path" since Office
2000 is Office 9.0.

 

[Martin]

Sorry, I should have been more explicit: the machine with the problem has
Word 2002 installed. And under the key
HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Office\10.0\Word\Options are 4 value entries
(Default)
Default Format
FirstRun
PROGRAMDIR

There's no "Startup-path".

On my machine, with Word 2000, my equivalent key is
HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Office\9.0\Word\Options and it also has 4 values in
it:

(Default)
FirstRun
ProgramDir
ReplyMessageComment

Again, no "Startup-path"


Martin

 

[Martin]

The problem of the crashes or freezes during typing prompting the error
report box and recovery of the document appear to have been solved.

After trying all the usual stuff as laid out in What to do When Word Crashes
and the MVP site, I had to uninstall Word using the Office Resource Kit -
uninstall from Control Panel left behind whatever was the cause of the
problem despite my cleaning the registry and deleting temp files etc - and
then reinstall Word 2002 and then, as that was crashing after 2 lines of
typing, I had to update it with Office XP SP3.