Word freezes, then crashes

[Steve]

Hello,

I’ve been using a version of Word contained in Office 2000 Professional for
about 4 years now without any problems (except the ‘usual’ formatting
headaches, for which I’ve found help here). I first used it on Win 98, and
I’m now using XP Home SP2.

Recently, Word started acting strangely indeed. As I type, the program
suddenly freezes, without any warning. Then, hitting any key appears to make
Word scroll very quickly through the document, until it suddenly freezes up
again. The program then appears to take up most of the CPU usage, and the
computer’s fan turns up to high speed. It’s impossible to do anything in the
document and, within a few seconds, or perhaps longer (it seems to depend),
the program just crashes without any warning, and all open word documents
close.

I de-installed Office, as well as its the corresponding registry keys, and
after shutting down the computer, etc., I re-installed Office. I thought this
would make the difference... but it didn’t. My Word documents still exhibit
the same behaviour. And it’s become very annoying indeed.

After de-installing and re-installing Office I was a little surprised to see
that, when opening Word after the re-installation, my old customised toolbars
were showing instead of the default ones (nothing fancy, just reduced down to
the icons one uses most often). I didn’t quite understand why this was, but
might it be a clue as to why Word is still acting in the same way?

I’ve checked out some comments and some help pages linked to through the
discussions here (‘Corrupt documents’ and ‘What to do when word crashes,
etc.), but I can’t seem to find anything similar.

Any help or suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance,

Steve

(P.S.: I’m not connected to a default printer).

 

[Terry Farrell]

Uninstalling and reinstalling is usually a complete waste of time. But from
what you say, printer seems to be the probable cause. Word MUST see a
default windows printer to work correctly. So make sure that you have the
latest driver and install a printer and set it as the Windows default. Let
us know if this is resolves the problem or if you need further help.

 

[Charles]

I suspect you have a virus. I had similiar problems and it went away after I
installed Spyware Doctor and Registry Mechanic. I update and run them every
day. I also highly recommend the new malware removal tool from Microsoft. It
is free. You can get it at their download site. It is not a total solution
though.

Hope this helps.

Charles

 

[Webrider]

Recently, Word started acting strangely indeed. As I type, the program
suddenly freezes, without any warning. Then, hitting any key appears to make
Word scroll very quickly through the document, until it suddenly freezes up

Charles' response about a virus sounds like a good thing to check out.

You have not indicated if this problem spans several different document
files, or if
you are hung up on one specific document file. Please indicate.

For me, Word 2000 SP3 was crashing during a print preview because of a
corrupt document. It was also doing much cpu background thrashing which
resulted in long scroll times and "unable to undo warnings". It seems
reasonable that a corrupt document could also cause your problem.

 

[Terry Farrell]

Steve

That makes a big difference <g>

Try starting Word in Safe Mode and testing it to see if it is stable. That
should narrow down the field of possibilities. To start in Safe Mode, from
Start, Run, type in

winword /a

and press enter. Word will start in Safe Mode where it bypasses all add-ins,
templates, macros or any other third party changes or customisations. Try
opening and working on one of your documents now to see if it this
stabilises Word. This will give us a better idea of the area of the problem.

Terry

 

[Steve]

Hello Terry,

Thanks for getting back to me. Yes, I did realise my getting mixed up about
the printer makes a big difference. Again, apologies over the initial
confusion.

I'll follow your instructions and try working in safe mode as of today and
see what happens. I'll post back with the outcome, as soon as it's clear
there is something interesting to report.

Steve

 

[Steve]

Hello Charles,

Thanks for your tip. I hadn't initially thought along the lines of a virus
or malware, mainly beacuse I try my utmost to keep the machine and all files
protected. I did try Spyware Dr. quite a while ago, well before the problem
occurred, but I didn't like it much. I preferred Lavasoft's Ad-Aware, and I
use it all the time (as you suggest). I don't use Registry Mechanic, but I do
use a Registry cleaner (2, in fact: HDCleaner & CCleaner). I haven't got the
Microsoft malware removal tool, but I'll give it a try today. I find that
using Firefox drastically reduces one's chance of picking up spyware etc.

Steve

 

[Steve]

Hello Webrider,

And thanks for your input. To reply to your query: the problem 'seems' only
to occur with certain documents. (I say 'seems', as it's difficult to be
absoultely sure about this). Some of these are older documents I've been
working on for a while, and are long and complex. However, others are only
days old, and still very short. In the newly created documents, I use styles
I created for the older documents. I copy these old styles to the new
document when I create it.

Like you, I was thinking along the lines of a corrupt file. I was trying to
follow up on this by following the tips here:
http://word.mvps.org/FAQs/AppErrors/CorruptDoc.htm
and by saving the files which cause problems in the '.htm' format. However,
once I 've saved the document in the '.htm' format and then opened it, I
don't appear to have the option (in the 'Save Page as...' command) to save
the page back into the Word format, as this MVP help page suggests (I'm
working in Firefox).

Anyway, that's where I'm stuck at the moment with this line of enquiry.

Agian, thanks for oyur comments.

Steve

 

[Terry Farrell]

It doesn't sound like virus or malware - but then I'd never guarantee that!

However, this is really a strange problem. It would suggest that the
document is corrupting at some point. Is there any pattern to when this
happens? Are you maybe creating or working on similar documents with long
tables? Is this all on a standalone PC or a networked PC?

As you have had the problem occurring frequently, I suggest that the next
step is to clean up your system of any abandoned temp files. See the
following FAQ for how to clear up after Word.

http://www.gmayor.com/what_to_do_when_word_crashes.htm

Terry

 

[Christina]

I am facing a similar problemand need help urgently.
We have a batch VB 6.0 application: Processing a group of MS Word documents doing the following:
1. Open Doc 1, editing it and SaveAs Doc 1A (keeping the original Doc 1).
2. Open Doc 1 and Doc 2 (as template) - getting data from Doc 1 (keep open) updating Doc 2 (update bookmarks and copy the entire Doc 1 to the end)
and save as Doc 1B.

During the development we have MS Word 2000 and the application worked fine (running on XP).
Problem occurs when we upgrade to MS Word 2003(SP2):
1. The first step above saveas Doc 1A - works fine.
2. We could saveAs the Doc 1B from the Doc 2 template and update bookmarks.But the "save" Doc 1B after copy and paste from Doc 1 is not working: The application hangs - WinWord.exe takes up 100% CPU time and freezes.
Does anyone knows how to fix this issue?


EggHeadCafe.com - .NET Developer Portal of Choice
http://www.eggheadcafe.com

 

[Terry Farrell]

So it sounds like rapid navigation using keyboard shortcuts is the possible
trigger for the lockups. That would certainly point towards a couple of
possibilities: a graphics driver problem or hitting the wrong keyboard
combo. Check with the graphics support site to see that you have the latest
driver and try installing or reinstalling the graphics to eliminate that
from the problem.

I guess when you navigate, you are using the arrow keys and Ctrl+End,
Ctrl+Home and similar combinations to navigate. How about try using the
mouse to navigate for a while to see if that stops the problem. If it shows
that it is the navigation that is the problem, maybe we can find a keyboard
combination that is the root cause.

Terry

 

[Terry Farrell]

Steve

If this is a document corruption, then saving as HTM does usually remove the
corruption. But it isn't a 100% fix. As the Webrider suggests, the ultimate
is to make it all plain text (I usually use Notepad for this) and then
insert the text file into a new blank document. Of course, this removes all
formatting including tables (the Table to Text and Text to Table tools are
useful this).

Terry

 

[Steve]

Hello Terry, and Hello Webrider,

A quick update on the freeze/crash problems following your prior comments,
which are much appreciated.

I followed Terry’s advice and checked the video driver, but it was
up-to-date. I followed Webrider’s advice, and ran full scans for viruses and
spyware, but nothing came up.

I tried saving one of the problematic documents as and ‘.htm’ file, then
converting this back to a ‘.doc’ file. But, as in Webrider’s experience, this
did not work: the document still crashed after a while.

I then followed Webrider’s advice and let Word create a new ‘normal.dot’
template, and I worked from this new ‘normal.dot’ file. However, since I have
a great deal of ongoing work, I could not re-type everything; this would have
just taken too long. I tried to compromise by cutting and pasting the text
from the old document which had been crashing, but I cut and pasted only the
text, while leaving the paragraph marks within the old file. (I read
somewhere that documents corruptions are often stored in the paragraph marks).

In order to format the document, instead of recreating all the styles, I
imported styles I had already created using the style ‘organiser’ function.

Perhaps this cutting and pasting and importing of styles defeats the purpose
of creating a new ‘normal.dot’ template. However, given the length of the
things I’m working on, it was the only viable possibility open to me.

This new document, based on the new ‘normal.dot’ template, worked fine for a
while. Quite a while actually. Then, last night, just before I stopped I ran
into problems again.

I had been working on the new document based on the new ‘normal.dot’
template. And I had left another old document open which had been crashing.
With this new and this old document open things went smoothly, and Word did
not crash.

Then, just before quitting, I had to open another old document, which had
crashed in the past. I cut a small amount of text from it, without the
paragraph mark, and pasted it into the new document based on the new
‘normal.dot’ template. Then, when I began typing again in the new document,
Word froze and crashed again. I experienced the same pattern. Quick typing,
and then a freeze, followed by Word scrolling automatically, followed by
almost 100% CPU usage, then a crash, with no error message.

Although up until that point I had been slowing my typing down, as you
suggested, I seemed to be typing quickly and inaccurately again, and using,
at the moment of the freeze, the SHIFT+Number keys, and also the CTRL+Arrow
keys (which might explain Word’s scrolling up or down the document. Also,
I’ve tried to recreate the crash with keyboard shortcuts, but I haven’t been
successful).

Also, I’m wondering if opening an old document could have brought on the
crash of the new document based on the new ‘normal.dot’ template. In any
case, as you’ve said before, it’s bizarre. And, unfortunately, Word is
becoming very difficult to work in: sometimes it works, and then sometimes it
crashes unpredictably.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Steve

 

[Steve]

Hello Webrider,

And thanks for your suggestions, which I've followed through on. At the same
time, I followed through on suggestions from Terry. I've just posted the
combined results above, in one single post. Rather than repeat them again,
I'd just like to mention that they show up under my post dated "12/30/2006
5:35 AM PST".

Thanks for taking the time to comment.

Steve

 

[Webrider]

Hello Terry, and Hello Webrider,
A quick update on the freeze/crash problems following your prior comments,
which are much appreciated.

I then followed Webrider’s advice and let Word create a new ‘normal.dot’
template, and I worked from this new ‘normal.dot’ file. However, since I have
a great deal of ongoing work, I could not re-type everything; this would have
just taken too long. I tried to compromise by cutting and pasting the text

This is my last post on this matter. I am not a Word MVP, but I am a good
system troubleshooter. I made two posts on 12/27, with the second post
changing step 3 of the other 12/27 post. You have apparently not yet
implemented that step 3 change, because no typing was required.

The whole purpose of the new step 3 was to eliminate residue from other doc
files and test the system independent of any previous templates or styles.
The information from your last post indicates that you are still mixing
apples and oranges; old doc files with the new virgin file. If the virgin
file worked longer than anything else, then I would be led to believe that
those old doc files are corrupting the new normal.dot, or something like
that. That is just my opinion, I am not a Word MVP. I have read about styles
with the same names doing magical things. And I am sure that the old doc
templates contain styles with the same name as your new normal.dot styles.

Troubleshooting a problem like this requires stringent adherance to
procedures. Anything else remains inconclusive. Your last post indicates that
you might have seen a difference, but it doesn't appear that you used the dos
text file vehicle.

At any rate, if the procedures I have specified do work, then you will have
to repeat for all the old doc files causing your problems. Anything else will
just lock you into your current vicious circle. I can only state that once I
got rid of my corrupted doc file (42Mb of pictures and text) Word has
performed rapidly and flawlessly. Even with only 256Mb of memory, I have ran
numerous programs (all memory hogs) simultaneously without any problems. Once
in a while WinXP will report low virtual memory, but that is adjusted
automatically and Word continues to perform flawlessly. Word is not the
problem here. You probably have a defective system or you have several old
corrupted files. My money is on the latter.

One last shot in the dark here, if you find that the files are corrupted,
maybe you could just disconnect the associated template file and gain some
success after reformatting using a virgin normal.dot file. However you
resolve your problems, I wish you good luck.

 

[Terry Farrell]

To reiterate some of Webriders advice: you must test this with a completely
fresh start as your current tests are inconclusive. If you need to reuse
your old text, please copy and paste it into a text editor (Notepad, for
example) to remove all legacies of the previous Word styles and templates.
Then copy/paste or insert the .txt file into a new Word document and format
it with either the built-in styles or newly created styles.

If the problem persists, then I have to suspect a hardware problem and I
suggest that you will need a test utility such as SiSoft Sandra that will
thoroughly test all elements of your system.

Terry

 

[Steve]

Hello Webrider,

And thanks for your continued comments. As you noted, my last post
(yesterday) did not take account of your last post concerning the re-worked
step 3. I hadn’t got round to trying it, mainly because my problem docs are
long and complex, and re-formatting them from scratch will take a great deal
of time and painstaking effort. I must press on with other things at the
moment, and I’m trying to do this following your instructions about the new
‘normal.dot’ template, which has seemed a little more stable, though not
perfect. I will do what you suggested concerning the re-formatting, however,
and if the steps you mention do make a difference, the time will be worth
taking, and I do appreciate your instructions.

In order to test the system properly, as you suggested, I’d have to spend at
least a full day working with a brand new document, as the freezes and
crashes are unpredictable and sometimes don’t happen until after 10 or 12 hrs
of system use. Basically, I just can’t afford that length of time at the
moment. Again, however, I will do what you suggested, as soon as I can, and,
if works, the time will be well spent.

Document corruption (if that’s what it is) is a whole new area to me, and
it’s bewildering.

I’ll post back if I have anything conclusive to add, and I do understand
that you won’t be posting again. Thanks for your help.

Steve

 

[Steve]

Hello Terry,

Thanks again for following up.

I understand what you and Webrider are saying about the need to do a
conclusive test. It seems that even by copying text from one document to
another without the paragraph marks I’ve been mixing apples and oranges, and
this just won’t do. (I’m no expert in this field at all, just someone who has
to use a word-processing program all the time!) As I’ve just mentioned to
Webrider (above), a conclusive test would take me at least a full day of
working time, as the crashes sometimes occur only after 10 or 12hrs of use,
and I must unfortunately press on with other work at the moment.

Here is what I can add that is ‘new’, though. I’ve been working with a brand
new document based on a brand new ‘normal.dot’ template. And I’ve had the
chance to do something completely new, so I was able to keep my new document
completely free of old text and old styles, etc. There was absolutely nothing
old in it. Word then seemed more stable. However, with an old document open
at the same time as my brand new one, I still experienced two similar freezes
while typing in the new, virgin document, but Word promptly unblocked itself
(to my surprise), and didn’t crash. I could then go on working normally. I
was even hopeful for a while (late last night)... and then the new document
froze and crashed again. This happened while the old document was open at the
same time, and while I was going back and forth between the new doc & the old
doc, but not copying and pasting between them. That’s where I’m at today.

I appreciate the time you’ve taken to comment on this issue.

Steve