Word Quit Working

[Major Malfunction]

I am working on someone else's computer and have a real strange problem. The
computer in question is a Dell with Windows Millennium, Works Suite 2000,
128 Mb RAM and nothing special in terms of hardware or specialized software.
For about the last three years, the system has been functioning just fine. I
got a call from these people that Word will not open. When Word is called,
the program gets as far as the opening box for Word and the entire system
freezes. The computer will not respond to keyboard reboot and the mouse is
also frozen The only way out is to power down.

I've ruled out the usual suspects: Virus scan is negative and there are no
known parasite programs. I installed Word from the OEM disks over the
existing installation, did an uninstall and reinstall of Word from OEM disks
and finally did an uninstall and reinstalled Word from Office 2000 Pro. All
had the same net result: Word does not start and the system hangs at the
same point. If I don't go into Word, I can use the computer for everything
else, so this does not look like a hardware issue or a general OS issue, but
something specific to Word. Any help would be appreciated.

 

[Kathy]

Maybe the normal.dot is corrupted.
If you use Start, Run, Browse for the program icon, select
it, click Optn.
Then at the end of the command line type:
a space, then /a

If it doesn't solve your problem, nothing is harmed.
If it solves your problem, you know the culprit is
normal.dot.
Turn off Word.
Search for normal.dot
If you see ~normal.dot, delete it, as well as normal.dot

Restart Word and all should be well.
Kathy

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

See http://www.mvps.org/word/FAQs/AppErrors/ProbsOpeningWord.htm. Also, if
the user is running Word freestanding (not starting it from the Works Task
Launcher), you would be well advised to uninstall the Microsoft Works Suite
Add-in for Word (through Control Panel | Add/Remove Programs), as it causes
a multitude of problems in Word (if you've uninstalled Word from Works Suite
and installed it from Office, it's especially vital that you do this).

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
Word MVP FAQ site: http://www.mvps.org/word
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