Word Won't work--it's a toughie!

[HenWin]

I have a client who suddenly and with no other problems can't use Word. It
freezes the computer totally, such that you have to do a system RESET or
turn the machine off and on with the power switch. Using the 3 fingered
salute is useless.

This is a Win98 machine with 128 MB of RAM and tons of hard drive space
available. System resources generally run in the +80% range.

Here's what I've done so far:

This is Office 2000. All other components seem to work--that is they'll
start, including: Access, Excel, PP, & Outlook, but NOT Word. I tested
other programs on the computer as well and all the ones I found on the
desktop all seem to work.

I ran WinDR (Norton System Works 2001--NSW)and fixed all registry errors
that it came up with. I deleted all C:\Windows\TEMP files and sub folders.
I deleted all Internet Temp Files. I ran NDD on both drives and fixed any
problems found. I tried REPAIRING Word, using the MS Office install CD. No
help. I re-installed Office. No help. I de-installed MS Office & ran WinDr
again and fixed problems again. I defragged both C: and D: drives (1
HD--just partitioned). I re-installed Office 2k again. Same problem--Word
freezes computer--and I get a message that appears to come from Win3.1
telling me I'm DANGEROUSLY LOW ON SYSTEM RESOURCES and do I want to kill all
of the running apps. AT this point the only way to reboot is to do a RESET
or use the power switch.

I deinstalled MS Office again, and this time I also deleted all the files in
C:\Program Files\Office. I ran WinDR and fixed all related registry
problems. I defragged both drives again. I re-installed again--same
problem.

De-installed again, using control panel's add/remove software icon and found
2 instances of Word: one in Office 2000 and one in Works 2000.
(De-installed both of them). AT this point I started getting a message that
there was a Fatal Exception 0E @ 019F:BFF9DFFF. I took the RAM out and
reseated it.
That resolved the FE errors. I tried Word again--still crashes. So in a la
st ditch attempt, I re-installed Windows over top of itself. Same problem.

Any ideas on what I can look at, or should I toss in the towel, reformat and
re-install everything?

thanks,

Henry

 

[HenWin]

Fixed it myself.

Turned out the global template was corrupted. Of course it's in a place
where no reasonable person would think to look (C:\windows\application
data\microsoft\templates). As soon as I deleted what was in there, Word
started right up!

Henry

 

[Martha]

I have a client who suddenly and with no other problems can't use Word. It
freezes the computer totally, such that you have to do a system RESET or
turn the machine off and on with the power switch. Using the 3 fingered
salute is useless.

Did you delete Normal.dot, and check the Startup folder for addins
that may be wreaking havoc? I forget where Win98 puts these, but it's
generally not under Program Files (i.e. deleting the Office folder
isn't enough).

Try the suggestions under 2a at the following link:
http://www.mvps.org/word/FAQs/AppErrors/ProbsOpeningWord.htm

 

[HenWin]

Thanks Martha. AS you may have noticed I fixed it myself. I do appreciate
the link the MVP site, however.

Henry