Word X 10.1.4 Crashes On Start

[Allen]

Mac OS 10.2.6

Word, Excel, PowerPoint, used to work fine on my Mac. Then, one day
when I clicked on the icon it started launching, then crashes
unexpectedly. (Like we expect any crashes?)

I did not load any other software.

I searched for all Microsoft files, deleted everything I found on my hard
drive (logged in as root). Emptied the trash. Rebooted. Reintalled
Office X, installed the updates through 10.1.4.

The very same problem has occured. Entourage, IE, Msnger, and Media
Player load fine and work. Just my Word, Excel & PowerPoint office
applications won't start.

Can anyone please help me? Thank you,
Allen

 

[Beth Rosengard]

Hi Allen,

When you reinstalled Office X, did you first use the removal tool to
uninstall it? If not, you didn't get a clean install (there are hundreds of
Office files) and the first thing I would recommend is to do a proper
removal/reinstall as follows:

The Remove Office tool is located in the Value Pack folder on the Office X
CD. Install it and run it. Also don't forget to install any Value Pack
items you need. Now reinstall Office X using the installer on the CD or do
a Drag & Drop to the Applications folder. When you've finished, you'll need
to download (<http://www.microsoft.com/mac/download/>) and install the
Office X 10.1.2 & 10.1.4 updaters. Then run Disk Utility First Aid to
repair permissions: Go to Macintosh HD/Applications/Utilities; open up Disk
Utility; select your hard disk and click the First Aid tab and then the
button to "Repair Disk Permissions".

However, crash on launch problems are often do to font conflicts. You'll
find troubleshooting procedures here:
<http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=313535>

--
Beth Rosengard
Mac MVP

Mac Word FAQ: <http://www.mvps.org/word/FAQs/WordMac/index.htm>
Entourage Help Page: <http://www.entourage.mvps.org/toc.html>

 

[Patrick]

I am having the same problem with Word X. PP, Excel all
fine. Just Word. Tried everything you have tried.
Getting ready to go back to Microsoft/Intel computer. Did
you get a reply?

Pat

 

[Erin Vang]

I'm having this problem too. It's getting so that every month or two I need
to completely uninstall Office X and then reinstall from the CD and the
updaters. It's beyond frustrating. If someone can figure out what the actual
fatal detail is, instead of continuing to recommend the brute-force approach
of uninstalling and reinstalling, it would save me several hours a month.

 

[J.E. McGimpsey]

I'm having this problem too. It's getting so that every month or two I need
to completely uninstall Office X and then reinstall from the CD and the
updaters. It's beyond frustrating. If someone can figure out what the actual
fatal detail is, instead of continuing to recommend the brute-force approach
of uninstalling and reinstalling, it would save me several hours a month.

It's unlikely that anyone will be able to tell you the "actual fatal
detail", since the number of variations of a still-evolving OS,
varying Office installs, other apps/processes in the environment,
and hardware, make pinning down the possibilities astronomically
improbable. The brute force method often works by eliminating a host
of non-related possibilities.

A couple of comments on the thread so far:

First, the OP mentions uninstalling by "deleting everything I found"
on the HD - like many applications, Office uses hidden files which
one wouldn't find unless you were looking for them, even if you log
in as root. Whenever you uninstall, use the Remove Office
application from the Install CD. Anything else may leave you
vulnerable.

Something nobody's mentioned in this thread is using Repair
Permissions after installing/upgrading Office. That has fixed a
large number of problems for my installation, not just with Office...

OS 10.2.x: Run the Disk Utility (in the ./Applications/Utilities
folder). From the First Aid tab, click "Repair Disk Permissions".

OS 10.1.5: Run Repair Privileges (same folder, or download from
Apple: http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=106900

Finally, before the brute force approach, one should always try
moving the ~/Library/Preferences/Microsoft folder to a different
location (with *all* Office Apps shut down), then try starting the
app. If it starts, you can move files from other apps from the
previous preference folder into the newly created one.