Word98 won't open after installation

[Alan]

I just installed an upgrade of Word98 over Word6. I couldn't get 6 to print,
so was advised by several folks in the group to upgrade to 98, since 6 was
so buggy. The program seems to install just fine, but can't get it to work.
Starts to open, then either freezes or quits with a "system 2" error. Tried
the various installation options, including trashing the previous
version--still no luck. I'm on a G3, OS 9.1.

I'd appreciate any help.
Thanks

 

[Gene van Troyer]

Also, be sure to assign about 48 MB of memory to Word. With Word closed,
highlight it and select the File > Get Info > Memory option, or type
Command+i.

Gene

 

[Alan]

Did you also install the Office 98 service releases and updates? If you
didn't, Word 98 won't work in OS9.1. The updates are available as downloads
from the Mactopia Office Mac web page.

You can also try trashing the Word Settings (8) and Office Settings (8)
files in the Microsoft folder in Preferences; and, of course, when you
restart your Mac, hold down the Option+Command keys to rebuild the desktop.

Gene van Troyer

Gene,
Thanks for responding.
I tried all the things you suggested, including increasing memory, still
with no results.
Is there any specific list of downloads on Mactopia? I downloaded a bunch of
files, and when I went to install, some wouldn't complete the installation
saying that either: it couldn't find the right folder, or I already had it
installed.
(Computer problems make me crazy. If it had moving parts I could figure it
out.)
thanks again, alan

 

[Ramón G Castañeda]

I just installed an upgrade of Word98 over Word6. I couldn't get 6 to print,
so was advised by several folks in the group to upgrade to 98, since 6 was
so buggy. The program seems to install just fine, but can't get it to work.
Starts to open, then either freezes or quits with a "system 2" error. Tried
the various installation options, including trashing the previous
version--still no luck. I'm on a G3, OS 9.1.

I'd appreciate any help.
Thanks

Alan,

Try removing all traces of the Word application and all Word preferences
files in the Preferences folder inside your System Folder; then reinstall
Word 98 from the original Office 98 or Word 98 CD. Apply all updates.
Increase the memory allocation to Word. (Type 2 errors are often memory
errors.)

Also rule out corrupted fonts (you can get the demo version of Font Doctor
from http://www.versiontracker.com to diagnose your fonts) and any and all
extension conflicts (start with the Shift key held down.)

 

[Ramón G Castañeda]

Tried
the various installation options, including trashing the previous
version--still no luck. I'm on a G3, OS 9.1.

Before you reinstall, trash the preferences file ("Word Settings" file);
otherwise you end up right where you started.

 

[Gene van Troyer]

Is there any specific list of downloads on Mactopia? I downloaded a bunch of
files, and when I went to install, some wouldn't complete the installation
saying that either: it couldn't find the right folder, or I already had it
installed.

The last time I looked (maybe two days ago) the Office 98 updates were
grouped together under the heading "Office 98." They are listed in order of
their release, the most recent being at the top and the earliest at the
bottom of the list. All of them have a "More info" link when you click on
the list that tells you what build they should be applied to, and you can
check the version and build number of your app in the "Get Info" dialog to
see what your number is. The updates have to be applied in the order that
they were released, in parentheses after the version number, e.g., for Word
X mine is "Version: 10.1.4 (030701)." This doesn't appear in the "About
Word" info dialog that you open under the Apple Menu when the app is running
(not in my version, anyway--the splash screen just says "Service Release
1"). If the version numbers match the "More Info" about the update, then you
don't need it.

It has been over 3 years since I used Office 98, but casting back I recall
that one major headache was the MS Office Manager control panel. Apparently
it was conflicting with another control panel, and the only solution was to
remove it, after which Office 98 behaved itself.

Another problem in OS 9.xx may arise if you are using a font management app
like Suitcase. MSO 98's own WYSIWYG font menu seems to conflict with
Suitcase, and the solution here is to go to MSO 98's preferences and turn
off WYSIWYG or remove Suitcase (or whichever font manager you're using).

Gene

 

[Gene van Troyer]

Before you reinstall, trash the preferences file ("Word Settings" file);
otherwise you end up right where you started.

You can also download the "Remove Office 98" uninstaller from Mactopia,
which will remove all traces of Office 98 files. While you're at it, check
that you've removed all trace of Word 6. You have a version of the "Remove
Office 98" tool on the installer CD, but it doesn't work properly.

Gene

 

[Alan]

Gene is absolutely right. I had forgotten about that lousy "Office
Manager". It was one lousy piece of software.

Any idea where Office Manager might be hiding? I did a Sherlock and nothing
came up.. That's the only thing I haven't tried, nothing else has
worked--still coming up with "error type 2," or program just freezes up
while trying to load. I think I'm about ready to let a professional look at
this, I've been dealing with various Word problems for two weeks now.

Thanks to everyone for all your help.
alan

 

[Beth Rosengard]

You can also download the "Remove Office 98" uninstaller from Mactopia,
which will remove all traces of Office 98 files. While you're at it, check
that you've removed all trace of Word 6. You have a version of the "Remove
Office 98" tool on the installer CD, but it doesn't work properly.

You've gotten excellent advice here and I would add only a couple of points.
When you increase Word's memory, it's the Preferred memory you want to
raise; leave the Minimum memory at the default. Also, in Word 98, 48000K
Preferred is probably overkill (unless you have tons of RAM). Try
increasing the memory in increments of 10000K.

After using the Removal tool to uninstall Office 98, rebuild your desktop.
Do it again after reinstalling and again after installing the updaters.
There is no need to remove any of your preference/settings files (or any of
the hundreds of other Office files) individually. That's what the Removal
tool does. (It will not touch your documents, however, so don't worry about
that.) The Removal tool and updaters for Office 98 are here:
<http://www.microsoft.com/mac/downloads.aspx#Office98>

About version and build numbers, Gene is absolutely right. The only way to
get complete information is by navigating to the application in the finder
and doing a Get Info (Cmd>i). Only Entourage (which you don't have in
Office 98) will give you correct version/build numbers using "About
Entourage". There is no good reason for this. MS just doesn't seem to get
around to making the "About..." information complete for the rest of the
Office apps even though it's been requested many times. Just one of those
unexplainable, dumb MS things.

Hope this helps.

--
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>

 

[Gene van Troyer]

Any idea where Office Manager might be hiding?

It's a Control Panel in the System > Control Panels folder. If you did a
typical installation of the Value Pack files, MOM may have been one of the
extras.

Someone in another thread observed that sometimes, the CD may be smudged and
affecting complete installation. You might use some CD cleaner on the disc;
and if you have never done it before, you might pop a CD cleaning disc into
your CD drive. The lenses of the laser reader do get dirty and this can
cause data to be misread.

It's happened to me a couple of times, anyway.

Gene