Word 2003 crashes within 10 seconds 1

[cdogg]

Windows XP SP2
1GB PC3200 DDR-SDRAM in Dual Channel
Office 2003 Professional

When opening a blank or existing document, an error appears within a few seconds stating that the program needs to close. The exception code is 0x0000005.

Everything was fine two days ago. I believe the user removed some registry entries under RUN in the registry, but I don't see how anything in that location would cause this. System Restore is not an option, unfortunately, since it fails for every restore point I've tried (but that's another issue for another day).

Repairing the Office installation doesn't help, and I'm about to try a reinstall next. Anyone have any ideas what might have caused this? Nothing has been installed or removed since it last worked, except for one or two registry entries under RUN.

The user does have a trial version of SnagIt! 7 installed with a toolbar as part of Office. But it has been installed for almost 2 weeks now without issue. I'll probably remove it just in case...

Thanks,

~cdogg
"Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." - Albert Einstein
[tab][navy]For general rules and guidelines to get better answers, click here:[/navy] faq219-2884

 

[TomCologne]

It could be a corrupted "Normal.dot".
In Off2k the fix is to simply delete this file.
Word will create a new "Normal.dot" on next startup.

More here:

You receive a "Microsoft Word has encountered a problem and needs to close" error message when you try to start Word 2002 or Word 2003

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;286839

TomCologne

 

[j0ckser]

to cdogg
you didn't mention this in your description, but i had exactly the same symptom.
the cause (in my case): unplugged printer.
the reason: first stupid microsoft, but finally, i took my laptop away from my desk (whodathunkit?) and tried to work on a doc that had been created when my laptop was connected to the printer. word crashed whenever i opened any existing doc linked to my printer. i had to make the fax the default printer before i could work on these documents.

per ardua ad astra

 

[cdogg]

j0ckser,

That was it. The printer didn't even occur to me. This workstation is part of a peer-to-peer, with one PC sharing an HP PSC 2200 printer. That PC is not always online, which is why the problem was intermittent. It happened to be the only installed printer.

Not sure if disabling "Background Printing" will help, but I'll let you know if I find a good workaround. The user plans on getting a print server (always online) sometime in the near future anyway...

Thanks for your help!


~cdogg
"Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." - Albert Einstein
[tab][navy]For general rules and guidelines to get better answers, click here:[/navy] faq219-2884

 

[501]

I had the same problem with Adobe reader and word. Change the default printer to another one that was on line, and it worked fine.