Word 2007 (and Wordpad) freezes seconds after starting

[Johan]

I have an issue with Word and Wordpad: both programs freeze seconds after
starting (about 5-10 seconds for Word and 1 second for Wordpad. I am able to
type in Word before it freezes, not in Wordpad). I have tried reinstalling
the entire office package, and I have all the newest updates installed. I
have also tried all the steps from
http://word.mvps.org/FAQs/AppErrors/ProblemsStartingWord.htm, without success.

The error message just says "Office/Wordpad has stopped working, and will be
closed"

I am running norwegian Vista 32 sp1 (the problem appeared before I installed
sp1)

All suggestions are appreciated!

 

[Terry Farrell]

So what happened when you started Word in Safe Mode?

 

[Johan]

Starting winword.exe /a does nothing to my problem, I get exactly the same
error message. I have not tried "Try renaming your Normal template" as I
couldn't find such a file in the office folder.


Terry Farrell skrev:

 

[Terry Farrell]

If Word does not start in Safe Mode, then it is seriously damaged. In Safe
Mode Word is running in its default install condition bypass customizations,
add-ins, macros, templates, printer driver, etc. It suggests that Word
installation is itself damaged. Run Office Setup and select the Repair
function.

Terry

PS Word must have a normal.dotx somewhere: it is usually in the User Profile
but you must have Hidden Files and Folders option enabled in Explorer to
find it.

 

[Johan]

The strange thing here is that both Word and Wordpad have the same issues,
and reinstalling Office does not help. I am reluctant to format and reinstall
Windows, but I feel I'm running out options here. Thanks for the help btw

 

[Terry Farrell]

Good point about WordPad which is part of Windows and nothing to do with
Office other than it shares Word's file format.

That suggests it may be a Windows problem. However, freezing at that point
in Word is often the symptom of a partially corrupt or incompatible (or even
missing) printer driver. But I have not know WordPad to need a printer
driver. However, it may be worth exploring the printer first. Then perhaps
insert the Windows Vista DVD and selecting the Repair option. The Vista
recovery console will open and examine Vista for any problems, replacing any
damaged file from the DVD.

Terry

 

[Johan]

God, yes!

The issue suddenly also extended to Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop, which
would crash when opened or when i tried to save. But hey! All problems were
solved by deleting all my network printers and setting Adobe PDF as the
default printer!

Thanks a lot!

 

[Terry Farrell]

Wow! So there was something really amiss with a network printer somewhere.

Terry

 

[Josh]

I AM SO HAPPY! I have been trying to figure this thing out for the last week!
Nothing else worked, but the printer thingie did!