[ANN] Office 2004 update 11.2.3

[Fred Kesler [MSFT]]

Corentin,

Since you're an MVP, are you able to point someone at MSFT to this
thread so that perhaps we can generate a little interest from
Microsoft?

That fact that 3 of 9 posts to this thread (not counting yours)
complain of exactly the same issue should be a tip that something's
wrong.

Thanks,

Hi Folks, I have been watching this thread intently and have not been able
to duplicate any of your issues. I replied off-line to you Mitch asking for
more info from my hotmail account but didn't get a response.

Maybe these questions might help narrow down some of the issues. If not,
please send me the Microsoft Component Plug-in file from MSO:Office: folder
and I can test with your version of the file. ([email protected])

1. Did you get the right language updater for your version of Office?

2. Have you run any file backup or restore software that may have slightly
modified any of the Office files?

3. What was your path to get to your current state - such as where did your
original Office come from and what versions did you update to after this?

4. Do you run with filevault or anything similar?

These will help narrow down why your version is not being recognized.

Thanks
Fred Kesler - Setup Test Engineer

This posting is proved as ³AS IS² with no warranties, and confers no rights.

 

[Pennsyltuckian]

Mickey,

That was really helpful. Thanks. Here's what I found.

When I went to Entourage>Switch Identity, The only one available was
"Main": the empty one.

The MVPS link you posted contained instructions to look for the
Microsoft User Data Folder. I found two: one in the documents folder,
where it belonged, and another one buried several directories deep in
another folder in Documents. I found the old "Main" identity folder,
re-named it, and moved it to the new "Office 2004 Identities" folder.
Then when I opened Entourage and selected "Switch Identity", the
re-named Identity was available and I was able to make the switch.

Thanks for helping. You really pointed me in the right direction.

b

 

[NWCMedia]

I installed "successfully" but now Word, Excel, and PowerPoint won't
open - you may be better off waiting until that gets sorted out. Any
advice is welcome.

We are having the same issue. The update (according to the logs) was
applied correctly.
Now we are unable to launch WORD, EXCEL or POWERPOINT. They simply
lock up upon launch. "APPLICATION NOT RESPONDING" in the Finder
menu...and they have to be "Force Quit."

This is not a happy day. We would really like to be able to use our
applications.

 

[Paul Berkowitz]

I installed the update successfully first time on two iBook G4s. These
only have Word, Excel and Powerpoint, so I cannot comment on any
Entourage issues.

Interestingly, the Excel version shows as 11.2.3, but Word as 11.2,
though as Word seems to work OK I assume it updated as intended.

That's an error (bug) in the "About Word" window from Word menu. It was
reported too late to get fixed. But if you look in the Finder at the Word
application file, you'll see that the Finder knows it's version 11.2.3.

--
Paul Berkowitz
MVP MacOffice
Entourage FAQ Page: <http://www.entourage.mvps.org/faq/index.html>
AppleScripts for Entourage: <http://macscripter.net/scriptbuilders/>

Please "Reply To Newsgroup" to reply to this message. Emails will be
ignored.

PLEASE always state which version of Microsoft Office you are using -
**2004**, X or 2001. It's often impossible to answer your questions
otherwise.

 

[mitchcg]

I responded to Fred's request for more information.

 

[Fred Kesler [MSFT]]

We are having the same issue. The update (according to the logs) was
applied correctly.
Now we are unable to launch WORD, EXCEL or POWERPOINT. They simply
lock up upon launch. "APPLICATION NOT RESPONDING" in the Finder
menu...and they have to be "Force Quit."

This is not a happy day. We would really like to be able to use our
applications.

Is it possible that you have another copy of Office on your machine either
the 2004 test drive in /Applications or another copy of Office from where
some shared files may be used from that were not updated?

Could you send me a copy of your update log file? - (e-mail address removed)

Thanks
Fred Kesler - Setup Test Engineer

This posting is proved as ³AS IS² with no warranties, and confers no rights.

 

[Corentin Cras-Méneur]

Corentin,

Since you're an MVP, are you able to point someone at MSFT to this
thread so that perhaps we can generate a little interest from
Microsoft?

They are reading the thread... (and one of them is answering in it).

Corentin

 

[Peter Tambroni]

I'm having this same problem on my G4 Powerbook - 10.3.9... I tried this
suggestion and it didn't work... Any ideas?

Thanks!

Peter

 

[Kurt]

I'm having this same problem on my G4 Powerbook - 10.3.9... I tried this
suggestion and it didn't work... Any ideas?

Thanks!

Peter

Does Microsoft plan to release a more stable update?

I won't go near it as it is now.

 

[Ed]

I have a duplicate problem to mitchcg on a 17inch G4 PB 1.67 with 1Gb
RAM running 10.4.5 (fully up to date) and Office 11.2.1 build 051004.
Previous Office updates have loaded with no problem on this machine. I
have also tried a couple of the relevant fixes offered elsewhere in
this thread without success. Therefore I can't add much new info I'm
afraid but perhaps a few more duplicate posts might indicate the extent
of the issue.
Ed

 

[stedman]

But this has repeatedly happened in the past, too with updates where
several components fail to get a new version # and the answer given is
that there was a mistake. How hard can it to be to get that right,
especially as it's a known problem and one of the most common ones that
bugs consumers?

I'm right now trying to trouble-shoot an even different problem with
Excel 11.2.3... any new chart ends up as a blank white chart!! Old
charts in older spreadsheets are fine, but within those, any new chart
ends up blank white!

Any ideas anyone?

 

[andy.mcmullin]

No new info for debug purposes but an indication that I also have the
issue.

Same problem as others have reported but on an iBook G3 (with 640MByte
memory). Both AutoUpdate and manually downloading then trying the
update fail with the message about it not being the correct version.

Tried totally removing Office 2004 and reloading from CD, then applying
the update -- same problem.

 

[mitchcg]

Interesting forum.

I responded to Fred directly with all the information he asked for,
including the config files from my computer. And despite my requests
for status, I've heard nothing since.

My conclusion is that this forum is useless and Microsoft doesn't
really support their own software. If you have problems, "screw you".

Sorry, Fred, if I offend. But it's been 3 weeks since I sent you the
info you requested and I've heard nothing from you since....

-mitch

 

[mitchcg]

My apologies to Fred at MSFT for my rant. He has been unavailable for
personal reasons. He's since contaced me directly and we're back on
track trying to determine the root cause of the failures.

 

[JE McGimpsey]

My apologies to Fred at MSFT for my rant. He has been unavailable for
personal reasons. He's since contaced me directly and we're back on
track trying to determine the root cause of the failures.

Good to know...

 

[Ed]

Thanks for the update and continuing efforts. Please contact me direct
if you want to cross-reference any possible root causes.

Edward

 

[mitchcg]

RESOLUTION to this problem....

If you're still having trouble installing Office 11.2.3 Update, then
this hint from Microsoft is for you.

"While we haven't seen many instances of update problems with the
11.2.3 updater, isolated problems with prior updates are not unknown.
In each case, they were ultimately resolved by removing the existing
Office installation, doing a clean install and running the current
updater on the fresh install. Since each of the service packs is a
combined updater containing the earlier updates this had proven to be
the most efficient method of getting Office 2004 updated in cases where
a specific sequential update failed."

Just remember, if you've saved any templates to "My Templates", they're
located inside the "/Applications/Microsoft Office 2003/Templates/My
Templates" folder. You should retrieve them before you delete the old
installation of Microsoft Office.

To be safe, you may want to rename your original installation (e.g.,
Microsoft Office 200X) and StuffIt, then delete the original and
reinstall. That way, if something horrible happens, you have a fallback
installation.

 

[mitchcg]

Doh!

I meant "/Applications/Microsoft Office 2004/Templates/My
Templates"....

I've been spending too much time on the PC lately .... it's affecting
my brain.

 

[Martin]

I've just hot this problem. So based on this advice, I backed the MS
office folder up on an external hard disk (but didn't change any
names), deleted the original then reinstalled from the original disk on
my main drive. I then applied the updater. It searched the main disk,
found nothing, then searched the external disk, found the copy and
updated it!

So I trashed the newer installation and copied the updated older
version back to the main HD.

Bizarre.