Word 2000 - cut/paste causes memory read error

P

Peter Stockdill

While cutting and pasting paragraphs of text (using CTRL-X and CTRL-V)
in word 2000 I often get:

The instruction at "0x038e0842" referenced memory at "0x0556000". The
memory could not be "read".

(The addresses may vary).

Word 2000 terminates each time leaving the document locked. I use
task manager to kill the hidden WINWORD.EXE task so that I may reopen
the document without rebooting my system..

The text insertion point involved is always after the number in an
outline numbered heading. The error doesn't always occur but the
problem has become so bad that I need to save my document before all
cutting and pasting!

The problem is occuring on my desktop and laptop machines (both
Windows 2000 SP3 with Office 2000 SR1a/SP2).

Can anyone help?

Peter Stockdill.
 
P

Phil Melek[MSFT]

I've seen some cases where renaming normal.dot, then restarting Word fixed it.
 
B

Beth Melton

Hi Peter,

Many times a temp file is created when you cut large amounts of text
or if you are cutting/pasting between documents. So you should first
rule out temp files as the cause. If Word runs into a rogue temp file
then many strange errors can occur. (Also, if Word has been hanging on
you a little housekeeping is in order anyway :) )

- Exit Word and Outlook if you are using it as your email editor and
reboot your computer if you recently experienced a crash
- Go to Start/Find/Files or Folders (or Start/Search then select Files
or Folders)
- Change "Look in" to reflect the drive/folder to the root of your
Local drive.
- In the Named text box, type *.tmp
- Click the "Find Now" command
- Delete the temp files you find.

*Note that these can be deleted directly from the Find Results.

To group the files for a single deletion:
- Click any file in the list
- Press <Ctrl A> to select all

Should you encounter a "File in use" error, press <Ctrl> and click the
file to deselect it.

As an additional note, the Owner file is another temporary files Word
creates. If you have been experiencing multiple crashes or if Word has
been hanging on you then it is best to search for Owner files
(~$*.do?) and delete those as well. These can cause "file in use" and
"read only" errors.

For more information on this and a full cleanup/maintenance procedure
that should be run periodically, see this article:
http://www.mvps.org/word/FAQs/AppErrors/LockedFiles.htm

If the problem still occurs then post back and we'll go from there. It
could be if the error occurs on the same document then you are
encountering some corruption in your ListTemplates.

--
Please post all follow-up questions to the newsgroup. Requests for
assistance by email can not be acknowledged.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Beth Melton
Microsoft Office MVP

Word FAQ: http://mvps.org/word
TechTrax eZine: http://mousetrax.com/techtrax/
MVP FAQ site: http://mvps.org/
 
T

Tuatara

Hi Phil and Beth,

Some late feedback. :)

I had already tried renaming normal.dot to force its recreation and I
have applied the suggested cleanup procedures. Thank you.

My problem seems to have been fixed by upgrading to Internet Explorer
6.0 SP1 from Internet Explorer 5.5.

I used to get a similar error message from another application (Hunter
2.1) and the IE upgrade has definitely fixed that one too. I was
never able to reproduce the Hunter 2.1 problem on a friend's Windows
XP system.

BTW: I first tried IE 6.0 nearly two years but I was unhappy with the
Windows Explorer folder refresh problem that comes with Windows
2000/IE 6.0. I now need use NP Refresh (a third party addon) to
refresh folders.

Peter Stockdill.
 
Top