Word 2000 Start up Error

[Richard]

When activating Word 2000, I get an error msg."illegal
operation" WINWORD caused an invalid page fault in
module MSO9.DLL at ect. Uninstalled, and reloaded W2000,
and SR1, and 2 and 3, and still not able to open Word.

 

[Beth Melton]

Hi Richard,

There are several reasons for receiving errors starting Word. This
article contains the common troubleshooting steps:
http://www.mvps.org/word/FAQs/AppErrors/ProbsOpeningWord.htm

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/

 

[Major Malfunction]

Hi Richard,

There are several reasons for receiving errors starting Word. This
article contains the common troubleshooting steps:
http://www.mvps.org/word/FAQs/AppErrors/ProbsOpeningWord.htm

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

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

I've been following a number of these problems as I'm fighting the same
thing. The cited article brings up the question: How do these corruptions
occur? Related to that is: Why now? In many cases, Word had worked perfectly
for years. It's hard to imagine the program suddenly failing overnight, yet
it seems to be happening. Why? Sometimes it's not enough to fix the problem,
we must understand why to ensure it does not happen again.

 

[Beth Melton]

There isn't just 'one cause' for every problem. In this case it works
backwards, the solution to your problem can help determine the
underlying cause to why you encountered the error in the first place.

For example in the case of Normal.dot corruption, I firmly believe the
underlying problem is due to third party global template/add-ins that
modify your Normal.dot each time Word starts.

I personally do not use add-ins that modify my Normal.dot. Such
add-ins can easily lead to a bloated template which can ultimately
lead to the corruption of your Normal.dot. A corrupt Normal.dot is not
"normal". I am a heavy user of Word, my Normal.dot is fairly
customized, and I would honestly have to sit down and think of the
number of times I have encountered a corrupt Normal.dot. Off-hand I
would say maybe twice in all of my years of using Word. I know one was
due to a macro virus but that's all I can easily recall.

To protect yourself you should have "Prompt to save Normal template"
turned on under Tools/Options/Save. If you did not modify your
Normal.dot, such as customizing a toolbar, creating an AutoText entry,
etc. but you are prompted to save changes to Normal.dot upon exiting
Word then you should investigate the reason behind the modification.
If it is an add-in causing the prompt then do not use the add-in. A
properly designed add-in should not modify your Normal.dot for reasons
previously noted.

Now if that wasn't what you found to be the solution, let us know what
you encountered and we'll go from there.

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/

 

[Major Malfunction]

There isn't just 'one cause' for every problem. In this case it works
backwards, the solution to your problem can help determine the
underlying cause to why you encountered the error in the first place.

For example in the case of Normal.dot corruption, I firmly believe the
underlying problem is due to third party global template/add-ins that
modify your Normal.dot each time Word starts.

I personally do not use add-ins that modify my Normal.dot. Such
add-ins can easily lead to a bloated template which can ultimately
lead to the corruption of your Normal.dot. A corrupt Normal.dot is not
"normal". I am a heavy user of Word, my Normal.dot is fairly
customized, and I would honestly have to sit down and think of the
number of times I have encountered a corrupt Normal.dot. Off-hand I
would say maybe twice in all of my years of using Word. I know one was
due to a macro virus but that's all I can easily recall.

To protect yourself you should have "Prompt to save Normal template"
turned on under Tools/Options/Save. If you did not modify your
Normal.dot, such as customizing a toolbar, creating an AutoText entry,
etc. but you are prompted to save changes to Normal.dot upon exiting
Word then you should investigate the reason behind the modification.
If it is an add-in causing the prompt then do not use the add-in. A
properly designed add-in should not modify your Normal.dot for reasons
previously noted.

Now if that wasn't what you found to be the solution, let us know what
you encountered and we'll go from there.

There were no add-ins used on the computer and the Office Startup folder is
empty. No one did anything to modify Normal.dot template either. One notable
thing: the corrupt file was 300 Kb. This seems huge as most other Normal
Templates I see are less than 30 Kb. This is a real mystery.

 

[TF]

Sounds that maybe the last document being edited was partly written to
normal.dot. I don't suppose the user remembers being prompted to save
changes to the global template the last time Word was closed before the
problems opening occurred?

--
Terry Farrell - Word MVP
http://www.mvps.org/word/

There isn't just 'one cause' for every problem. In this case it works
backwards, the solution to your problem can help determine the
underlying cause to why you encountered the error in the first place.

For example in the case of Normal.dot corruption, I firmly believe the
underlying problem is due to third party global template/add-ins that
modify your Normal.dot each time Word starts.

I personally do not use add-ins that modify my Normal.dot. Such
add-ins can easily lead to a bloated template which can ultimately
lead to the corruption of your Normal.dot. A corrupt Normal.dot is not
"normal". I am a heavy user of Word, my Normal.dot is fairly
customized, and I would honestly have to sit down and think of the
number of times I have encountered a corrupt Normal.dot. Off-hand I
would say maybe twice in all of my years of using Word. I know one was
due to a macro virus but that's all I can easily recall.

To protect yourself you should have "Prompt to save Normal template"
turned on under Tools/Options/Save. If you did not modify your
Normal.dot, such as customizing a toolbar, creating an AutoText entry,
etc. but you are prompted to save changes to Normal.dot upon exiting
Word then you should investigate the reason behind the modification.
If it is an add-in causing the prompt then do not use the add-in. A
properly designed add-in should not modify your Normal.dot for reasons
previously noted.

Now if that wasn't what you found to be the solution, let us know what
you encountered and we'll go from there.

There were no add-ins used on the computer and the Office Startup folder is
empty. No one did anything to modify Normal.dot template either. One notable
thing: the corrupt file was 300 Kb. This seems huge as most other Normal
Templates I see are less than 30 Kb. This is a real mystery.

 

[Major Malfunction]

Sounds that maybe the last document being edited was partly written to
normal.dot. I don't suppose the user remembers being prompted to save
changes to the global template the last time Word was closed before the
problems opening occurred?

Sorry, I can't answer that one. I will keep it in mind if I come across this
problem again.

 

[Beth Melton]

Something was written and saved to Normal.dot at some point.

If you still happen to have the corrupt file you can zip it up and
email it to me and I'll take a look at it. Please email it to me
rather than posting to the newsgroups.

Also note I am using a munged email address. Remove 'NoSpam4Me'.

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/