Word 2002 locks up laptop

[jz]

Every once in a while I will be working in Word and my
laptop will lock up completely. The mouse pointer
disappears and no operations can be performed on the
machine. Alt+cntl+del doesn't work, power switch doesn't
work, the machine does not respond to anything. End up
having to remove the battery to reboot.

This happens at different times. Once while typing text,
once while resizing an image. It doesn't occur every time.
I don't see any consistent pattern - except that it always
seems to happen while in Word.

I am running Word 2002 with service pack 2. OS is XP
Professional.

Anyone have any thoughts on this?

 

[TF]

The first question that comes to mind is, does this happen in Word because
you use Word most of the time? Is it a Word problem or your laptop?

I suggest that you start by doing some housekeeping on your laptop. With all
applications closed, make sure that your temp folder (usually in Documents &
Settings, Username, Local Settings) is completely empty. It is probably
littered with abandoned temp files so delete them all.

Run a full scandisk on start-up and follow up with a Defrag. Make sure that
you have at least 500MB free disk space. Make sure that Graphics and Printer
drivers are up to date.

Make sure that Windows and Office are fully patched up to date.

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

Every once in a while I will be working in Word and my
laptop will lock up completely. The mouse pointer
disappears and no operations can be performed on the
machine. Alt+cntl+del doesn't work, power switch doesn't
work, the machine does not respond to anything. End up
having to remove the battery to reboot.

This happens at different times. Once while typing text,
once while resizing an image. It doesn't occur every time.
I don't see any consistent pattern - except that it always
seems to happen while in Word.

I am running Word 2002 with service pack 2. OS is XP
Professional.

Anyone have any thoughts on this?

 

[jz]

It is certainly possible that the problem is not Word, but
I always seem to be working in Word when it occurs. I use
word maybe 2-3 days out of a typical week and not for too
long.

I do a good job of keeping the machine clean. Defragged
last weekend, clean out the temp folder regularly (it is
currently empty), I've got over 7GB of free space, and
recently got the latest Office patches to try and fix this
problem.

Have not looked at graphics and printer drivers. Will
check that out next.

Thanks for your thoughts.

 

[TF]

I hope you find the problem. I won't state outright that this isn't a Word
problem, but it I have strong doubts about it. Word is very demanding of
both graphics and printer drivers which is why I have suggested checking
them.

Terry

It is certainly possible that the problem is not Word, but
I always seem to be working in Word when it occurs. I use
word maybe 2-3 days out of a typical week and not for too
long.

I do a good job of keeping the machine clean. Defragged
last weekend, clean out the temp folder regularly (it is
currently empty), I've got over 7GB of free space, and
recently got the latest Office patches to try and fix this
problem.

Have not looked at graphics and printer drivers. Will
check that out next.

Thanks for your thoughts.