Word 2007 freezes randomly

[racinjunkie]

I'm running office 2007 standard, on windows XP. I use word for typing
medical reports and it freezes FREQUENTLY. Sometimes it's every 1/2 hour,
sometimes it's every minute or so. Sometimes, I use ctrll/alt/del and the
freeze resolves without word having to shut down, but most of the time it has
to restart. The auto save is set to 1 minute but it rarely works.

I've searched for anyone else reporting this problem but so far no luck. We
just reformatted before loading office 2007 so there's very little on the
system. IE, firefox, to mmorpg games my son plays, itunes, windows media
player, and that's about it.

Anyone have ANY suggestions???

 

[Terry Farrell]

See the following FAQ for help diagnosing this problem.

http://word.mvps.org/FAQs/AppErrors/ProblemsStartingWord.htm

You may find this is a corrupt or incompatible printer driver or the
graphics driver. Check that they are both up to date.

Check that the user temp folder is empty when all applications are closed.
It is a temp folder so should be empty but some apps don't clear out their
temp files and crashes leave temp files abandoned there.

Finally, it may be a hardware problem: poor PSU, fans not spinning properly
or blocked with dust, processor not making proper contact with heat sink,
etc.

Terry Farrell - MSWord MVP

 

[racinjunkie]

Terry, I think you for taking your time to try to help me. I read through
the information you gave me, I did the part about deleting all the temporary
files. Unfortunately, my problem is not Word freezing when it opens, it
feezes randomly and repeatedly while I'm typing. Sometimes I get to type a
paragraph other times only a sentence and it freezes and stops responding.
It opens fine, it starts running fine, but a few or more minutes later, the
freezing begins and doesn't stop. I'm still open to any suggestions.

 

[racinjunkie]

Thanks for pushing me. I ran it in safe mode for two hour long sessions and
it didn't freeze. So should I go back to the link you posted and review the
printer driver info?

 

[racinjunkie]

I went back to that link you sent me and that seems to just discuss network
printers where the driver isnt' loaded on your hard drive. I do have a
router, but the printer driver is loaded onto my hard drive.

Not sure if it matters but I have a HP 5500 multifunction printer.

 

[Terry Farrell]

HP printers have been really buggy, but normally it has been problems with
closing Word rather than opening - so a printer driver may not be the
problem. The easiest way to test this is to switch to a different default
printer. Check under printers (in Windows) to see if MS Office Document
Image Driver is installed (it is usually part of the Office install) and set
that as default and test Word again.

If Word still crashes with a different printer, it would indicate that there
is a third party add-in that is conflicting with Word. Safe Mode bypasses
all templates and add-ins. Presuming that you have followed the
troubleshooting in the FAQ, it points a finger at an add-in.

See how to find add-ins

http://www.word.mvps.org/FAQs/Customization/CheckIfAddinsInstalled.htm

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/assistance/HA011514521033.aspx

 

[racinjunkie]

It doesn't freeze on opening, it freezes while I'm typing.

There aren't any other printers for me to switch to, so I'm not sure what to
do there. You referred to following the FAQ in the troubleshooting, what
software are you referring to? Word or the Printer Driver? Off to check for
add-ins!

THANKS!!

 

[Terry Farrell]

I was referring to the FAQ which covers faults opening, using and closing.

Install any other printer on the Windows installation disk: it doesn't
matter if you don't have another printer, it is only a compatible printer
driver that Word must see.

But it may also be an add-in. Scanners, OCR, Fax, AV, PDF and a host of
other utilities load buggy add-ins into Word and/or Office.