Word Startup

F

fire_229

I have recently had problems with Word 2000 not being able to start up. I
also have lost the Word icon on documents, have not been able to start Word
from anywhere except when following the "winword.exe /a" instructions from an
earlier post.I have followed all possible suggestions without any luck. I
have even tried to download SR-1, but then I get a message telling me to
install disc, of which the only disc I have is the XP operating systen disc,
which does not have the files that are needed. I am at a total loss as to
what I can do now. I am currently taking an online college class that relies
on me being able to use Word....very crucial to doing anything, and I stand
to fail because I cannot get assignments posted....all because of this
problem with word. Any help and suggestions will be greatly appreciated. If
need be, I can be e-mailed at [email protected] if this is easier to give
directions.
 
J

Jay Freedman

See http://www.word.mvps.org/FAQs/AppErrors/ProbsOpeningWord.htm.

It's extremely unlikely that you have really "followed all possible
suggestions". The fact that using the /a switch works means that you
have either a damaged normal.dot template, a misbehaving add-in, or
damaged registry entries. The /a switch instructs Word to ignore all
those things.

Now your task is to narrow down which of these possibilities is at
fault. The missing icons for Word documents points to registry damage
as the most likely. Try using the /r switch once
(http://www.word.mvps.org/FAQs/AppErrors/ReRegisterWord.htm) to see if
that helps. If not, continue with the rest of the steps in the other
article.

Not having the installation CD is a serious but common problem. Is
this a legally purchased copy of Word, one that came bundled with your
computer, or one that you "borrowed from a friend"?

If you can't get Word working properly, and you don't have the disk, a
reasonable alternative is to download OpenOffice (www.openoffice.org).
It's free, it does most of what Word does, and it reads and writes
Word-format documents. It will probably get you through your
coursework.
 
F

fire_229

This is a legal copy of xp professional that i got when i had my computer
built for me. When I tried to get updates such as SR-1, it keeps telling me
that I am missing a "DATA" file that is supposed to be on installation disc.
Only disc I recieved with computer was for xp professional. I ran a scan for
the file on all drives and where the disc was loaded, but did not find it. I
also followed all the suggestions that i was able to in the earlier post and
from the MVP website addressing "problems opening word".
I have also just ran "winword.exe /r" and it did absolutely nothing.
 
J

Jay Freedman

Word and/or Office is _not_ part of Windows. There is a separate
installation CD for Office, which should have been given to you by the
vendor who built the computer and installed the software. You should
also have gotten a "certificate of authenticity" containing the
25-digit key needed to install Office.

The agreement that computer vendors sign with Microsoft to enable them
to bundle Office with new computers requires them to include a CD.
Many vendors ignore that provision unless the customer demands the
disk. You should ask for a disk from your vendor.

Further, your operating system may be Windows XP, but your first post
said the Word version was 2000. Although lots of people still use Word
2000 because it does everything they need, it's now officially
obsolete, as in "no longer fully supported by Microsoft"
(http://support.microsoft.com/lifecycle/?p1=2484). So the vendor may
not have any Word 2000 or Office 2000 disks; you might be able to get
one of the two newer versions from them instead.

In my opinion, the only way you'll be able to get Word working is to
get an Office CD, which will contain the missing file. Whether that's
by getting one from the computer vendor or buying another copy or
upgrading to a newer version is up to you. And OpenOffice is still an
option.

--
Regards,
Jay Freedman
Microsoft Word MVP
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