PLEASE help - Outlook and Word crash on start up

[Zammis]

Hi, I have an old laptop running XP and on it is installed Office 2007 Enterprise. It has been working great until a week ago.

Now suddenly Outlook and Word crash right at the beginning. Outlook sometimes opens the window, but as soon as I try to read email it crashes. If I'm lucky I can read one mail before it crashes.

Word doesn't even open a window.

I am not able to start the programs when using Outlook /safe and winword /a.

I really need to get to my mails and contactpersons in Outlook asap. Is there a way to do this, since I can't access the program? I really really hope someone can help me.

 

[1002richards]

Hi,
Is this guide of help?

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

Richard.

 

[Zammis]

Hi again, thank you so much for the fast reply.

The guide suggests to type winword.exe /a. but that does'nt get me anywhere. None of the shortcuts work. Nothing happens

It also suggests that I try to rename the Normal template (with Word and Outlook closed – and if you have opened a Word document within Internet Explorer, close IE too). Note that the normal template for Word 2007 is normal.dotx or normal.dotm.

I don't know how and where to locate this template..?

Can you help me further?

 

[1002richards]

No, sorry I cannot help you further.

Someone else may be able to help.

 

[Zammis]

Do you know if it's possible and will help to delete Word? I actually don't need it and if Word is the source of the problem deleting it might make Outlook work? Or do they depend on eachother?

 

[1002richards]

No you don't need Word to use Outlook. A free and totally legal and fully compatible alternative to Microsoft Office is OpenOffice, here's a link to that

http://www.openoffice.org/

Richard

 

[Zammis]

Hi and thanks again,

The most important thing for me is to get to my emails and my contacts in Outlook, so I don't really need a new Office pack but thanks anyway..

Maybe I should try to uninstall word and then see what happens. Thanks again Richard for the help.

I would really appreciate if anybody else has a suggestion?

 

[eric996]

I don't know if Office 2003 is the same as Office 2007 in terms of where the normal.dot or normal.dotx file is located, but see if you can find it here.

C:\Documents and Settings\username\Application Data\Microsoft\Templates

In your explorer window, go to Tools >> Folder options >> View tab. Make sure the Hide extensions for known file types is unchecked. Rename the normal.dot file to normal.old. When you open up word, this will recreate a fresh Normal template. All toolbar customizations will be lost though.

You should be using outlook.exe /safe and winword.exe /a . Don't know if you left out the ".exe" but that will cause it to not recognize the command and therefore not open up.

Also, try outlook.exe /cleanprofile which is a switch that will correct any invalid registry keys acquainted with the program itself.

If you can get Word to open with winword.exe /a , go ahead and run a Detect and Repair. Most of the time this will have no effect, but in some instances this will correct the issue. And it's another troubleshooting step to rule out. Detect and repair is on the Help Menu in word.

Is your Outlook on an exchange server?

 

[eric996]

Rich - OpenOffice rocks!

And if all else fails, go ahead and try to reinstall word or the whole office package all together. See if that will correct the issue. Usually the last thing on the list of troubleshooting to do, but if thats what it takes than thats what it takes.

 

[Zammis]

Hi Eric, thank you so much for your reply. I tried your two suggestions and the same thing happens..

1) You should be using outlook.exe /safe and winword.exe /a . Don't know if you left out the ".exe" but that will cause it to not recognize the command and therefore not open up.

2) Also, try outlook.exe /cleanprofile which is a switch that will correct any invalid registry keys acquainted with the program itself.

I admit I am not the technical type, so bear over with me. I can't find the path:

C:\Documents and Settings\username\Application Data\Microsoft\Templates

The application data folder is'nt there

And the same thing with the other path you suggested in explorer..can't find it. I'm using firefox, maybe that's why.

Last, I'm afraid to uninstall the office pack since I'll loose all data won´t I..?

Thanks again for your help with this

 

[Zammis]

By the way what do you mean by Detect and Repair? Just any anti-virus program?

And last but not least and sorry for my technical ignorance what is an exchange server? The server I use is also used by the other people in my building. Is that an exhange server then?

 

[eric996]

Oops sorry about not telling you this. When you get into the documents and settings folder, click Tools >> Folder options. In the View tab, there will be an option to "Show hidden files or folders" . Make sure that is checked. The application data folder is a hidden folder. It will now show under the username when this option is checked.

And when I say explorer, I mean Windows explorer, not Internet Explorer. If you right-click your start bar and choose explore, it will open up windows explorer. I apologize for not clarifying that earlier.

Microsoft Office products have an option to detect and repair. If you happen to get Word to open up, you can click the help menu and run a detect and repair. This is built into the software, no need for external anti-virus programs (although they are great to have!)

An Exchange server is basically a server that holds email. If you are setup and connected in this environment, uninstalling and reinstalling office won’t affect you since the email data corresponds with your login username, not the local machine. We could recreate your profile, but we would need to know the exchange mail server name to connect to. That should be provided by your IT department, granted you have one.

So go ahead and check hidden folders and rename the normal.dot. This should correct your issue with Word. Let us know what happens after renaming the normal.dot template.

 

[eric996]

And actually, if you know somebody in your building that has a working Outlook, you can have them check the exchange server and see if that's what your setup on. In Outlook, have them go to Tools >> E-mail accounts. A wizard pops up. Click next. From here, if you are connected through exchange it will say Microsoft Exchange Server under the name field. Click the change button and it will show you the name of the Microsoft Exchange Server.

Hope that helps. Let me know how it goes!

 

[Zammis]

Hi Eric,

Thank you again for the extensive reply. I'm sure we're getting closer to a solution.

1) Ok, I managed to change the setting in Windows Explorer.

2) I'm sorry but I still can't find the path in Documents and Settings. When I open my D & S this is what appears: One folder called "All Users"
and another called "Owner". In the "Owner" the following folders exist: Contacts, Cookies, Documents, Preferred, The menu Start, New Folder, Desktop, Start Menu and User Data.

In the "All users" folder Shared Documents, Prefered, The menu start and Desktop appears.

I don't know if I'm misunderstanding your directions but I can't find the path you're describing or the "tools" folder/button I'm supposed to click

Hope you have the time to help once again..

 

[eric996]

Okay, lets start off with this. When you logon, what is your username?

If you know the username, you can manually put the path into the explorer bar and find it from there.

Maybe this may be an easier way to do this. Go to your start menu and click search. Choose All files and folders. When you click that it will give you a field to enter all or part of the file name. There should be a place to click for More Advanced Options right above the search button. click that and make sure "Search hidden files and folders" and "Search subfolders" is checked. Then search for normal.dot . This should bring up the path for normal. dot and you can go to it from there. Rename it to Normal.old and this should recreate a fresh copy of the normal template and correct the issue with word crashing.