Word (Office 2001) gives Type 2 error at start-up - help needed

No progress to report. Using the Office 2001 article 302761 which we've been discussing, I reinstalled MS Office:mac 2001, after replacing the extensions with the same extensions copied from the Office folder (the ones that have been used to launch the program from the restore CD), as well as completely removing the Prefs folder AND the font folder from the hard drive system folder. Upon launch the MS Word program crashes with a Type 2 error. After rebooting from a restore CD, the program runs, AND I can verify that the program was replaced (there is no longer a reference to the original SR-1 release, as there was earlier).

My only thought at this point is to completely remove MS Office:mac with the Remove Utility, and then do a new fresh Clean Install of system software and then reload MS Office and see what happens.

I don't have any more patches to apply. I can load the SR1, but that isn't going to cause Word to load - the other applications in the suite load and run. I've replaced virtually everything, and at this point I have no more ideas of what could be wrong. I have the same memory amount that I've always had, and the application runs on 60 megs (recommended is 48) of hard drive space. You'd think that if it was a software problem, something in all of the testing and replacement we've done would have generated some change. Yet, absolutely nothing is different from when this first started 6 days ago. The issue with the pull down menus not working suggests software, too - and that's what happened first, before the prgram ultimately crashed and refused to re-start.

I haven't reloaded anything. I removed ATM 4.6 almost immediately after this happened (ATM being on the Top 10 list of things to go bad). I haven't used Suitcase in years. All of the fonts, serer removed, and the program tested with no fonts in the System Folder. Same result as before.

There is a Startup Folder in the Office folder, wth three folders in it, all of them empty - one for Word, PP, and Excel.

48 megs f hard drive space for installation, not memory. Sorry - I use at least 10, usually 20.

I didn't bring any preferences back in, except for IE prefs for my browser. Although it made no difference initally (which is why I brought them back in), I'll pull them and do a restart.

When I launch Word using the restore disks System Folder, the application launches fine. At the time the application crashes when using the drives folder, When booted with the restore System Folder, I get the following messages from the cute little assistant which I find interesting: "Cannot start Spelling Checker" and something about the correct spelling files, and also the quizzical notice to "make sure Apple Text Encoding Converter and text encoding are of the same version".

Note I did not install the Value Pack with the installer; this may simply mean I haven't added functionality from the Value Pack that the Word app is looking for or noting is absent.

Office:mac 2001 came with the machine new from Apple. All I did was load it all those years ago.

I keep going back to the initial problem with the pull-down menus. The problem with the menus has happened before, and a restart has always solved it. As to why it will launch with a restore disk, I'm fresh out of ideas, too.

The emergency start-up disk has a very minimal system. The files in the freshly installed System versus the restore disk are more extensive. I also thought of CarbonLib; I need 1.6. I need to find out where to download a fresh copy (although the system didn't launch with 1.2, either).

I've ordered a new hard drive, which I will install as a slave and then do a complete reinstall of System 9.2.2 and then Office:mac 2001. If it launches, I'll know that there is a problem with either the software or my drive, and this will allow me to get back to work while I migrate fresh copies of software I use to the new disk and leave everything I don't really need on the old disk, circumventing the problem. I can't take the risk of losing any data any other way, so this is my workaround for now. If it doesn't work, then I know I have a problem with the Office installer (unlikely, since I know it is working) or the hardware itself, such as RAM.

No, we have not looked at that one. And it's interesting, as it mentions the normal file, which I remember because sometimes I'd get a message asking if I wished to save changes; I never do.

I'll follow the guidance and report back. And, thanks - I'd likely never found that article in the MS archives.

I'm in process of testing each individual font in the current system folder - I'll report if there are any improvements. I should also note that Excel is now no longer opening, with the same Type 2 error message, prior to conducting the following tests based on the MS advice you provided. However, we've had some changes, although no progress.

I reviewed MS/kb/288341 as suggested: I tested for a damaged setting file as recommended and the application was still unable to launch. I then confirmed that Word 5.1 menus aren't enabled. When I renamed the Normal template in MS/Office/2001/Templates to OldNormal and restared, on launch Word crashed the system. I restarted; 2nd attempt gave me a Type 3 Error message, which is different from what we've been getting previously (Type 2); I also attempted to launch Excel, which gave me a Type 1 error. The system did not create a new Normal template document; I restarted from the restore CD, and launched Word and got the following error message, followed by a Type 3 error message:

"Your Auto Correct File, 'MS ACL English', could not be saved. The file may be read-only, or you may not have permission to modify the file".

I then attempted to launch MS Excel under these conditions and the program crashed the system. After restarting and rebuilding the desktop, I attempted to launch MS Word from the HD System and received a Type 3 error again. When launching Excel, I received an error message that said "an error of Type 29,298 has occurred". The OldNormal template was never replaced by another Normal template, by the way. With the OldNormal template file in place, I found the MS ACL English file in the Microsoft Prefs folder and removed it; after restarting, the application would not restart (error of Type 2 again) and did not replace this prefs file. Restarting from the boot CD, with no MS Office ACL English file installed, and application quit with a Type 3 error code; new ACL file is now in prefs folder. I lauched Excel; program hung at start-up and I forced-quit the app. Would not restart. Reboot computer from restore CD, and the app Excel gave me the following error message:

"The app.. Excel...could not be opened because NQD could not be found (-50 error code)"

This same error message was encountered when I attempted to start Word.

I then renamed OldNormal template to Normal (Still no 'new' Normal template file created), and restarted from the restore CD; launch of WS Word and Excel now OK, except for issues noted below.

The program is not savings changes when I open it using the restore CD. For instance, when selecting 'turn assistant off' from the drop-down menu, and de-selecting the formatting palette the same way, the program is not saving these changes, including deselecting WYSIWIG font/style menus or project gallery. Every time I relaunch the program, these attributes are right back where they were.

When I change the Normal template file back to OldNormal, booting from the restore CD system, the Auto Correct file error message returns, along with the Type 3 error message. Removing the Normal file completely recreates the same error message as I've just described.

I ran a quick search on MS Support and found nothing relevant about a -50 or other error code.

Tested all of the fonts and suitcases in the HD system fonts folder, including replacing, from the restore CD, the Charcoal, Geneva, and Monaco fonts, since I couldn't remove them from the system as they are essential. So I replaced them in the G4/System Folder, confirmed that MS Word will still launch from a boot disk, and then restarted under the HD System - upon Word launch, no change, still a Type 2 error.

At this point in my troubleshooting, one would normally throw in the towel and do a complete clean install of everything. The problem is I've done a Word install 3 times, 2 different ways, and I've done 2 Clean installs. One of these was comprehensive, meaning I did a Clean install of System software and then immediately installed Office:mac. None of it has done any good.

So the next step would be to reformat and re-initialize the disk. I've decided to just ignore the problem and start over, rather than fool around with the current hard drive, by installing a second, new disk drive and starting over completely from that disk. The current disk I have is stable enough, just unable to run Word. Once I transition data and so on, I'll wipe the old drive and maybe just use it for backup, assuming it tests OK. I may try to find a copy of TechTool Pro for use in evaluating things. Any ideas where I can find one?

I'm closing this out. The problem was never resolved on the old drive. It required a new (2nd) drive and a transfer of all files and applications to that drive in order to get moving again. I'm now looking for a copy of DiskWarrior (although I've been advised that DW 's current version will run on my machine, I'm a bit leery about that advice) to elp rpotect the systems, and will likely reformat the old drive and throughly test it before I reinstall software on it. Thanks to all for the help. I learned quite a bit and feel much better about continuing to use this machine with OS 9.