OAER: Word Stops Responding During Startup (291475)


The information in this article applies to:

  • Microsoft Office XP Application Error Report
  • Microsoft Word 2002, when used with:
    • the operating system: Microsoft Windows Millennium Edition
    • the operating system: Microsoft Windows 98 Second Edition
This article was previously published under Q291475
For a Microsoft Word 2000 version of this article, see 211541.
For a Microsoft Word 97 version of this article, see 166971.

Thank You for Your Help!

Microsoft thanks you for taking the time to send us information about the program error that you just experienced. After investigating error reports provided by users like you, our engineers devised a workaround for this problem. This article contains information that may help you avoid encountering this problem again in the future.

ERROR SIGNATURE

This article addresses a crash problem that can have the following error signatures: 
App Name      App Version      Module Name      Module Version    Offset
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Winword.exe   10.0.2627.0      Winword.exe      10.0.2627.0         0032a96d

SYMPTOMS

When you start Microsoft Word 2002, you receive the following error message:
Microsoft Word has encountered a problem and needs to close. We are sorry for the inconvenience.

To see what data this error report contains, click here.
When you view the data in the error report, the report contains an error signature similar to the error listed at the beginning of this article.

CAUSE

This error message can occur if the global template (Normal.dot) is actually a Word document named Normal.dot. When Word attempts to use this document as the default global template, the error message described in the "Symptoms" section appears.

Word documents have a specific file format that is different from the Word template file format.

WORKAROUND

To work around this problem, use one of the following methods.

Method 1: Create a New Normal.dot File

When you receive the error message described in the "Symptoms" section, click either Send Error Report or Don't Send. When you receive the following message, click Yes:

Word has detected a problem with the existing Normal.dot. Would you like to create a new Normal.dot?

If you click No, the error message described in the "Symptoms" section reappears.

Method 2: Rename the Document Before You Restart Word

In the error message described in the "Symptoms" section, click to clear the Restart Microsoft Word check box, and then click either Send Error Report or Don't Send. Word then quits. Follow these steps to rename the Normal.dot file and then restart Word:
  1. Right-click Start on the Windows taskbar, and then click Explore.
  2. In Windows Explorer, find and select the Normal.dot file.
  3. On the Edit menu, click Rename.
  4. Type a new file name for the file, and then press ENTER.

    For example, type Normal.doc.

Method 3: Move the Document to a Different Folder

In the error message described in the "Symptoms" section, click to clear the Restart Microsoft Word check box, and then click either Send Error Report or Don't Send. Follow these steps to move the file to a different folder, and then restart Word:
  1. Right-click Start on the Windows taskbar, and then click Explore.
  2. In Windows Explorer, find and select the Normal.dot file.
  3. Right-click and drag the Normal.dot file to a different folder. For example, drag the Normal.dot file to the My Documents folder.
  4. After you drag the Normal.dot document to the different folder, click Move on the shortcut menu.

Method 4: Save the Document as a Template

After you use Method 2 to rename the document, follow these steps:
  1. Start Word.
  2. On the File menu, click Open.
  3. Locate and select the file that you renamed in Method 2.
  4. Click Open.
  5. On the File menu, click Save As.
  6. In the Save as type box, select Document Template (*.dot).
  7. In the File name box, type a new name for the file.

    NOTE: If you want to use the file as the global template, type Normal. Word automatically applies the .dot extension.
  8. Click Save.

MORE INFORMATION

By default, Word looks for its global template (Normal.dot) in the following folder:

C:\Windows\Application Data\Microsoft\Templates

If you do not know where the global template (or the file named Normal.dot) is located, follow these steps:
  • Microsoft Windows 98:

    1. Click Start, point to Find, and then click Files or Folders.
    2. In the Named box, type Normal.dot.
    3. In the Look in box, select your hard disk drive.

      For example, change the Look in box to Drive (C:).
    4. Click to select the Include subfolders check box, and then click Find Now.
    -or-
  • Microsoft Windows Millennium Edition (Me):
    1. Click Start, point to Search, and then click For Files or Folders.
    2. In the Search for files or folders named box, type Normal.dot.
    3. In the Look in list, select your hard disk drive.

      For example, change the Look in box to Drive (C:).
    4. Click Search Now.
NOTE: If a Normal.dot file does not exist, a new Normal.dot is automatically created the next time that you start and then quit Word. For more information about templates, click Microsoft Word Help on the Help menu, type templates in the Office Assistant or the Answer Wizard, and then click Search to view the topics returned.

The Office Error Reporting dialog box appears when an error occurs that results in a fatal event in the program. The dialog box includes a button to send the information about the fatal event to Microsoft. Microsoft gathers information about these types of events in a database to attempt to identify the cause. For more information about the Microsoft Data Collection Policy, visit the following Microsoft Web site:

http://oca.microsoft.com/en/dcp20.asp

For additional information, click the following article numbers to view the articles in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

283768 OFFXP: End User Privacy Policy in Application Error Reporting

289508 HOW TO: Read the Error Signature from Office Application Error Reporting If Program Quits Unexpectedly

Modification Type:MinorLast Reviewed:10/10/2006
Keywords:kbbug kberrmsg kbfix kbInvalidPageFault kbProd2Web kbtemplate KB291475
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