Re: Latest on Word 2003 Crashing Display

From: Bob Buckland ?:-\) ("Bob)
Date: 12/21/04 

Date: Mon, 20 Dec 2004 20:39:57 -0800

Hi Paul,

Word has a history of being tough on graphic card
drivers. Sometimes you may find that the card manufacturers
have 'test'/pre-release driver updates that relate
to Word issues available.

Likewise, check for updated printer drivers for
the printer selected in File=>Print in Word as
well as trying a different printer (you can install
a driver without needing to have a specific printer
available). Word queries the printer when it starts
and those settings can also affect the graphics.
There have been issues similar to the font effect
you're seeing, on screen, with certain printers/drivers
in earlier Word versions. I noted that you tried
changing the default printer drivers in one of
your tests. Were they both the same brand and
connection?

If you turn down the hardware acceleration of the
graphics card two or more clicks in the Windows
Desktop properties, do you have the same
problem? (Windows XP SP2 seems to have 'enhanced'
a cycle matching issue with some graphics
card drivers, usually high end or gaming ones
with Direct X).

When Word crashes, before trying the next 'test'
use Start=>Search/Find and delete the leftover
temp files found using a filename search string of
   ~$*.*;*.tmp

If you start Windows in safe mode (hold ctrl key
when rebooting) does Word function (although its
in 'VGA mode' at that point)?

What is the SR (ref) # you're working with through MS
Product Support?

Navigating the MS Communties site can be interesting :)
You may want to use Outlook Express as a newsreader
and use the news://msnews.microsoft.com server as an
option.

=========
"Paul Beier" <PaulBeier@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message news:4589F8AF-A366-42C0-86F6-22F5FA093FCA@microsoft.com...
Hi all,

I have also posted this in the "Word Application Error" section to get more
exposure.

Just thought I would renew the post in the hope of refreshing people's
memory. Very interesting though that another user with similar specs to my
system has just started experiencing the same problem. I have recently
posted the following on "Experts Exchange" but so far no help.

Hello Expert(s),

I am trying this as a last resort as I did not wish to spend any more money.
Have already paid Microsoft support who have been persistent in their
attempts to help but so far have not been able to since contacting them about
six weeks ago.

Can I begin by saying I found it very difficult to navigate this site to the
point of actually posting this query. I am here now so I guess it doesn't
matter.

I have a challenging problem which appears to be a similar one to one
already posted. I subscribed in the hope of actually seeing a solution.
Unfortunately, the experts have suggested solutions which I have already
tried but no success. The problem was "Word crashes Windows XP". I have
also tried the support forums in Microsoft without success. No-one can give
me an answer short of a complete hardware rebuild.

Here's the history:

I have built an upgraded computer with the following components. This was a
first attempt so I thought about hardware reseating etc. - no problems there.

ASUS K8VSE Deluxe MOBO
512 Mb DDR400 Ram
AMD 3000+ CPU
Seagate 160 Gb SATA HDD
Seagate 80 Gb IDE HDD
GeCube 9600XT VIVO Graphics
Winfast TV 2000 Expert Tuner Card
LG DVD-RAM
LG DVD-ROM
Windows XP Pro SP1 Original Purchased Disk.
Office Pro 2003 Original Disk
Windows XP SP2 (from an original disk - not downloaded)
Free Zonealarm Firewall (latest version)
Latest NOD32 AV program
Latest BIOS and drivers downloaded with AV switched OFF.

I am into video editing and 3D gaming hence the moderate specs.

I boot from the SATA (which has ten partitions) and use the IDE drive as a
backup. The Windows partition size is 8Gb.

To prevent posting solutions I have already tried, I will detail what my
system can and can't do as well as what steps I have already done without
success. I am a fairly competent with computers and can modify the registry
with success.

The system will:

Run all Office applications I use frequently (I am a secondary teacher) -
Excel, Publisher and Powerpoint. It will run them without crashing everyday
- all the time.
Run all video editing software, photo-editing software everyday - all the
time.
Run all 3D games and childrens games everyday - all the time.
Run all peripherals (scanner, removable drives, cameras, printer) with
relevant software everyday - all the time.
Surf the internet (with a broadband connection) everyday - all the time.
Capture TV programs to HDD using the TV tuner, every.......

Get the picture?

The system will NOT:

successfully run Word 2003 for more than 15 minutes. The problem is that
each time I use Word, it will cause the screen to go black from between 0 to
15 minutes use. It randomly crashes the screen from immediately opening a
pre-existing document to typing a new document randomly up to around 15
mintues into using Word. Turning the screen on and off results in a grid
pattern suggesting the screen is not receiving a signal from the computer. I
must reboot to use the computer, resulting in disk checking etc - pain in the
proverbial.... The problem has occurred since using the new computer.

In short, the computer works perfectly for all other applications except
Word. This has been extremely frustrating given the amount of documents our
family produces.

The monitor I use was from an older P3 computer which ran Office 2003 just
fine...perhaps I should go back there...

I have tried:

1) Reformatting both Drives and reinstalling everything, downloading updates
(inculding latest Word 2003 SP1 update) with and without AV turned off.
2) Running OS from both drives
3) Running applications with and without installing SP2 (from both drives).
4) Reseating Hardware.
5) Repairing Office 2003
6) Completely uninstalling Office (have software that will supposedly do
this) and reinstalling Office applications with advanced options - moving to
other drives etc (with appropriate registry changes - "Old office" etc)
7) Normal.dot template changes in Word
8) Changing default printers.
9) Checking Word in safe mode - this is interesting, while the screen
doesn't go black - other gliches occur such as:
  - screen freezes (loss of keyboard and mouse functions)
  - blue "ghosting" of the black font - a faded blue copy of each letter
appears behind the black font. At times the black
    font will stop typing and the blue font will start. During this time,
if I scroll the screen, the blue font moves behind the
    black while the black remains stationary. It then reverts to the black
font, pushing the blue font ahead of the black.
  - When scrolling, the edge of the page starts to go "chunky" and blue.
Other Office applications work fine in safe
    mode.
10) Using my previous versions of Windows XP and Office XP (original disks).

All these permutations have taken considerable time and effort, as you can
imagine. I repeat, none of them have been successful.

Hope anyone can help,

blessings,

Paul>> 

-- 
Bob  Buckland  ?:-)
MS Office System Products MVP
  *Courtesy is not expensive and can pay big dividends*

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