Re: Word freezes, then crashes

So it sounds like rapid navigation using keyboard shortcuts is the possible trigger for the lockups. That would certainly point towards a couple of possibilities: a graphics driver problem or hitting the wrong keyboard combo. Check with the graphics support site to see that you have the latest driver and try installing or reinstalling the graphics to eliminate that from the problem.

I guess when you navigate, you are using the arrow keys and Ctrl+End, Ctrl+Home and similar combinations to navigate. How about try using the mouse to navigate for a while to see if that stops the problem. If it shows that it is the navigation that is the problem, maybe we can find a keyboard combination that is the root cause.

Terry

"Steve" <Steve@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message news:2CC5FCCB-8F71-462B-A6FE-03E6FFAE674E@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Hello Terry,

And thanks again for your prompt reply. I had found Graham Mayor's pages
about 'What to do when Word crashes'. I did follow his tips, as you suggest,
and today again, as I said, while working in 'Safe mode', I experienced the
same freeze and crash.

I'm no expert, but I agree that it seems strange indeed.

The machine I'm experienceing the problem on is a fairly new laptop which
stands alone and is never hooked up to any network (only the Internet). I run
XP home SP2.

Is there a pattern to the crashes? A good question. Perhaps there is. Here
is what I've noticed.

It seems to me that the freeze always happens at more or less the same
moment. I can end up typing very quickly, but also quite badly, in the sense
that I often hit two or more keys at the same time. As I'm doing this, I'm
thus backtracking within the line and/or paragraph to correct my mistakes,
and I do so using keyboard shortcuts. Sometimes it seems like I hit the arrow
key at the same time as the Ctrl key on my keyboard, or another key, and then
everything freezes and Word scrolls quickly up or down the screen, stopping
and freezing again before crashing. What I'm trying to say is that any
'pattern' I seem to detect is related to this rapid typing, to the keys used
quickly and together, and sometimes perhaps not very precisley. This is the
only 'pattern' I can detect, but it is nevertheless a pattern.

Would this be enough to corrupt the document 'in progress', and even in
'safe mode'? Would there be some vicious, hidden shortcut that brings this on?

To answer your other queries: only one problematic file contains a table,
and a very short table at that (two tables in fact, spanning a total of two
pages out of a grand total of 60 pages in the file). All the documents
exhibiting the problem are 'similar' in that they contain the same
personalised paragraph and character styles, and have text and paragraphs
copied between them. Again, the freeze and crash occurs even in safe mode,
and even with all the temp stuff that G. Mayor mentions cleaned up.

If I'm following things correctly, the question seems to be: What on earth
is causing the document to corrupt?

Thanks for your help.

Steve

"Terry Farrell" wrote:

It doesn't sound like virus or malware - but then I'd never guarantee that!

However, this is really a strange problem. It would suggest that the
document is corrupting at some point. Is there any pattern to when this
happens? Are you maybe creating or working on similar documents with long
tables? Is this all on a standalone PC or a networked PC?

As you have had the problem occurring frequently, I suggest that the next
step is to clean up your system of any abandoned temp files. See the
following FAQ for how to clear up after Word.

http://www.gmayor.com/what_to_do_when_word_crashes.htm

Terry

"Steve" <Steve@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:DC70C562-109E-47A6-B238-59E9BF9A60FA@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Hello again Terry,
>
> News just in... I tried exactly what you suggested, and booted Word in
> Safe
> mode, and worked like that for a while. But Word appears not to be any
> more
> stable in Safe mode. After about an hour or so, I encountered the same
> problem: Word freezes up, hitting any key makes the program scroll > rapidly
> through the document, the screen freezes again, it's impossible to do
> anything, and then Word just shuts itself down, closing all open Word
> documents.
>
> No warning is given, and no error messages shows up.
>
> Also, I'll add that if I go into task manager (or whatever it's called > in
> English) by pressing Ctrl+Alt+Delete, this program will indicate to me
> that
> Word is not responding. But, again (and even in Safe mode), it crashes > all
> on
> its own and I get no error message.
>
> I've just downlowded Microsoft's malware removal program (as Charles
> suggested) and run a full system scan, but no infected files were > picked
> up.
>
> I'm baffled.
>
> Steve
>
> "Terry Farrell" wrote:
>
>> Steve
>>
>> That makes a big difference <g>
>>
>> Try starting Word in Safe Mode and testing it to see if it is stable.
>> That
>> should narrow down the field of possibilities. To start in Safe Mode,
>> from
>> Start, Run, type in
>>
>> winword /a
>>
>> and press enter. Word will start in Safe Mode where it bypasses all
>> add-ins,
>> templates, macros or any other third party changes or customisations. >> Try
>> opening and working on one of your documents now to see if it this
>> stabilises Word. This will give us a better idea of the area of the
>> problem.
>>
>> Terry
>>
>> "Steve" <Steve@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
>> news:26F3D046-C524-40BF-ADE4-4ADF49EF22F1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>> > Hello Terry,
>> >
>> > And thanks for your quick reply.
>> >
>> > Unfortunately, my comment about the printer was completely >> > misleading.
>> > I
>> > added it (a little too hastily) just before I hit 'post', and I what >> > I
>> > meant
>> > to say was that I'm not connected to a NETWORK printer. I was >> > reading
>> > on
>> > the
>> > MVP help page entitled 'Problems Opening Word' that a network >> > printer
>> > can
>> > sometimes be the source of problems, and I wanted to make it clear >> > that
>> > it
>> > wasn't so in this case. I do have a default printer, whose driver is >> > up
>> > to
>> > date. And, in any case, Word opens fine, and works fine for a while,
>> > before
>> > it decides to freeze and then crash, quite erratically. (It doesn't >> > do
>> > it
>> > every time, just sometimes, and just enough to make it very annoying
>> > indeed,
>> > because Word doesn't always 'recover' the documents I'm working on
>> > after
>> > it
>> > crashes).
>> >
>> > Any other ideas would be much appreciated.
>> >
>> > Thanks in advance.
>> >
>> > Steve
>> >
>> >
>> > "Terry Farrell" wrote:
>> >
>> >> Uninstalling and reinstalling is usually a complete waste of time. >> >> But
>> >> from
>> >> what you say, printer seems to be the probable cause. Word MUST see >> >> a
>> >> default windows printer to work correctly. So make sure that you >> >> have
>> >> the
>> >> latest driver and install a printer and set it as the Windows >> >> default.
>> >> Let
>> >> us know if this is resolves the problem or if you need further >> >> help.
>> >>
>> >> -- >> >> Terry Farrell - MS Word MVP
>> >>
>> >> "Steve" <Steve@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
>> >> news:1B273DB7-6582-41F4-A21D-3D85FB71B03F@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>> >> > Hello,
>> >> >
>> >> > I’ve been using a version of Word contained in Office 2000
>> >> > Professional
>> >> > for
>> >> > about 4 years now without any problems (except the ‘usual’
>> >> > formatting
>> >> > headaches, for which I’ve found help here). I first used it on >> >> > Win
>> >> > 98,
>> >> > and
>> >> > I’m now using XP Home SP2.
>> >> >
>> >> > Recently, Word started acting strangely indeed. As I type, the
>> >> > program
>> >> > suddenly freezes, without any warning. Then, hitting any key >> >> > appears
>> >> > to
>> >> > make
>> >> > Word scroll very quickly through the document, until it suddenly
>> >> > freezes
>> >> > up
>> >> > again. The program then appears to take up most of the CPU usage,
>> >> > and
>> >> > the
>> >> > computer’s fan turns up to high speed. It’s impossible to do
>> >> > anything
>> >> > in the
>> >> > document and, within a few seconds, or perhaps longer (it seems >> >> > to
>> >> > depend),
>> >> > the program just crashes without any warning, and all open word
>> >> > documents
>> >> > close.
>> >> >
>> >> > I de-installed Office, as well as its the corresponding registry
>> >> > keys,
>> >> > and
>> >> > after shutting down the computer, etc., I re-installed Office. I
>> >> > thought
>> >> > this
>> >> > would make the difference... but it didn’t. My Word documents
>> >> > still
>> >> > exhibit
>> >> > the same behaviour. And it’s become very annoying indeed.
>> >> >
>> >> > After de-installing and re-installing Office I was a little
>> >> > surprised
>> >> > to
>> >> > see
>> >> > that, when opening Word after the re-installation, my old >> >> > customised
>> >> > toolbars
>> >> > were showing instead of the default ones (nothing fancy, just
>> >> > reduced
>> >> > down
>> >> > to
>> >> > the icons one uses most often). I didn’t quite understand why >> >> > this
>> >> > was,
>> >> > but
>> >> > might it be a clue as to why Word is still acting in the same >> >> > way?
>> >> >
>> >> > I’ve checked out some comments and some help pages linked to
>> >> > through
>> >> > the
>> >> > discussions here (‘Corrupt documents’ and ‘What to do when
>> >> > word
>> >> > crashes,
>> >> > etc.), but I can’t seem to find anything similar.
>> >> >
>> >> > Any help or suggestions would be appreciated.
>> >> >
>> >> > Thanks in advance,
>> >> >
>> >> > Steve
>> >> >
>> >> > (P.S.: I’m not connected to a default printer).
>> >>
>>


.

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