Cannot open Word

All of a sudden,when I click on Word on the toolbar, the screen comes up and disappears and doesn't open Word. I cannot open any documents in my files either. I have Windows 95 and Microsoft Office 97. I have read earlier posts and followed the suggestion of finding the file-normal.dot- and renaming it. I did that and still cannot open Word. Even reinstalled Microsoft Office.HELP!!!!!

 

Hi here is MS site for your problem If you have tried renaming normal be sure to read how this is to be done, as that could be the problem.
http://support.microsoft.com/search/preview.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;Q290771

 

Not just a WORD problem anymore!

Thanks for referring me to that site. But the computer problems have grown worse! The odd thing is that my husband had typed and saved a document earlier, and then suddenly WORD wouldn't open. Today I printed the article that you referred and when I went to print another article,I couldn't find the printer. I now also cannot open emails or even compose emails. It seems that one strange thing after another is happening.......don't know if this is what corruption is or virus. I scanned with Norton AV and no virus was found. I believe I have a BIG problem here!

 

Hi Phyl
Perhaps just use a free online scanner such as:
Grisoft
Housecall
Panda
Symantec

And for Trojans.....might I suggest:
Tauscan .

Unless you are positive your AV was recent and up to date....it's always best to play it safe than sorry.

Daizy

 

Thanks for the suggestion. I did use Housecall to scan for viruses and my computer is clean. Since there are multiple problems going on, I wondered if something happened with the registry.It appears that a few .dll are missing.
Our Dell computer is 7 years old...time for a new one. This time we will get a Gateway with the store being 10 minutes from our house!!!

 

Phyl? Are you getting error messages? If so, can you post for us exactly what they are?

Daizy

 

Am I getting error messages!!!!!!!

Funny you should ask......here are some error messages......

In Outlook Express, I can only read incoming emails in the box as they come in...I cannot open them nor can I compose and send an email......the error message reads "The operation could not be completed. RICHED32.DLL failed to load. Please re-install. "

The printer (HP 550C) ,which was missing from the computer so I could not print anything other than what I have in Paper Port which uses HP660, is today alive and well! HOWEVER, when I wanted to print the article about installing RICHED32.DLL, Crash shield came on with the following error message," Spool 32 caused an exception in 16 bit module GPF16.DLL at address 2F3F:045k. " Generally when Crash Shield comes on and I click recover, I can print the page after rebooting. This time, that article never went to the printer.

When I surf to various websites, I always get an error message, "An error has occurred in the script on this page.Do you want to continue running script?" I always click no and the web page opens. I have learned to live with this annoyance in the past although this week it is more frequent.

When I want to open WORD or any document, the WORD logo flashes and then nothing happens,not even an error message.

I appreciate your interest in these problems. We will be ordering a Gateway next week.Since there is no virus on the computer, when we download all of our word documents and install them in the new computer, do you think they will open or will we have a PROBLEM?

Ever grateful for your help and for this support site,
Phyllis

 

Well hello again Phyllis
Now we're getting some where.
Let's start with the very first one ;Q218838]Riched32.dll . Scroll to near the bottom of the page. It gives pretty straight forward instructions.

Let us know how that one goes....and we'll continue.

Daizy

*edit*
These freaking Microsoft addresses are going to be the death of me yet! Copy and paste this address into your browser instead:

Daizy

 

Oops....forgot to answer:
You have the Office 97 CD don't you? So long as you install the software on your new computer...you shouldn't have any troubles opening your word documents.

Daizy

 

The other thing to do first, is to get rid of whatever "CrashShield" is?
Programs that attempt to stop crashes generally cause more than they fix.
Run MSCONFIG < Startup Tab and UNSelect the program.
After the reboot, try Word again and see if you get any "real" errors.

 

Great idea WhitPhil
What the heck is it? I did a quick search and came up with bubcus. If it's anything similar to Crash Guard.... it's more headaches than it's worth.
Good call WhitPhil.

Daizy

 

My thought is that it is "a la CrashGuard" and that if we get it out of the way, we might see the "real" problems.

 

When was the last time you cleaned up your hard drive? Try removing all the tmp files (Easiest way is to do a search for *.tmp) Then run scandisk and finally run defrag. Could be all your computer needs is some tlc.

You might also go and download these programs: easycleaner and system mechanic (easy cleaner is free) and system mechanic is fully functional for 30 days. Basically they do the same, altho system mechanic has more features. Install one or both and run them! They will clean the registry for you and remove old, unneeded programs. They can be a life savor. After you run them run defrag again.

 

Enough is enough

Thank you all for your support. More things went wrong and then the computer crashed. We got some things working now but it is all piecemeal. I am not going to play around with this.will be getting a new computer....
Crash shield is probably like crash guard, and you are right....it's a nuisance.
Thanks again......

 

Well Cr@p!

That's no fun!


Daizy