[nigelblake]

Maybe someone can point me in the right direction, but I am lost to know what to do now. Word 2000 has been running fine on my PC until yesterday, all my other programs run fine including others that are all part of the Office/Word/Frontpage package, but for some reason word just freezes my computer with the little timer icon showing constantly and will not run, clicking control>alt>delete has no effect, I have completely uninstalled the whole package and then reinstalled it, restarting the PC before reinstallation, but it still does not run. It has shown an error message stating that the system does not have enough memory, although I have at least 30gig free space on the drive, and also an error message stating that Explorer caused a general protection fault in USER.exe at 0003;000009c7
I have not installed any new programs and have full virus checked and appear to be clear.

Nigel,

Try Tools | Options | Advanced | uncheck "Enable third party browser extensions".

[Andrew Rowlands]

Hi Nigel,

Not happy with this...

You could try the method here http://support.microsoft.com/default...b;en-us;812138 .. not the same error but the normal.dot fix resolves several issues...

Which OS are you using? Have you installed any new software/patches since it last worked?

Andy.

[digi-birder]

Sounds like a corrupted normal.dot file. Rename all instances of normal.dot on your computer to something like abnormal.dot or normal.old - restart Word and a new version should be created.

If that doesn't work, read this:

Normal Dot What?
Understanding normal.dot is important when troubleshooting Word. Normal.dot (endearingly referred to as Normal Dot Dot) is the default or global template that Word uses to create a blank document. Normal.dot is always in use when Word is open, even if you are using another template. It is very common for normal.dot files to become corrupt. They also store macro viruses.

When you launch Word, it looks for normal.dot and opens it. If your normal.dot is corrupt, it can cause Word to crash upon launching Word.

If Word cannot locate a normal.dot file, it creates a brand new one. When you first install Word, normal.dot is not installed with it. Uninstalling does not delete normal.dot. These facts explain why reinstalling Office or Word does not fix a problem with a corrupt or virus-infected normal.dot file. Your newly installed program finds normal.dot right where it was before.

The location of the normal.dot file that Word is looking for can be found by opening Word, and using Tools-Options, File locations tab. Double-click User templates. The location is in the lower area of the window under Folder name. If you're unable to see the whole path, hit your Home key on the keyboard.

You may have settings in your normal.dot that you would like to keep, such as customized toolbars and macros, while getting rid of normal.dot may be necessary due to corruption. So, instead of deleting normal.dot, it is recommended that you rename it to abnormal.dot or normal1.dot. Then, you can use the Organizer to copy such things as macros and toolbars from the old template to the new one.

http://www.theofficeexperts.com/word.htm#NormalDot

[nigelblake]

Many thanks to you all for such speedy help, as yet I have not solved the problem, but I will let you know as soon as i do, thanks again.

[scampo]

You have two easy options that I suspect will work for you:

1) Insert your MS Office CD-ROM and click "Repair" under "Help" or...
2) Use Windows "System Restore" to return your PC to a time before the problem occurred (never failed me yet!).

The "out of memory" warning refers to a part of the RAM in your PC, not to the size of the hard drive. You can ignore it - there is a corrupt file in the Word folder for sure and the above two options will cure it. (He says confidently!).

[nigelblake]

Normal.dot files renamed and word is running fine again, many many thanks for the help, much appreciated.

[rogerscoth]

Originally Posted by nigelblake

Normal.dot files renamed and word is running fine again, many many thanks for the help, much appreciated.

What a wonderful forum this is! - So many helpful folks.

Roger