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General discussion

why won't Word open?

May 14, 2005 11:38AM PDT

We have Microsoft Office 97 on our PC and Word has stopped opening. We got past the uninstall/reinstall phase (something to do with autoexec.nt), now it gives every indication of launching but sits at the bottom of my screen. The reinstall says it's successfully happend and Excel etc are working but not Word. Help Happy

Discussion is locked

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Why did Microsoft never fix the Normal.Dot bug?
May 14, 2005 11:59AM PDT

1. Quit all running programs, especially Microsoft Word.
2. If you are using Windows 2000, Me, or XP, from the Start menu, choose Search>Files or Folders.
3. If you are using Windows 95, 98, or NT, from the Start menu, choose Find>Files or Folders.
4. Under Named, type normal.dot
5. Under Look in, make sure that C: is selected, so you are searching your entire hard drive.
6. Click Search Now or Find Now.
7. Delete all normal.dot files that are found.
8. Restart Word to create a clean copy of the Normal template.

And the Normal.dot issue has no known cure or patch from Microsoft. No one knows why.

Bob

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I've tried that already :)
May 14, 2005 12:22PM PDT

(twice now Happy and still no joy.

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If so, 99% of the time, the normal.dot is still there.
May 14, 2005 12:32PM PDT

Here's why. Most will use EXPLORER to find the file and the extensions are hidden. Try a command line approach. Open the command prompt and type...

DIR C:\NORMAL.* /S/A/P

Bob

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apologies
May 14, 2005 12:47PM PDT

I am a luddite Happy where do I do that?

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found command prompt :)
May 14, 2005 3:02PM PDT

got the message
Volume in drive C has no label.
Volume Serial Number is 4C8B-7C65
Director of C:\
File Not Found

Does that mean it's there or it isn't?

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Not yet. Here's why.
May 14, 2005 11:50PM PDT

Your copy didn't include the command you used. As such I can't be sure you did the DIR command correctly.

These computers don't autocorrect such commands.

Bob

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Not yet. Here's why.
May 15, 2005 11:31AM PDT

The command was exactly as you had written (I wish I knew enough about computers to be creative with commands!)
Happy

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C:\Normal.* /S/A/P
Jul 5, 2005 2:01AM PDT

This command did not work for me. Was this problem ever solved.
msm

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That's not the command I noted.
Jul 5, 2005 2:25AM PDT

I don't expect that "C:\Normal.* /S/A/P" to do anything useful.

I've solved this many hundred times now, but many don't get the command correct so they are left to wonder a bit.

Bob

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Is this this command ? What is difference?
Jul 8, 2005 3:20AM PDT

What is command?

Dir C:\Normal.*/S/A/P

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(NT) (NT) I put Dir c:\Normal.. . . and it worked
Jul 8, 2005 3:31AM PDT
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Yes.
Jul 8, 2005 4:46AM PDT

It's a complaint many have. Computers are just picky about getting the commands right.

Bob