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How-To Geek Forums » Windows XP

Office 2007 Freeze Problem

(20 posts)
  • Started 1 year ago by whoisvaibhav
  • Latest reply from LH
  • Topic Viewed 7273 times

whoisvaibhav
Posts: 11

This has had me on my wits end for months now. I have tried doing everything short of formatting my laptop.

One fine day, all my Office 2007 applications (word, excel, powerpoint, visio, etc.) started displaying the weirdest behavior. They would hang whenever I try to save a document. The Event Log says something about officelifeboathang.

I can get around this problem by keying in Ctrl+P (which pops up the Print Dialog Box) and then pressing escape (which closes this dialog box). After I do this, I can save by pressing Ctrl+S. But visio and excel still hang if I try to do a Save As (so, I can't save to older versions, or to PDFs, etc.)

I have lost too many productivity hours by forgetting to fire my workaround and hitting Ctrl+S, only to hang the application.

PLEASE HELP! (this is Office 2007, SP1, Windows XP - also, the only thing I changed before the problem started for me was that I installed SP1, however it didn't start right after installing SP1)

Posted 1 year ago #
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Budohorseman
Budohorseman
Posts: 761

This is the first time I've heard about this one, so my best guess (and probably least painful) would be
1) to uninstall the service pack, reboot, then open up excel and see if you still have the problem.
2)If you don't, then reinstall the service pack and see if the problem returns.
If the problem does not go away after 1 or returns after 2, let us know and we will see what else we can come up with.

Posted 1 year ago #
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whoisvaibhav
Posts: 11

Actually, The Office 2007 Service Pack doesn't have the option to uninstall. That is my other big problem (I would have tried that first thing actually)...

And yes, this is a weird one, because i have done tons of research on Google before coming here... :)

Here's what the even log shows:

EventType officelifeboathang, P1 excel.exe, P2 12.0.6300.5000, P3 ntdll.dll, P4 5.1.2600.2180, P5 NIL, P6 NIL, P7 NIL, P8 NIL, P9 NIL, P10 NIL.

Just in case that helps troubleshoot this... Thanks...

Posted 1 year ago #
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whs
whs
Posts: 10348

Go to e.g. the Word Office Orb > Word Options (on the bottom right) > Resource > run MS Office Diagnostics. May be you can repair the office system file from there. Your problem obviously stems from a corrupted office file.

Posted 1 year ago #
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Budohorseman
Budohorseman
Posts: 761

True, I forgot that they do not let you uninstall Office Service Packs. If whs's fix doesn't help, looks like you will need to download the service pack from MS and reinstall it to see if that takes care of your problem.

Posted 1 year ago #
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whoisvaibhav
Posts: 11

Thanks whs, but I had already done that. All diagnostic results come completely normal.

Posted 1 year ago #
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Smashpmk712
Smashpmk712
Posts: 313

I would try re-installing office ... it might make a difference

Posted 1 year ago #
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whoisvaibhav
Posts: 11

hi smash, yes, I think that is the only option left.... (although I did run the installer and repaired the installation, but i think i will uninstall and then install)

Posted 1 year ago #
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whoisvaibhav
Posts: 11

hi Horseman, once again, thanks for your reply, but i did actually do a fresh download of the service pack and did try to install it again.

I have tried all the standard fire-fighting techniques. Looks like an uninstall is my best bet.

The only thing that irks me is that there is no explanation for this problem anywhere. And I hate to use the uninstall/format method to solve the problems (it feels as if I lost).

Thank for all your comments.

Posted 1 year ago #
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frankiemcd
Posts: 1

You're not alone, whoisvaibhav. One of the folks here at work has this exact problem. I have done an uninstall/reinstall of Office 2007, but I put the service pack back on before testing to see if it happened without the SP. I'd be curious to hear your experience.

Posted 1 year ago #
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whoisvaibhav
Posts: 11

Hi Frankie... I am doomed... even the reinstall didn't solve the problem... something is truly broke... Any help please....

Posted 1 year ago #
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whs
whs
Posts: 10348

It's obvious that something in your system is clobbering one or more office files. Question is what? Do you have any exotic or even non-exotic software that you installed "one fine day" - as you called it? My guess is also, that it is probably not the cause of a virus. They usually go for other targets. Still, a virus scan would not hurt.

Posted 1 year ago #
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whoisvaibhav
Posts: 11

@whs - I scan my computer everyday. I use AVG. I am a nerd about keeping my computer free of spyware, viruses, and the kind.

What I can't figure out is this: "what is it that gets fixed when I press Ctrl+P after which I am able to save".

Also, just confirmed, OneNote has the same problem for me.

Posted 1 year ago #
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whs
whs
Posts: 10348

CTL+P is for printing. Does the printer window show up then? It apparently bypasses the corrupted file once you initiated the print process. If you have your office 2007 for less than 3 months (lenght of the warrenty), you can ask the MS office people to help you. They are pretty good at identifying corrupted files. They did that for me once and found the culprit in no time. If you have the programs for longer than 3 months, you can still try. They are pretty helpful these days. I would not know where to look in XP because I am Vista only. Sorry.

Posted 1 year ago #
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whoisvaibhav
Posts: 11

@whs.. yes, I think i will call MS. I am sure I have some support tickets through my MSDN. Yes, I am aware that Ctrl+P is for printing. I press Ctrl+P and then when the print dialog box shows up, I simply cancel it and then I can save.

Posted 1 year ago #
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whs
whs
Posts: 10348

I know the files are changed for print mode. If, for example, you have word document with certain errors that are underlined by the editor, those editor underlinings disappear when you go to Print > Print Preview. The same happens when you print this document - no editor markings. So maybe that is the area to look. Let us know what the MS guys find. I would be interested to know. See below: The second one is from the Print Review.

Posted 1 year ago #
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monomongoose
Posts: 2

I had this issue occur on one of the terminals in my office after the update to SP2. I fixed the issue by using "The Microsoft Service Pack Uninstall Tool for the 2007 Microsoft Office Suite" command line program to remove SP2. It is available from http://www.microsoft.com/downl.....2223f97c4. It's a bit of a faff but it worked.

Posted 5 months ago #
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LH
LH
Posts: 7484

monomongoose. Hi and welcome to the forum. Please note that this thread is over 1 year old. Plus, all I get from your link is "We are sorry, the page you requested cannot be found.". Better luck next time :)

Posted 5 months ago #
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monomongoose
Posts: 2

Oh dear! Total fail! If anyone is interested this is the correct link: http://www.microsoft.com/downl.....f2223f97c4

Posted 5 months ago #
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LH
LH
Posts: 7484

Ah, that works. I shall leave it up for reference, but am closing the thread.

Posted 5 months ago #
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