Newsgroups: bit.listserv.win3-l
Date:         Tue, 26 Jan 1993 10:56:42 EST
From:         "Harry M. Kriz" <KRIZ@VTVM1.BITNET>
Subject:      Winword won't load file

     This information may be useful to users of Winword if they have
a corrupted file.
     I got a good scare late Friday when Winword 2.0a wouldn't load a
file I had saved only a few minutes earlier. Neither would it load
an earlier version of the file that I had saved about half an hour
earlier under a different name. The file was 130KB, about 40 pp when
printed. This was an important report, and I needed to do some
editing, and then do some other work on it to create a shorter
version for another purpose. A bad way to end Friday.
     The symptom I encountered was a General Protection Fault in
WINWORD.EXE whenever I tried to open the file. I tried opening it
in various ways, including the search function, opening from a list
of files, and simply clicking on its name in the list of 4 files
under the File drop-down menu, and trying to insert it in a new file.
Everything resulted in a general protection fault. After three or
four tries, SysMeter (comes with Windows Resource Kit) would show
GDI resources down near 50%, and subsequent attempts to open the
file would cause my computer to reboot.
     I eliminated the possibility of hard drive problems by loading
the file into Windows Write and into Buerg's LIST. I also copied the
file to a floppy and tried to load it on a different PC. No luck.
     I called Microsoft and spoke with Scott. He was very helpful
and walked me through checking the CONFIG.SYS, AUTOEXEC.BAT, WIN.INI,
etc. Everything was fine so we started to play with the file. I
learned a lot from him about trouble-shooting, but we never did get
the file to load during the 20 minutes we talked on the phone. We
tried renaming NORMAL.DOT and the template for the problem file to
something else to eliminate the possibility the templates were
at fault. Finally, nothing worked.

I decided I'd just have to load the file into Windows Write, save it
under a new name, then open it in Winword and redo all the formatting,
remove all the paragraph marks at the end of every line, etc.
     However, Scott had given me lots of different ideas, so I continued
to play (my motto is never rekey). What finally worked was as follows:
1.) Create a new document with the same template as the problem file.
    Save and close the file, then reload it. This showed the template
    was working. I left the file loaded, but don't know if this
    had anything to do with the success of the next steps. I can
    say that without having some other file loaded, I was never
    able to open the problem file. Following this procedure allowed
    the problem file to load a few times.
2.) Open a new file with the NORMAL template and leave it empty.
3.) Open the problem file (yes, with the other two files loaded,
    the problem file opened without a GPF).
4.) Select the entire problem file and copy it to the empty file
    created in step 2.
5.) Edit the copy by deleting the final paragraph mark in the file.
    Save the file under a new name and close it.
    Close the other two files.
    Open the newly saved file and reattach the desired template.

     Scott said it is almost unheard of for Winword to fail to load
a file it has created. Certainly I've never encountered a problem
in nearly three years using Winword. Anyway, when there is
a problem with a file, a standard fix is to eliminate that last
paragraph mark and its associated formatting baggage.

     My thanks to Scott. In the several times I've talked to Microsoft
consultants during the past few years, I don't recall ever solving
a problem while on the phone. But they have always given me
so much information about how things work that I've worked out
solutions after hanging up. As always, understanding becomes the
key to control.

--Harry

-------------------------------------------------------------------
Harry M. Kriz            KRIZ@VTVM1.CC.VT.EDU  PHONE: (703)231-7052
Automation Librarian     University Libraries
Virginia Polytechnic Institute & State University
Blacksburg, VA, 24061-0434
Newsgroups: bit.listserv.win3-l