[chicken_little]

Hi Guys,

I have a weird problem, I am running Win XP Pro sp2, i had office Xp 2002 installed just fine, I did a

microsoft update a couple of days ago, which reported that the installation of the updates failed.

I immediatley started getting random and complete system freezes, only option was to hit the case reset

button. Not good! i checked 'event viewer' and it reported that 'office xp 2002 installation failed'.

I have tried a system restore three times going way back,which although says completed sucessfully, the

problem is still here. I tried to uninstall office XP2002 from both within add/remove programs, and clicking

on it's own installer. I hae tried the double-click and repair option, and tried to remove the individual

updates which all results in a windows installer hang/error message as below.

What happens is a 'windows installer' box opens and hangs for a couple of minutes, then an error box

opens saying that 'the patch cannot be found, please verify wether it is installed or accessible', then there's

just an 'ok' box to click.

Even more weird is whenever i do a system search for files & folders, and before i can type in the search

item, windows installer fires up again repeatedly.

I have a fully updated AVG anti-virus, and Ewido anti-spyware and Adaware programs, and done full

scans, my system is clean.

So what i'd like from you guys is to do a manual removal of office XP 2002, i can navigate through drive

contents ect, and the registry with regedit just fine.

Help!!!

Edited by chicken_little, 20 July 2006 - 12:31 PM.

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try uninstalling both the MS update and office from safemode

[dsenette]

try uninstalling both the MS update and office from safemode

[chicken_little]

Hi, I may have boobed, i noticed a program called 'dial-a-fix' mentioned on another topic, i have downloaded it, ticked the 'fix windows installer' boxes, and let it run, it has been stuck on 'reregister windows installer for over an hour now, and it's still running. i've cancelled the process and shut dial-a-fix down and restarted it again just now. how long is this meant to take?

At the moment i have a windows installer, but it is stopped and won't turn on presumabley till dial-a-fix finishes!! So i can't try to uninstall / install anything.

[dsenette]

hmm....windows installer may be the whole problem here...dial a fix shouldn't take that long to fix windows installer...cand you end the installer process?

[chicken_little]

Yes i can stop the dial-a-fix program, i have done it once, i've been into services in msconfig and windows installer is listed, it has a green tick by it but says it's stopped, i've tried unticking and rebooting then re-ticking and re-booting, no change.

Edited by chicken_little, 20 July 2006 - 03:01 PM.

[dsenette]

Go to Start/Run and type in:
msiexec /unregister [click ok]

Then Start/Run and type in:
msiexec /regserver [click ok]

[chicken_little]

The unregister command seemed to go in ok, but when i hit ok on the regserver command a Windows installer message popped up saying

'An event was unable to invoke any of the subscribers'

Edited by chicken_little, 20 July 2006 - 03:20 PM.

[chicken_little]

Hi i've just stopped the dial-a-fix again, and typed: net start MSIserver
into the run command and it said windows installer has been started. i've checked in services /msconfig and it IS running!
Shall i try to uninstall office in safe mode???

[Retired Tech]

Did you check Microsoft Update / installation history to get the KB numbers for any installed on the 11th, then looked for them in add / remove with show updates ticked?

[chicken_little]

Hi didnt update office 2002 from windows update, did it at the end of install when asked if i wanted to check for updates. I t went to office update page at m/S.
still can't uninstall it in safe mode .

[Retired Tech]

Check if Microsoft Update offers anything for Office, or says you have files downloaded ready to be installed

http://update.micros...t.aspx?ln=en-us

Did you try windows installer, it will install over what is on there

http://download.micr...3803-v2-x86.exe

Or

Remove the Windows Installer files then re-install from the link

1. Quit all Windows programs.

2. Click Start, click Run, type msiexec /unregister in the Open box, and then click OK.

3. In Windows Explorer, rename the following files in the %systemroot%\System32 folder:

• Msi.dll

• Msihnd.dll

• Msiexec.exe

Note If you cannot rename these files, try to rename the files at a command prompt. To start a command prompt, click Start, click Run, type cmd in the Open box, and then click OK.

4. Restart Windows XP.

[chicken_little]

Hi Keith, I've just done a windows update, only a small security update for XP, nothing for office 2002.
I've just had a thought....It was officexp 2002 i had working on my system, and i was installing / upgrading to office 2003 pro, i'm sure i selected the option to uninstall the previous version (2002), then towards the end of the install i was asked if i wanted to check the office update site for updates for 2003, i said yes, then selected the ones offered, thats when after it had downloaded them an install failure notice came up and all went still for a bit. I think i then removed the disk and rebooted, thats when all my problems began.
i'm thinking of trying to reinstall 2003, selectiong the option to uninstall previous version, but not to update 2003 yet.
What do you think?

Edited by chicken_little, 20 July 2006 - 05:58 PM.

[Retired Tech]

Have you got a full set of discs (2) for Office 2003 or upgrade discs from Office XP

[chicken_little]

Full program disks

[Retired Tech]

Does Outlook open to save any e-mails you need?

If it were me, I would uninstall anything related to Office you can find in add and remove, tick show updates and look for hotfixes as well

Use windows installer clean up to remove Office, if listed

http://download.micr...1bd/msicuu2.exe

Run disc clean up, check there isn't a listing for Office installation files

Reboot and run disc defragmenter

Optionally, you can run this after disc defragmenter

Prefetch is clickable for more information

Click start then run, type prefetch then press enter, click edit then select all, (all files will highlight), right click any file, click delete, confirm

Click start then all programmes, accessories, system tools to run disc clean up

Reboot

Click start then all programmes, accessories, system tools to run defragmenter

Download, install and run Tune Up 2006 Trial

Run Tune Up disc clean up

Run Tune Up registry clean up

Disable the anti virus programme then click Optimize and Improve to run Reg Defrag, the screen will lose colour during the process which can take a few minutes and then needs a reboot

Check the anti virus programme is running

Those will have cleared the drive of obsolete software errors

These are suggestions for making the most of the free trial

Click optimize and improve then system optimizer to optimize the computer, select computer with an internet connection from the drop down menu, this also requires a reboot

After the reboot, click optimize then system optimizer to accelerate downloads, select the speed just above your actual connection speed, this requires a reboot.

After the reboot, click optimize then system optimizer to run system advisor

To install Office, use the custom / complete install and leave the installation files on the PC

Reboot after installing

Check with Microsoft Update to see what it offers

http://update.micros...t.aspx?ln=en-us