KB176529 - OFF97: "I/O Error" or Subfolders Are Displayed as Question Marks or Squares

PSS ID Number: 176529

Article Last Modified on 6/11/2002

The information in this article applies to:

Microsoft Office 97 for Windows
Microsoft Excel 97 for Windows
Microsoft PowerPoint 97 for Windows
Microsoft Word 97 for Windows

This article was previously published under Q176529

IMPORTANT: This article contains information about modifying the registry. Before you modify the registry, make sure to back it up and make sure that you understand how to restore the registry if a problem occurs. For information about how to back up, restore, and edit the registry, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

256986 Description of the Microsoft Windows Registry

SYMPTOMS

When you click Open, Save, or Save As on the File menu in any of the Microsoft Office programs listed at the beginning of this article, you may experience one of the following symptoms:

When the current folder has subfolders, all subfolders except the last may be displayed as question marks or squares. -or-
If you double-click any of the subfolders that appear as question marks or squares or try to open a presentation, you may receive one of the following error messages:
- An unexpected error occurred - I/O Error 0
  -or-
- An unexpected error occurred - I/O Error 6
  -or-
- <Program> found an error it cannot correct.
  where <Program> is the name of one of the programs listed at the beginning of this article.
NOTE: You can open files correctly if you select them from the Most Recently Used (MRU) list on the File menu, or if you double-click the file in Windows Explorer. -or-
All files are displayed as the letter "n".

CAUSE

The Microsoft Office 97 settings stored in the registry are damaged.

RESOLUTION

WARNING: If you use Registry Editor incorrectly, you may cause serious problems that may require you to reinstall your operating system. Microsoft cannot guarantee that you can solve problems that result from using Registry Editor incorrectly. Use Registry Editor at your own risk.

To correct this problem, use one of the following methods as appropriate for your situation.

Method 1: Delete the Office Key

To remove the damaged Office 97 registry settings and to register Office 97 again, follow these steps:

NOTE: The following steps remove all user-specific settings for all of the Office programs. You must reconfigure all user-specific settings manually.

On the Windows Start menu, click Run.
In the Open box, type Regedit, and then click OK.
Expand the HKEY_CURRENT_USER subtree until you see the following folder:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\8.0
On the Edit menu, click Delete.
On the Registry menu, click Exit.

NOTE: When you quit the Registry Editor, the changes are saved automatically.
Shut down and restart Windows.
After you restart Windows, place your Office 97 CD in the CD-ROM drive.
On the Windows Start menu, click Run.
In the Open box, type the following line, and then click OK:
<Drive>:\Setup.exe /y
NOTE: <Drive> is the drive letter for your CD-ROM drive.

Setup starts in Maintenance Mode.
Click Reinstall, and allow Setup to complete. Setup does not copy any files to the system. Running Setup with the /y switch only updates the Windows registry settings.

Method 2: Reset the Open Dialog Box Settings

To reset the Open dialog box, follow these steps:

On the Windows Start menu, click Run.
In the Open box, type Regedit, and then click OK.
Expand the HKEY_CURRENT_USER subtree until you see the following folder:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\8.0\Common\Open Find
On the Edit menu, click Delete.
On the Registry menu, click Exit.

NOTE: When you quit the Registry Editor, the changes are saved automatically.
Shut down and restart Windows.
After you restart Windows, place your Office 97 CD in the CD-ROM drive.
On the Windows Start menu, click Run.
In the Open box, type the following line, and then click OK:
<Drive>:\Setup.exe /y
NOTE: <Drive> is the drive letter for your CD-ROM drive.

Setup starts in Maintenance Mode.
Click Reinstall, and allow Setup to complete. Setup does not copy any files to the system. Running Setup with the /y switch only updates the Windows registry settings.

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in the Microsoft products that are listed at the beginning of this article.

Additional query words: powerpnt ppt powerpt ppt97 pp97 input output sys six can't finds find encountered io box boxes squares question marks garbage scramble scrambled save saving saves OFF97 corrupted corrupt

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