Knowledge Base

OFF98: Office Programs Fail to Start with Outdated Library File

Article ID: 182210

Article Last Modified on 10/2/2002

Microsoft Office 98 for Macintosh

This article was previously published under Q182210

SYMPTOMS

When you start one of the Microsoft Office 98 Macintosh Edition programs, you may experience one of the following problems:

You receive the following error message:
The application <Program Name> has unexpectedly quit, because an
error of type 3 occurred.

You should save your work in other open applications and restart the
computer.
where <Program Name> is the name of the Office Program that you are starting.

-or-
The startup screen for the Office program appears briefly, but the program does not start.

CAUSE

These problems will occur if an older version of the file Microsoft Component Library exists in the System Folder:Extensions folder. Office 98 installs version 2.22 of the file Microsoft Component library.

WORKAROUND

To resolve the problem, follow these steps:

Open the System Folder:Extensions folder.
Move the file Microsoft Component Library to the Trash.
Click Empty Trash on the Special menu.
Start any of the Office 98 programs.

The first run installation process will run; then, the Office program will be started.

MORE INFORMATION

To find the version number of the file Microsoft Component Library, follow these steps:

Open the System Folder:Extensions folder.
Click Microsoft Component Library.
Click Get Info on the File menu.

The version number of the file is listed in the Info window. If the version number of the file is less that 2.22, you need to follow the steps listed in the "Workaround" section of this article.

Other programs may install a version of Microsoft Component Library that is not compatible with Office 98. For example, when you install the full version of Macintosh operating system 8.1, version 2.20 of Microsoft Component Library is placed in the System Folder:Extensions:MS Library Folder folder. Normally, this would not cause a conflict with the Office 98 programs. However, if this version of the file is moved into the System Folder:Extensions folder, you will experience the problems described in the "Symptoms" section of this article.

If you have any version of Microsoft Component Library in the System Folder:Extensions:MS Library Folder folder, it will be removed if the first run installation process runs.

For additional information on the first run installation process, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

179217 OFF98: Using First Run Installation to Troubleshoot Mac Office

Additional query words: OFF98 fri splash screen

Keywords: kberrmsg kbprb KB182210