GP Fault Occurs While Running Spelling Checker

Last reviewed: October 10, 1997
Article ID: Q94083
The information in this article applies to:
  • Microsoft Word for Windows, versions 2.0, 2.0a
  • Microsoft Windows operating system version 3.1

SUMMARY

In versions 2.0 or 2.0a of Word for Windows, if you are in Whole Page Zoom view and the spelling checker flags an unrecognized word in the footer of a document that contains a date field, a general protection (GP) fault occurs or your computer may stop responding (hang).

The date fields that cause this error include CREATEDATE, DATE, PRINTDATE, and TIME.

MORE INFORMATION

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem in Word for Windows versions 2.0 and 2.0a. This problem was corrected in Word for Windows version 2.0b. To obtain new or updated Microsoft products, call Microsoft Sales Information Center at (800) 426-9400. If you are outside the United States, contact the Microsoft subsidiary for your area. To locate your subsidiary, call Microsoft International Customer Service at (425) 936-8661.

Workaround

To avoid the GP fault or locking the system under these conditions, do one of the following:

  • Avoid running the spelling checker in Full Page Zoom view.

        -or-
    
  • Select the entire document before you run the spelling checker. This ensures that the Spelling command checks only the body text of the document and then displays the following message:

          Word finished checking the selection. Do you want to continue
          checking the remainder of the document?
    

    Choose the No button to avoid checking the footer and locking the system. You can use the spelling checker on the header and footer separate from the body text by positioning the insertion point in the header or footer and running the spelling checker.

Steps to Reproduce Problem

  1. In Word for Windows, open a new document, from the View menu choose Normal.

  2. With the insertion point in the body of the document, from the Insert menu choose Date and Time, select any of the available formats and choose the OK button.

  3. Position the insertion point after the field result.

  4. From the View menu choose Header/Footer, select Footer, and choose the OK button.

  5. Type in a word not recognized by the spelling checker and close out of the footer.

  6. On the tool bar, choose the Zoom Whole Page button.

  7. From the Tools menu, choose Spelling.

  8. Choose the Ignore button each time the Spelling dialog box appears.

    Result: After you choose the Ignore button for the unrecognized word in the footer, the program causes a GP fault or your system hangs. You must restart (reboot) your computer if your computer hangs.

Note: This problem usually occurs when you run the spelling checker, as described above. However, the problem also occurs when you do the following:

  1. Repeat steps 1-6 above.

  2. From the View menu, choose Normal.

  3. From the View menu, choose Header/Footer. Select Header or Footer, and choose the OK button.

  4. From the View menu, choose Page Layout.


KBCategory: kbproof
KBSubcategory:
Additional query words: winword winword2
2.0 2.0a 2.0b gpf win31 grammar
ViewZoomFullPage tool bar hang hung crash crashed locks locked frozen
freezes crashing quit quits spell.dll


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Last reviewed: October 10, 1997
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