Can't instantiate Excel with CreateObject("Excel.Application"), Google CalendarSync can't talk to Outlook, and the volume is reset to zero every time I restart my machine

Hi nike gold - thanks for the super-speedy response.
Windows PC, Dell OptiPlex GX620, Windows XP, Excel 2007.
Sorry if I didn't make this super-clear.
Thanks.

This looks promising
http://simple-pc-help.com/support/runtime_0x80004005.html?t202id=1198&t202kw=0x80004005&gclid=CNCE7LPK_pUCFQHilAoduBkAEA

Unless this registry maintenance tool does something none of the others do, I can't see that it's going to help for sure, but even so seems the issue is indeed in the registry.

Making slow progress on this ... tried reinstalling Excel 2007 from the original Enterprise edition CD and it can't find various .cab files during the install.  Even if I respond to the prompt with the correct location, the installer says "Invalid Location".

I did some more searching and a bit of lateral thinking and figured maybe something basic with COM+ was wrong.  I found these:
http://searchwindowsserver.techtarget.com/tip/0,289483,sid68_gci1132174,00.html
http://www.tek-tips.com/viewthread.cfm?qid=758414&page=2
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;315296

and in particular "I think fixed it. It's the GOD DAMN COM+ System Application service. It was turned off. Turn that back on and your comp will be okay." from the second of those three.

Lo and behold my COM+ System Application Service was switched off.  I've turned it back on but now the problem is that I can't reinstall Excel 2007.  I just selectively removed it from Office 2007 and left the rest in place.  But it now won't reinstalll with the aforementioned "Invalid Location" message, even when I hold its hand it point it at exactly the right folder.

Does this speak of a damaged COM+ Catalog (something about which I really know very little)?  I can't figure out for the life of me which the Office 2007 installer can't see what I point it at.

I found a few posts through Google under 'reinstall Office "Invalid Location" ' but nothing conclusive yet.

This is soooooooooooo frustrating but I'm sure eventually it will go away.

Meanwhile I've cleaned by registry with a few different tools and seemingly hundreds of incorrect COM and ActiveX registrations have been fixed.  It's just amazing how much mess there is under the bonnet of Windows.

doowell,

I appreciate your desire to avoid rebuilding your box but one must always consider the time required to try and fix the problem(s) versus the time required to rebuild. Based on the above, your system has reached, in my opinion, a point where rebuilding is the only viable option. I have been trying to fix my XP Internet performance on one of my boxes for a week now and am just about ready to do a rebuild. Your situation is worse. Consider:

- While it only takes a few hours to rebuild a machine, the actual time spent is even less, especially if you have other things to do.

- Once multiple serious problems start happening like "volume gets reset to zero" or "Windows Installer service is set to start automatically, but never starts up" then you can be pretty sure there are other bad things going on you haven't even discovered.

- Assuming you can even find the root cause, how will you know other problems haven't been created by that issue that now have to be found and fixed?

- Windows is notorious for getting buggered after so many hours of usage. Once it starts to show signs of stress, it almost always keeps getting worse and is difficult to recover. I have a general rule that my systems won't last more than six months to a year and put each on a rebuild list about once a year or sooner if they start showing signs of problems.

- You probably don't even use a some number of applications and utilities you have installed and rebuilding your box will purge those installations. Even if you uninstalled each and every application and utility you no longer use, uninstallers sometimes can't completely undo everything the installer did.

---

Should you decide to rebuild, start by taking inventory of of the applications and utilities you use. Make note of any settings you have made. For each application and utility that has more than a few settings, locate where the settings are stored and make a copy. If the references are stored in the registry, all you need to do is, using RegEdit, find the node containing the settings and export it. The exported file can be double-clicked to re-install the settings.

One of the things I have done in the past is to make an image of the box once I reach a baseline point. This makes rebuilding a lot easier.

Kevin

Kevin,
Thanks for the response.  My machine is a development box so it has absolutely masses of stuff on it.  I did however come across a method of reinstalling Windows XP that would preserve all the existing accounts, settings and applications.  Seems it's little-know but has worked a treat.
Insert the WinXP CD, navigate to the i386 directory at the MS-DOS command prompt and then issue the command

    WINNT32 /unattend

This sets the Windows installer going in unattended mode, which reinstalls Windows "underneath" everything that's already there.  I have no idea how it works and it must have been one huge feat of engineering, but within two hours my machine is back to its old form and the volume and Installer service issues have disappeared.  I'm about to try to reinstall Excel and all signs are so far positive.

I can't award myself points for solving this, so if anyone else has any good ideas I'll gladly bestow the points.  Otherwise Kevin will get them by default!

Cheers

Can someone ajudicate and determine whether I should give Kevin the points anyway...?

By the way Kevin, the turnaround in my machine's performance is incredible.  Everything is fast and zippy and EVERY SINGLE ISSUE LISTED ABOVE (and some others) has disappeared.
Forget rebuilding your machine every 6-12 months.  The unattended reinstall is the way forward.  The only trick is that it took a while to persuade the installer to install the devices.  I ended up unplugging all my USB kit and hard-restarting the machine as the installer hung for a couple of hours on the devices section.  I was terrified that I would fry my machine, but it seems the gurus who wrote the installer have made it virtually nuclear bomb proof, and it just resumed as if nothing had happened when I switched it back on.
I have to say, Microsoft come in for a lot flak, a lot of it justifiable (e.g. the depth of the click paths to find essential settings in really obscure places, and the sprawling, messy feel of their software), but when it comes to networking and now this issue of reinstalling Windows, I am SERIOUSLY impressed.
Congrats and respect to whoever is behind it.