BSOD from Office 2016 apps

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I have an i7 5700HQ CPU and am having the same issue in Word 2016. Any time I click the DESIGN tab my system locks up and after a few minutes I get a :( Sad Face of Death (SFOD) with a Machine_Check_Exception.

I have researched this issue, and several Broadwell users are having issues with software that uses the Intel Virtualization Technology (VT). I believe office Click to Run uses some virtualization to allow the apps to run while installing, and this may be related to the issue.  However, I have been using Office 2013 on my computer for a few months now without any problems, so something new in Office 2016 is causing the exception.

A side note, I have the same issue when running the OneNote Windows 10 app. However, all the other apps I normally use run fine.

I am hoping this issue can be resolved through a driver or BIOS update, or through some method to prevent Office from using the virtualization features of the CPU. Disabling Intel VT in the BIOS helps but does not prevent the crash.

Any help on getting Office 2016 to run in the meantime would be helpful.

Update for anyone else experiencing this problem:

I suggest giving up now and saving yourself many wasted hours. I have replaced my i5-5675c with an i5-4690s and, as expected, the problem disappeared. Good news is that it is not Office 2016's fault, bad news is that it is a problem with the processor itself. In the 30+ hours I spent reading online and troubleshooting this problem, it is apparent that there is a design flaw that affects at least the i5-5675c, the i7-5775c, and the i7 5700HQ. According to the various posts online, it affects (1) linux virtual box setups (2) source engine games and (3) Office 2016. 

Some people had success when disabling Intel SpeedStep and Intel TurboBoost in bios, but the crashes still eventually happen. There is nothing the end-user can do to eliminate the issue.

Apparently there is a particular Intel errata that lists this as a possible issue, and its status is "No Fix" (indicating that as of June 2015, there are no plans to fix this bug). Maybe they will fix it eventually, but I seriously doubt it. The desktop Broadwell processors never made it to a North American full market release, and this flaw apparently only inflicts the 5700HQ mobile processor, so it is probably not going to be high on intel's priority list.

Either way, I use the particular pc in question for business and can't afford to wait around and I can't afford to spend any more time dealing with this problem. My advice if you are just now discovering that you are affected by this problem: return your pc while you still can (if you bought a prebuilt or laptop) or resell your processor and replace it. There is no other solution if you have this error and these chips. 

Wes, thanks for this technical investigation.  Very interesting!

MS is going to love it, being able to blame ALL of their Office 2016 problems on Intel.  Yes, I know that is overstating the issue, but I expect that is the way MS will spin doctor it.

Richard, yes CTR is another name virtualization technology.  It is rather poorly written because it depends on a hard coded installation path.  This is causing problems when you try to install multiple CTR packages, ie Office 365 and Visio 365.

https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/jj219427.aspx

I had the same problem with my GE62. Comes with i7-5700HQ.

BSOD when opening Excel, PPT and Word. Crashes every single time I click on the design tab.

All Office 2016 apps crash randomly too. 

No issues with Office 2013 though. Shouldn't have upgraded to Office 2016. Any way to downgrade to the 2013's version?

I have not seen an "official" document allowing "retrograde upgrades".  A few people have gotten 2013 back via MS Support. But it is a long hard slog to find the 'needle in the haystack' individual in Support who will do this for you.

A few people have found an unofficial approach to getting the 2013 installer back:

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/office/forum/office_2016-outlook/rolling-back-to-2013-from-2016/edda2c54-de95-446f-a306-59c688f15899?page=3&msgId=1f48defc-0069-4609-bb7d-1d4ca68481e9

I had the same issue, I kept getting the answer that it was IMPOSSIBLE from multiple Answer Desk associates!  

After almost giving up, I found a way to download and install the software manually using their own Development Tool.  Another good thing about using this tool is that I can keep a copy of the program offline in case I run into issues down the road and want to reinstall Office 2013.

The tool to use is the Office 365 Development Tool for Click to Run, normally used for administrators to use for installations across multiple PCs.

The download for the executable is at:

https://www.microsoft.com/en-ca/download/details.aspx?id=36778

After downloading the tool, you just need to edit a couple of configuration files.  One to download the Office archive and one to install the archive.

I found some tips on how to use it at: https://blog.vsean.net/post/

example for Office 365 Home I used.

1. <Configuration>
2. <Add SourcePath=”C:\Office15\” OfficeClientEdition=”32” >
3. <Product ID=”O365HomePremRetail”>
4. <Language ID=”en-us” />
5. </Product>
6. </Add>
7. </Configuration>
8. <Configuration>
9. <Add SourcePath=”C:\Office15\” Version=”15.0.4753.1003” OfficeClientEdition=”32” >
10. <Product ID=”O365HomePremRetail”>
11. <Language ID=”en-us” />
12. </Product>
13. </Add>
14. <Display Level=”Full” AcceptEULA=”TRUE” />
15. </Configuration>

The other Product ID codes are located at:  

https://blog.vsean.net/post/191

Big thanks to that website.

Hope that helps.  Crazy how many issues I had with my Surface Pro 3 and Windows 10 and Office 2016, but it runs like a champ on my desktops!

-Dry

https://c2rsetup.officeapps.live.com/c2r/download.aspx?productReleaseID=O365HomePremRetail&platform=X86&language=en-US&TaxRegion=pr&correlationId=2491f612-e060-4d3c-beef-bc8149bb07fd&token=fd38e9c7-123e-4816-bb2b-d214abf849e2&version=O15GA&source=O15OLSOMEX

http://answers.microsoft.com/thread/1b5ff08d-4a9e-4c17-a602-c7bcdceb723e

Office 2016 uninstalls my Visio 2013

<snip>

Hi Steve

From my Microsoft Office Account, I clicked on “Ask Support” at the bottom of the page under <Help and Support>. That took me to: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/contactus#.

I then clicked on “Services & apps” under <Contact Us>. That brought up a <Contact Answer Desk> message box with some options. I selected the “Office or Office 365 for Windows” option. That brought up the next options. I selected the “Technical Support” option.

This brings up options on how to progress. I selected the “Call me as soon as possible” option that showed a wait time of 1 minute. It asks for your country and contact phone number. After supplying mine, I received a call back almost immediately.

I provided a polite and calm summary of my issue and the support person recorded my details, gave me a case id# and identified that this issue is to be handled by a specific area and then put me through to that area.

My issue was successfully resolved by that area. Not immediately, but nonetheless, that area progressed and successfully resolved my issue. There were many steps and remote connections as part of that resolution, but those details aren't material to the process.

I’m sorry if this process is not successful for others – I just wanted to share the process that I used to successfully resolve my issue, in the hope that the same process may be successful for others.

Deanne

</snip>

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/office/forum/office_2016-outlook/rolling-back-to-2013-from-2016/edda2c54-de95-446f-a306-59c688f15899?page=3&msgId=1f48defc-0069-4609-bb7d-1d4ca68481e9

https://community.office365.com/en-us/f/172/t/409681

We have a solution within Support for that. The issue is documented here: https://support.office.com/article/-We-need-to-remove-some-older-apps-error-a225347f-e102-4ea6-9796-5d1ac5220c3b

When you contact Support, let them know you are upgrading your Office 2013 subscription to 2016 and are getting a message that Visio or Project needs to be removed. The support agents are being reminded of this situation and how to resolve it.

********

</snip>

People who have home/personal can also work through support on getting this resolved, and they have a process to get you back on 2013.  If the support person is not providing you with a method to re-install 2013, feel free to give them my name as I am on the product engineering team, and own the compatibility matrix and the process for what to do for customers that currently connect to Exchange 2007

Let me know if you are unable to get this resolved.

Erik Ashby

Principal Program Manger

Outlook Org

</snip>

YaHoo, …  Maybe!

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/3093039

This article provides you with a way to bludgeon MS Support into giving Office 2013 back! YAYYY!

I just saw this question and reply. 

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/office/forum/office_2016-outlook/rolling-back-to-2013-from-2016/edda2c54-de95-446f-a306-59c688f15899

So if you contact MS support and quote the MS KB article you may be able to get 2013 back!  YAY!

https://community.office365.com/en-us/f/172/t/409681

**********

<snip>

Everyone I talked to at Microsoft support said that there was no turning back from 2016 if you subscribe to office 365.  Although it took four different attempts to get someone from support to listen to me -  … spoke with her supervisor, took control of my PC and my laptop, uninstalled 2016 and reinstalled 2013.  

One caution - make sure to set office 365 to not perform any updates or you will get 2016 back on your device automatically. 

Here’s my Ticket number if it will help you: #13057424482. 

Finally, Viviana said there is a fix coming and to call back in about a month to see if you can configure exchange the way one you in 2013.  Thx.

</snip>

**********

<snip Read this reply Rolling Back to 2013 from 2016 >

Thanks for everyone’s comments on this thread;  Customers can un-install 2016 and re-install 2013; This is important since due to required functionality on versions of Exchange 2010 or later, Outlook 2016 does not support connecting Exchange 2007.  (See system requirements https://products.office.com/en-in/office-system-requirements ) 

Business subscriptions can directly download Office 2013 (see https://community.office365.com/en-us/f/172/t/409681 .  ) while home/personal can also work through support on getting this resolved as needed.

Let me know if you are unable to get connected.

Erik Ashby,

Principal Program Manger

Outlook Org

</snip>

Thanks for the tips. Mine was shipped with the BIOS version 10E. 

Updated to version 10F last week but the issue isn't solved. Just downloaded the latest version 110, will try to update and see how it goes.