soffice.bin process not closing

[DD2]

I am using version 2.3.1 of OpenOffice on WinXP and many times I try to open a document but nothing opens. If I open Task Manager I see a soffice.bin process running that I manually kill and then I can restart OpenOffice. Does anyone know why this happens and what I can do to fix ?
Thanks.

[Hagar Delest]

What format?
Can you upload it here if there is no sensitive data?
You can try to open it on a different version or OS, sometimes it works.

[foxcole]

I've noticed the same thing, but it doesn't seem to be consistent. I need to test more, but it seems to me that it happens after I copy and paste images. I've no idea how that could influence how the program shuts down... and I could be off the mark. But maybe you could try that and see if you're able to reproduce the problem.

[Bill]

Cannot shutdown windows properly... is the related bug report. It's been open for 5 years and reported multiple times, but it seems to occur randomly and steps to reproduce the problem haven't been found yet.

[foxcole]

Oddly enough, I haven't seen this problem for quite a while. It's only popped up again with 2.3.1, when I noticed that sometimes the QuickStarter appears even though I have it turned off.

[robrocker]

I am running OpenOffice 3.2.0 on Windows Vista Home Basic and the soffice.bin process is not closing. This is the first version which I experienced the problem. Is there a patch fix I can install to resolve the issue. I have uninstalled and reinstalled the same version and that did not resolve the issue.
Thanks,
- Rob.

[Lotus-steve]

I'm also having the same problem under Windows 7 Home Premium and OOo 3.2. Initially I thought it was due to starting OOo by pointing at a Text or spreadsheet file in Free Comander, which I use instead of Windows Explorer, but it is so intermitent that I am now not sure what causes it.
I have got used to going in to System Explorer and closing the process tree, and then OOo opens OK. If anyone has a solution I would really apreciate it.
Thanks
Steve

[Hagar Delest]

Try to switch off the quickstarter (OOo icon in the system tray) definitively.

[thinman3]

I'd like to add my 'complaint' on this topic also. As has been mentioned , it is a random event
but is a real nuisance. Have found as many as 3 instances of soffice.bin running after pulling
up Task Manager. Once I kill all three, then Calc opens. As to what I was doing previously to
shutting down and then opening Calc, just what I would consider basic spreadsheet operations.
Might work for 30 minutes and then shut down or stay busy for 5 - 6 hours working on a project.
The problem may occur a couple days running or once a month...definitely a pain.

Using 3.2.0 on WinXP Pro w/SP3. Has happened with previous versions of OO-calc also. Have
tried the various remedies mentioned in other posts but nothing so far works. Oh well, just
thought I vent my frustration.

ray

[Handys One]

Having the same issue here. Running Windows Vista with AVG. Have reset the user file twice in a month and the problem has started already.

[Zaphod Beeblebrox]

Yep, same here on a couple of Xp running PCs

Very annoying expecially when the operator is not very expert...

[mikecorbeil]

I'm having the same problem, though inconsistently, with soffice.bin not always closing on Win XP. I just installed the version of OO shown in my signature a few days ago and have used one or two earlier versions, 2.x and 3.1.x in the past that didn't have this problem with soffice.bin not closing, not that I was able to notice anyway. I noticed it with v3.2.1 because of OO Writer not opening when I had no known open instances of it, which caused me to check which processes were in memory. (I use System Explorer, instead of Windows Task Manager.)

That permitted seeing that there were three instances of swriter and soffice.bin that were still in memory, probably hung processes, I guess. So I killed swriter, but this left soffice.bin in memory. Killing soffice.bin, however, immediately kills the whole swriter process, but it also killed System Explorer, which restarted without any problems though.

I've identified two problems (and perhaps there are more):

1) soffice.bin does not consistently close or terminate when OO Writer windows are closed; and,

2) When I have a few instances of swriter and soffice.bin in memory without any open OO Writer windows, or any other OO windows, I sometimes am unable to open another OO Writer window.

The solution is clearly not to always be able to open additional OO Writer windows when there are multiple instances of swriter and soffice.bin still in memory without any open OO Writer (or other OO) windows.

The solution is for soffice.bin to completely and cleanly terminate when the OO Writer or any OO window that's attached or is parent is closed.

Where's the solution's implementation or patch?

I noticed one person saying to make sure that OO QuickStarter is disabled, but mine is and OO was installed this way. However, this should not be the solution for the above problem. It might be a temporary solution for some people, while clearly not for everyone, since it isn't for me. It's an inconsistent solution, if it really does work for anyone; but, more important, it's not the technically required solution.

Escalation?

So, has this problem with OO or OO Writer come to the knowledge of the OO development team? This is a user forum, not a developer forum, so I wonder if they're aware of this problem. If they are, then it would be good for them to comment here.

I tried searching openoffice.org for content about this problem and only find posts about it in the user forum here.

This forum is missing the head-scratcher or -scratching smilie, so I'll use .

[Hagar Delest]

You can report it: [Tutorial] Reporting bugs or suggestions. But even if it has been reported already, the problem is that there is no pattern to replicate this. So devs won't take it into account.

[mikecorbeil]

Hagar de l'Est,

Thanks for the reply.

[Handys One]

The sad thing is that I am running Open Office on my home computer with Vista and have absolutely no issues with OO.
Knock on wood.

[dimt]

I have this problem since I upgraded to 3.2.1 from 3.1 3 weeks ago, quite annoying. Win XP Home SP3

[mikecorbeil]

Handys One,

Do you use OO for multiple files or documents all open at the same time or with windows of other applications open, or do you have OO open for only one file and/or no windows of other apps open when using OO?

[mikecorbeil]

From what I could tell last night or evening, the soffice.bin problem seems to only occur (for me) when I have two or more files open with OO Writer at the same time. And I usually have also had a Firefox session open, as well as sometimes Thunderbird, at the same time.

This is on a PC with 512 MB of RAM running Win XP, so free RAM very noticeably [drops].

For a while last night I didn't have Firefox or Thunderbird open, kept opening only one file at a time with OO Writer, and the soffice.bin problem either didn't happen, or happened only once. That was during maybe two hours (if not more). And I closed and reopened the files with OO Writer as changes to make to them came to mind. soffice.bin might have hung once, but no more than that.

So I wonder if the problem, for me anyway, might be related to RAM and/or whether or not windows of other applications are open. If OO (I only use OO Writer, for now anyway) should not be used while windows of other applications are open, then this would not be good for an office suite, for users will sometimes need Writer and a Web browser (f.e.) open at the same time.

Otoh, OO Writer or soffice.bin closes as it should when Firefox or Thunderbird is open and I don't have multiple files opened with OO Writer. It seems to happen when there are two or more files open with OO Writer; even if there is a separate swriter and soffice process for each file that's open with OO Writer.

I am working in English and French, which is why there sometimes (or often) is one file for each language open with OO Writer at the same time; and sometimes it's three, instead of only two, files. But they're small, two and three-page resume files, so the size(s) of the files evidently isn't the problem.

[mikecorbeil]

I have this problem since I upgraded to 3.2.1 from 3.1 3 weeks ago, quite annoying. Win XP Home SP3

Perhaps that's an indication that the problem will be corrected for the next sub-version release of OO. Maybe the developers could just compare the differences between soffice.bin in OO 3.2.1 and 3.1.3, or if there are no differences there, then between code calling or running soffice.bin.

I'll check what the changes are between 3.1.3 and 3.2.1 and if they're not important to me, then I'll try to download, install and see if the soffice.bin problem disappears with 3.1.3. If the changes aren't for OO Writer, then 3.1.3 is probably fine for my needs; having either no or very little personal need of the other OO applications.

[Handys One]

Sometimes its a single file, more often its multiple. But its not consistent. I had 4 files open and all closed just as they should. Opened one later, and it appeared to close, but the bin was still going in processes. I've taken to keeping task manager open all the time.

[John_Ha]

See quick way to zap soffice.bin in http://user.services.openoffice.org/en/ ... 15&t=34922