The problem started when we got a new batch of Dell Optiplex GX280’s here
last summer. When opening a Word document, the display of embedded graphics
lags, sometimes they will not display at all. Text is not affected. It is
not tied to a specific document. When the problem appears, all documents
behave the same way.

I’ve done some troubleshooting on it myself but have come up empty. The
problem disappears when opening documents after starting Word from the Run
box using the /a switch, so I thought it might be Macro related. However, I
ran all the procedures in the “support.dot” tool from Microsoft and the
problem appeared consistently no matter what I deleted, renamed, or changed.

We thought for a while that it was related to Acrobat, but removing Acrobat
from the computer only makes the problem disappear temporarily. Yesterday
after I applied Office 2003 Service Pack 2 to my machine, the problem went
away for a few hours, but returned after I closed Word and Outlook (I use
Word for my email editor) and restarted them.

Try reducing the hardware acceleration setting in Start > Settings > Control
Panel > Display > Settings > Advanced > Troubleshooting. If this fixes the
problem, then check with Dell or at the website of the video card
manufacturer to see if there is an updated driver.

--
Regards,
Jay Freedman
Microsoft Word MVP FAQ: http://word.mvps.org
Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so
all may benefit.

kl wrote:
> The problem started when we got a new batch of Dell Optiplex GX280's
> here last summer. When opening a Word document, the display of
> embedded graphics lags, sometimes they will not display at all. Text
> is not affected. It is not tied to a specific document. When the
> problem appears, all documents behave the same way.
>
> I've done some troubleshooting on it myself but have come up empty.
> The problem disappears when opening documents after starting Word
> from the Run box using the /a switch, so I thought it might be Macro
> related. However, I ran all the procedures in the "support.dot" tool
> from Microsoft and the problem appeared consistently no matter what I
> deleted, renamed, or changed.
>
> We thought for a while that it was related to Acrobat, but removing
> Acrobat from the computer only makes the problem disappear
> temporarily. Yesterday after I applied Office 2003 Service Pack 2 to
> my machine, the problem went away for a few hours, but returned after
> I closed Word and Outlook (I use Word for my email editor) and
> restarted them.