Question : Broken spell check

Toshiba Satellite A135-S4656 rolled back to Windows XP, running Office 2007 is having a major problem with Spell-check in both Word and Outlook.  

The symptoms variously include the following:
1)      Spelling errors will not be caught by spell check (either the automatic check or the manually-selected spell-check).
2)      Spelling errors in an opened document will not be identified until the word is somehow modified and then the spell check might catch it.
3)      Spelling errors in a new document are not identified as they are written.
4)      Spelling errors in one part of a document will be identified, but will not show up in another part (like in a text table).

Ive tried:
1)      repairing MS Office
2)      removing the standard spelling dictionary & having a new one automatically generated,
3)      replacing the bad standard dictionary with a known working one from another computer,
4)      editing the registry according to the MS knowledge base
5)      rebooting
6)      throwing the computer out the window

So far only #6 seems to be working.  Other options will work temporarily and then the problem will resume.

Answer : Broken spell check

it sounds to me like there are certain parts of the document marked as exempt from spell check.  This is a per-document setting and XP's regional settings have nothing to do with this.  Sounds like the spell check works in new documents, so that supports the idea that it's document-specific.  Try taking one of the documents that doesn't work and do the following (this process should still work in 2007):

1. Open the document in question
2. ctrl-a (to select the entire document; you can have settings set for different parts of the document, so if you don't do this then you're not setting the language options for the entire document)
3. This is where you'll need to substitute your knowledge of the 2007 interface.  In <=2003, you'd go to Tools > Language > Set Language and uncheck "Do not check spelling or grammar".
4. Try the spellcheck again.  if this works, then it's the same old story that happens in all versions of Word.

If the above steps don't work, then let's see if it's a damaged document or problem with Word:
1. Open Word in Word safe mode (start > run > type winword /a and hit enter)
2. Open one of the documents in question
3. ctrl-shift-8 (to toggle the formatting marks)
4. ctrl-end (to go to the bottom of the document)
5. ctrl-shift-home (to select all of the document except for the last pilcrow (paragraph mark)
6. ctrl-c (to copy the document)
7. ctrl-n (to open a new document)
8. ctrl-v (to paste the document)
9. save this as a test document and see if the spellcheck works on it.  If so, then it's either a damaged document (invasive fix) or a Word setting problem (easy to fix).  If that doesn't work, then it's likely a problem with the spelling engine/dictionaries, which it appears that you've troubleshot some already.

If setting the language options works, then you've got your solution - painful as it may be.  But, that's all just part of being a Microsoft user.