Activex component error message in Access

Helpline Q&A Directory

I have a problem with Access in Microsoft Office 97. Every time I try to use the wizard to create either a new query or a new form from an existing database, I receive the message 'ActiveX component can't create object'. Everything is fine using Design view.

It sounds as though something has been messing with the file dao350.dll. It may be that the file is not properly registered. To correct this, make sure Microsoft Access isn't running, then try the following. Locate the file da0350.dll on your system (it may be in c:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\DAO), then open a command prompt and change to this directory. Now type the command:

c:\Windows\System\Regsvr32.exe dao350.dll

A message box containing a success message should appear. Start Access and see if this has resolved the problem. If this fails, try replacing the file dao350.dll with one from the Microsoft Office CD. You should find it in the folder \OS\Msapps\Dao. Make sure there are no other copies besides this one on your hard disk.

If this fails, delete the entire Dao folder containing the DLL, then reinstall Office 97. If that fails, you will have to try a complete removal of Access 97 followed by reinstallation. There isn't space to go into detail about that here, and hopefully it won't be necessary but, if it is, retrieve article Q163997, 'How to completely uninstall Microsoft Access 97', from the Microsoft Knowledge Base. To do that, just send an email to mshelp@microsoft.com with the article number in the subject line.