Word XP can't handle graphics

[AnnieMS]

I have word xp installed on a thinkpad x41 running winxp tab ed sp3. I like to do a little dtp making my own folder labels & gift tags etc. However, if I try to use the drawing tools in word - to group objects or to edit a wmf file to change some colors the page suddenly goes blank except for a small line in the left hand corner. Or word crashes. This is when it's the only program running other than the real-time av protection and windows services and thinkpad device-type programs that always have to run.

I just had to replace the hd on the thinkpad, so it's a newly formatted hd. The thinkpad has a 1.6 GHz Pentium M & 1.5 GB RAM. I've got a 3.34 GB page file on a 4200 rpm Hitachi Travelstar® C4K60, known for its slow performance. I updated Word to sp3 after reinstalling it from the cd.

Word developed this same problem on the old hd, but it handled graphics when it was first installed. Also it crashed a lot regardless of what I was doing. Apparently word's problems weren't related to the hd's problems.

Any ideas on how to troubleshoot this problem?