Word 2000 and Equation editor

The equation editor of Word 2000 has suddenly started running slow. It takes a lot of time to open and it stops functioning for some amount of time. No error is reported though.

This happens with equation editor and figures of Word 2000.

My machine configuration is Windows ME and MS Office 2000. I have reinstalled MS Office but the problem still persists. Word runs fine if I am not using the equation editor or inserting figures.

Any suggestions/solution is much appreciated.