InDesign CS3 crashing adding table style...HELP!!

Question

This issue started on Friday.  I just starting working on a large document that will have many tables throughout, so I must use the table styles.  Here is the order in which I do things to get the crash.
Place document from Word in to InDesign document
Highlight table to be changed
Convert text using paragraph styles
Alter column widths to fit page
Highlight entire table to select table style
Click desired table style
CRASH!!!!
I have tried the following things with NO LUCK:
Deleted adobefntX file multiple times (actually worked for a couple of hours first time I did it)
Deleted InDesign preferences (did nothing)
Re-created all "Styles" in InDesign (Character, Paragraph, Cell, & Table) (Did nothing)
Changed the order in which I altered the tables text and formatting (thinking it was just a silly order problem)
Unistalled and Re-installed CS3 (worked for 5 tables and then CRASH)
Updated ALL software (Adobe and Mac)
Started up in Safe mode and CRASH!!!
I realize from seraching for this problem on the web that I am probably the ONLY person having this issue, but I thought it was a font problem until I started in Safe Mode and still crashed.  I am totally confused as to what I should do next.  I am running on a
Model Name:    MacBook Pro
Model Identifier:    MacBookPro4,1
Processor Name:    Intel Core 2 Duo
Processor Speed:    2.4 GHz
Number Of Processors:    1
Total Number Of Cores:    2
L2 Cache:    3 MB
Memory:    4 GB
Bus Speed:    800 MHz
Boot ROM Version:    MBP41.00C1.B03
SMC Version (system):    1.27f1
Any help would be GREATLY appreciated.

Answer 1

I am not familiar with InDesign Interchange, do you think this will help?
That's why I suggested it. But you didn't answer my question: Is this happening with only one file? The reason I ask is because if one file is corrupted, saving to INX and back to INDD often clears out minor corruptions. If you're seeing this in many files it's unlikely they're all corrupt.
1. Convert text using paragraph styles - I meant modified "placed" text using character styles
Now I'm really confused. Your steps are:
Place document from Word in to InDesign document
Highlight table to be changed
Modify placed text using character styles
Are you really highlighting an entire table and applying a character style? While this will work to modify certain formatting aspects, it's not really the best approach. Character styles are for characters *within* a paragraph. Paragraph styles are for *entire* paragraphs. Each table cell contains at least one full paragraph, even if it's just a single number, a space, even if there's nothing there at all. If you want to format the contents of an entire cell or range of cells with the same formatting, use a paragraph style, not a character style. If you want to italicize one or two words in some text in a cell (the way I just did), then use a character style.
I really feel that the issue either stems from fonts or from placing the document from Word.
Could be. Cheap fonts are the cause of many problems in Indesign. Indesign is really picky about fonts. But let's try the easy fix first (INX). If you don't trust it, save the .inx to a new .indd filename (keep your old .indd file as a backup).
Ken