When browsing the settings for the Search Service Application in SharePoint 2010, I received the error “Retrieving the COM class factory for component with CLSID {OFFICE14-0005-0000-0000-000000000000} failed due to the following error 8007042d”.
I checked the SharePoint Server Search Service “SharePoint Server Search 14” in the services MMC and noticed that the service was Stopped due to a login failure. Updated the login information, started the service, and I was able to browse the search service application settings pages successfully.