Excel 2003 will not open certain files at times

[LeoBizzle]

I have a user that gets SERIOUS lags when he tries to open a 7M file in Excel on his machine. When he clicks file / open / filename.etc, he gets immediate 100% CPU usage, and it stays like that until he manually shuts it via the task manager. My first thought was that he needed some serious defragging, but that doesn't seem an issue.

 

[Jasonchatham]

Does the machine have Anti virus in place ?

Does the file open ok on another machine ?

Jason

 

[LeoBizzle]

Yes, we run Symantec Anti-virus, and the file opens fine on another system, meaning it's a local problem of some sort.

 

[Dreamboat]

Sounds like it's just this one file, huh?

Try this stuff (likely the size will also drop if any of these works):

--Save to new name
--Copy all sheets to a new book
--Clear all cells not in use

Anne Troy
VBA Coders, please help:

http://www.vbaexpress.com/kb

 

[LeoBizzle]

I tried that already, to no affect. The file has alot of calculations going on in a number of cells. Of course this is part of the problem, but it shouldn't necessitate usage of the task manager to close the file, and either way he should be able to open it, though it might take a year.

Leo Barnett

http://www.mdcresearch.com

 

[Corgano]

Did you try clearing all the temp files on the machine, including the ones in: Documents and Settings/<UserName>/Local Settings/Temp?

I had a user have this same problem. When all the files were purged and a full defrag performed it fixed it. It may or may not for you but it's worth a shot.

 

[Corgano]

Oh, also check that the HD has more than 500MB free... although clearing the temp files should also help with that.

Check any other user profiles on that machine and wipe those temp files as well.

 

[KenWright]

Excel 2000 by any chance? Possible corruption of the *.xlb file that hasn't completely gone yet. Find and delete the file (You will lose all toolbar customisations) and try again.

That having been said, a 7M on disk file can in fact be a lot bigger than it really appears, as the following article will tell you, and Excel's internal memory management may just not be able to cope with thsi particular file. If other users can open it Ok then it won't be that, but points back to a profile issue such as the *.xlb file.

http://www.decisionmodels.com/memlimitsc.htm

Regards
Ken..............

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It's easier to beg forgiveness than ask permission

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[LeoBizzle]

I'm running XP and 2003 office suit. But I'll still delete the .xlb(s). The user says he's never done any customizations to excel, but users instruct windows to make small but permanent preference changes all the time without realizing it. E.g. Spyware.. man I hate that stuff! Just had to throw that in, even though its off-topic.


Leo Barnett

http://www.mdcresearch.com

 

[Dreamboat]

Leo! No off topic allowed!!

Ken: Did you send me those whips and chains?

Anne Troy
VBA Coders, please help:

http://www.vbaexpress.com/kb

 

[KenWright]

LOL - Anne, those I'd bring round personally

Leo, it's unlikely to be the *.xlb then as the problem was all but eradicated in XP and 2003. I would also have tended towards clearing out the temp files etc.

If the workbook had been corrupted you could have tried using the Open and Repair option, but if as you say others can open it OK, then that is unlikely to help either. I'm assuming that no other files are open at the same time, all other apps closed down etc and he still has this issue. Any chance he doesn't have as much RAM as the others, or are the hardware profiles identical too.

You could also try the following KB

814112
Files on Network Shares Open Slowly or Read-Only or You Receive an Error

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=KB;EN-US;814112

or try the rest of the advice on Chip Pearson's site:-

http://cpearson.com/excel/StartupErrors.htm

In particular the Detect and Repair option for Excel

Regards
Ken..................

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It's easier to beg forgiveness than ask permission

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