Advice re: Excel

[Big John]

I have been using Office 97 for several years (primarily Excel and Word)
and realize that it is no longer supported by MS, but since it still
worked and I couldn't afford to update, I just kept rolling along. Last
night however, I attempted to open one of my Excel files and got a
notice that some file within Excel couldn't be located and that I should
upgrade immediately! Now I can get into some of my files but not others
--bummer!!

I really cannot afford to run out and purchase a new Office Suite and
do not yet feel comfortable using Open Office, do was wondering if I can
just reload my old Excel and continue to use it to rescue some of my
files and limp along until I can get a newer Office Suite.

 

[Dave Peterson]

I've never seen any version of excel that gives a message that you should
upgrade.

You may want to share the exact message that you got and what you were doing (be
specific as possible) when you got it.

 

[CLR]

I agree with Dave........something else must be going on.........I work at a
company that has over 1000 computers, most of which are still using XL97 very
happily......we've never seen that "upgrade message". Please come back with
more details.

Vaya con Dios,
Chuck, CABGx3

 

[Big John]

I agree with Dave........something else must be going on.........I work at a
company that has over 1000 computers, most of which are still using XL97 very
happily......we've never seen that "upgrade message". Please come back with
more details.

Vaya con Dios,
Chuck, CABGx3

Well, it came as such a shock, I failed to try to copy it and didn't
write down any of the details. Next time I'll know better, if there is a
next time. As I mentioned, I can now get into some of my files, and not
others -- about 50-50.

I guess my major question now is, should I be able to reload Excel (I
still have my original disk) and hopefully/possibly recover the my
missing files?

Big John
(CABGx3, also Chuck - plus a St.Jude AV)( I wonder how many folks know
what this means)

 

[Dave Peterson]

What happens when you try to open the troublesome workbooks?

Write down any message you get <bg>. And share the details of what you're doing
when it fails.

I'm not sure if reinstalling excel will fix anything (but it shouldn't hurt).

Big John wrote:

 

[CLR]

(CABGx3, also Chuck - plus a St.Jude AV)( I wonder how many folks know

what this means)

Dave does, but I'm not sure how many others here do.

As for your problem about opening files.........is it possible that someone
else opened and saved them back in place using a higher version of Excel?

Vaya con Dios,
Chuck, CABGx3

 

[Ron Rosenfeld]

I've never seen any version of excel that gives a message that you should
upgrade.

I've gotten that message following a crash of Outlook 2002.
OL Crashes

Message Box: (paraphrase) OL has shut down. Do you want to send a report to
MS?

Answer YES to the above.

Reply from MS is that they cannot fix the problem, and I should upgrade.

So the message doesn't really come from Outlook, but rather is generated by the
error reporting mechanism set up from MS.

I wonder if the OP's sequence is similar. I've not had an Excel 2002 crash, so
I don't know if I would get a similar "upgrade" message.
--ron

 

[Dave Peterson]

I guess those reports go through MS's marketing group first <bg>.

And keep those fingers crossed -- you've had an excellent track record with
xl2002.

 

[T. Valko]

(CABGx3, also Chuck - plus a St.Jude AV)( I wonder how many folks know

Dave does, but I'm not sure how many others here do.

I do. If you remember, I asked you. (and Dave replied as well)

Hope you guys are doing well! Happy Thanksgiving.

 

[T. Valko]

I've not had an Excel 2002 crash

Do you want to experience one? I also run 2002 and can crash mine at will!

Version: 10.6823.6825 SP3

Consider this innocuous array formula:

=IF(A1>0,(MATCH(TRUE,A2:A10>0,0)-1)*A1,"")

Paste that formula in cell B1 (array entered)

Enter a number in cell A1. (any number, doesn't matter)

Select cell B1 then goto Tools>Formula Auditing>Evaluate Formula

Click the Evaluate button twice, click it again and it will be evaluating
this expression:

A2:A$10>0

Crash!

 

[T. Valko]

Enter a number in cell A1. (any number, doesn't matter)

Well, any number >0. You want the value_if_true to evaluate.

 

[Ron Rosenfeld]

Do you want to experience one? I also run 2002 and can crash mine at will!

Version: 10.6823.6825 SP3

Consider this innocuous array formula:

=IF(A1>0,(MATCH(TRUE,A2:A10>0,0)-1)*A1,"")

Paste that formula in cell B1 (array entered)

Enter a number in cell A1. (any number, doesn't matter)

Select cell B1 then goto Tools>Formula Auditing>Evaluate Formula

Click the Evaluate button twice, click it again and it will be evaluating
this expression:

A2:A$10>0

Crash!

Yup, that does it.

And the message from the "crash message" at
http://wer.microsoft.com/responses/....0.0?SGD=d5338636-6853-4b96-99dd-63192f632050

includes:

Problem caused by Microsoft Excel 2002: consider upgrading

The problem was caused by Microsoft Excel 2002, which was created by Microsoft
Corporation. Microsoft Excel 2002 is in its "Extended Support" phase. This
phase of support for Microsoft Excel 2002 began on July 11, 2006. Only
security-related solutions are created by Microsoft for this version of
Microsoft Office.

Recommendation

 

[Pete_UK]

I've had similar messages when XL2000 crashes and I click to send the
report to MS. I suppose they want you to part with some money and get
the latest versions. I've stopped sending the messages, as the replies
don't help in solving problems. I'm not sure why the OP can't access
some of his files now, though.

Pete

 

[Big John]

I have been using Office 97 for several years (primarily Excel and Word)
and realize that it is no longer supported by MS, but since it still
worked and I couldn't afford to update, I just kept rolling along. Last
night however, I attempted to open one of my Excel files and got a
notice that some file within Excel couldn't be located and that I should
upgrade immediately! Now I can get into some of my files but not others
--bummer!!

I really cannot afford to run out and purchase a new Office Suite and
do not yet feel comfortable using Open Office, do was wondering if I can
just reload my old Excel and continue to use it to rescue some of my
files and limp along until I can get a newer Office Suite.

Yea!!
I' glad to hear that someone has had a similar experience - I thought
maybe I was losing my marbles!!

Now to top it all off -- I gave up on the lost files, shut down and went
away. This morning I thought I would try one more time, I rebooted (for
about the tenth time) and opened up again just to see if anything had
changed (and mourn the loss of my files) --Eureka!! they are back!!!
Everything seems to be back to normal and working fine!! Now how do we
explain that????????? Hmmmm! Maybe I am losing it!!

Anyway, thanks to everyone for their advise and kind words. You can rest
assured I will back up, back up, backup on a flash drive so I can at
least rescue any files on my other computer.

BJ

 

[Dave Peterson]

Glad to hear that you got your files back. I don't have an explanation, but I
agree that backing up those important files is a very good idea <bg>.

Big John wrote:

 

[CLR]

Yeah Biff, I remember now sorry........but I even had to look up the "St.
Jude AV" thing, I had not heard of it before.

Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours as well,

Vaya con Dios,
Chuck, CABGx3

 

[T. Valko]

Yup, that does it.

And the message from the "crash message" at
http://wer.microsoft.com/responses/....0.0?SGD=d5338636-6853-4b96-99dd-63192f632050

includes:

Problem caused by Microsoft Excel 2002: consider upgrading

The problem was caused by Microsoft Excel 2002, which was created by
Microsoft
Corporation. Microsoft Excel 2002 is in its "Extended Support" phase. This
phase of support for Microsoft Excel 2002 began on July 11, 2006. Only
security-related solutions are created by Microsoft for this version of
Microsoft Office.

Recommendation

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Consider upgrading to the latest version of Microsoft Office to receive
full
support. Go online to learn how to upgrade.

That was a minor crash. Depending on the complexity of the formula,
sometimes it crashes "hard" to where you have to go into Task Manager to
regain control of the machine.

What's surprising is if that formula was reduced to:

=MATCH(TRUE,A2:A10>0,0)

And you then do the evaluate formula it will not crash.

 

[T. Valko]

That was a minor crash. Depending on the complexity of the formula,
sometimes it crashes "hard" to where you have to go into Task Manager to
regain control of the machine.

What's surprising is if that formula was reduced to:

=MATCH(TRUE,A2:A10>0,0)

And you then do the evaluate formula it will not crash.

P.S.

I've learned to recognize what kinds of formulas will cause this and avoid
doing an evaluation altogether. However, sometimes I need to find a problem
in a really complex formula and if I suspect it will cause a crash I reduce
the size of the ranges in the formula to no more than 5 cells. This seems to
help prevent the crash.

 

[Jim Cone]

Biff,
Sounds like you need to upgrade. <g>
--
Jim Cone
San Francisco, USA
http://www.realezsites.com/bus/primitivesoftware



(Excel Add-ins / Excel Programming)
"T. Valko"
wrote in message
P.S.
I've learned to recognize what kinds of formulas will cause this and avoid
doing an evaluation altogether. However, sometimes I need to find a problem
in a really complex formula and if I suspect it will cause a crash I reduce
the size of the ranges in the formula to no more than 5 cells. This seems to
help prevent the crash.

 

[T. Valko]

Sounds like you need to upgrade. <g>

Yeah! I can get a really good deal on Office/Excel 2003 but I don't think
this particular problem is fixed in that version:

Note the version Dave Peterson is using.

http://tinyurl.com/q92ty

I'm not convinced Excel 2007 is an upgrade!