"Error accessing file" bug: fixed in Office 2003 SP2, back in SP3?

P

pibboater

Hi, I am experiencing the "Error accessing file. Network connection may have
been lost." bug with Excel and PowerPoint 2003 when following the steps
described below. I've duplicated the error on four PCs that have had all
available Microsoft and Office updates applied, and are on Office 2003 SP3.

The article http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx/kb/842315 says this
error "is corrected in Office 2003 Service Pack 2." The bug does not appear
on a PC I tested that has Office 2003 without any service packs, and it does
not appear on a PC with Office 2003 SP2. But as I said, it appears on every
SP3 machine I've tested.

Interestingly, following the steps below on my personal laptop with Office
_2002_ SP3 and all Office updates applied produces the same "Error accessing
file." I see that a hotfix was issued after 2002 SP3 to fix this problem:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/830007 , so my guess is a hotfix needs to be
issued to fix the problem in 2003 SP3 as well.

Finally, the steps I've used to isolate the error.. The KB articles I've
linked to describe the error as happening when you use a macro to copy a
presentation, but it's the same error message and could be caused by the same
underlying problem.

1. Open Excel
2. Record a macro (can even just be a blank macro)
3. Open the Visual Basic Editor (Alt+F11) and remove the module that
contains the macro
4. Enter some data on the worksheet and create a simple chart
5. Copy the chart (if you placed the chart in the current sheet, it should
be selected. If it is not selected, click near the outer edge of it so the
eight black dots appear around the edge to show it is selected. Press Ctrl+C
to copy.)
7. Open PowerPoint, and paste the chart in a PowerPoint slide
8. This error appears about eight times in Excel (or the Visual Basic editor
if it is still open): “Error accessing file. Network connection may have been
lost.â€
9. Double click the chart in PowerPoint to get to the workbook behind the
chart. The Excel error appears again. Then an error appears in PowerPoint:
“Microsoft Office PowerPoint can’t start the application required to open
this object...†Clicking No gives the error “There isn’t enough memory
available to read Chart.†Clicking Yes runs an install for the "Application
server" component, but when it finishes the Excel error and memory error
appear again.

Thanks,
Kevin
 

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