Excel freezes when a column is inserted

[Kingfisher]

Hi all, I've been working without issue on an Excel 2003 file with nearly
29,000 rows and 10 columns of data for the last month, but suddenly, anytime
I try to insert a column, Excel completely locks up. After nearly 4 minutes,
Excel begins responding again, and will do so until I try to insert/delete a
column. I have all data in the same font and font size, and do not have any
calculations being performed in the file, nor do I have any macros running.
I don't know what else to do but continually backup the file because it seems
like it is currently corrupt, but functional (for the moment).

Any suggestions on what might be wrong?

I'm using Windows XP S2, Excel 2003 w/ all updates, on an IBM Thinkpad, 1.6
Ghtz Pentium M, 756 MB RAM.

 

[OssieMac]

Hi Kingfisher,

A couple of things you can look at trying. I am clutching at straws but you
should at least eliminate these as possible causes.

Look in explorer and check the size of the file.

In the worksheet select all the blank columns to the right of your data and
delete the columns. (Not just clear them). It doesn't actually remove the
columns because they are replaced but it ensures that there is no data in
them.

Repeat the above for all the rows below your data and then save the file.

Recheck the size of the file. If still the same size then that is not the
problem.

Check how much disk space you have left. (Open Explorer or My computer,
right click on the C drive and select properties and then the General tab.)

I suspect that it is using considerable memory with a worksheet the size you
specified. This will be supplemented with virtual memory in the paging file.
If you have sufficient disk space, then look up 'Paging file' in Windows Help
and Support and select 'Change the size of the virtual memory paging file'
and it tells you how to increase the size of virtual memory by increasing the
size of the paging file.

I don't know all the intricacies of it but I have been given to understand
that if the memory plus virtual memory is not large enough then the system
does little bits of work at a time and this takes forever to complete.

Anyway I will be interested in whether you have any success with it.

Regards,

OssieMac