Glitches with Excel in Leopard

[Bozrite]

I have been having intermittent problems with Excel 2008 - version 12.0.1 on my 2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo Imac running OS 10.5.2. Sometimes it quits, saying it's a memory issue? Now I am trying to open a workbook that was saved with my previous version of Excel (OfficeX) and get the following error ... I like other Office 2008 features, but use excel pivot tables extensively ... can I reinstall OfficeX and chose which I run for what?

Microsoft Error Reporting log version: 2.0

Error Signature:
Exception: EXC_BAD_ACCESS
Date/Time: 2008-03-28 10:43:13 -0400
Application Name: Microsoft Excel
Application Bundle ID: com.microsoft.Excel
Application Signature: XCEL
Application Version: 12.0.1.080305
Crashed Module Name: Microsoft Excel
Crashed Module Version: 12.0.1.080305
Crashed Module Offset: 0x003e6b7d
Blame Module Name: Microsoft Excel
Blame Module Version: 12.0.1.080305
Blame Module Offset: 0x003e6b7d
Application LCID: 1033
Extra app info: Reg=en Loc=0x0409

Operating System Information
Operating System: Mac OS X 10.5.2 (Build 9C7010)
CPU: Intel Core Duo, Number: 2, Speed: 2147 MHz
gestaltPhysicalRAMSize err = 0, result = 1024 MB
gestaltSystemVersion err = 0, result = 0x1052
Screen: 1680 x 1050, depth = 32, ltbr = 0, 0, 1050, 1680

Microsoft Application Information:
Error Reporting UUID: AFB51AC4-562B-4262-A7EE-64684B65A132
Time from launch: 0 hours, 23 minutes, 48 seconds
Total errors on this client: 7

 

[Pat McMillan]

This has been reported many, many times in this newsgroup and I've said many
times that this is an Apple issue. Apple is aware of the bug and is working
on a fix. There are many reports that it also affects other apps besides
Microsoft apps. Please contact Apple if you have a complaint about this
specific issue. For other problems with Mac Office, please keep them coming!

Thanks,

Pat

 

[Roger_Rubinstein]

This has been reported many, many times in this newsgroup and I've said many

times that this is an Apple issue. Apple is aware of the bug and is working
on a fix. There are many reports that it also affects other apps besides
Microsoft apps. Please contact Apple if you have a complaint about this
specific issue. For other problems with Mac Office, please keep them coming!

Thanks,

Pat


On 3/26/08 3:49 PM, in article (e-mail address removed)9absDaxw, "msafar"
wrote:

> Excel freezes rock solid on me. I can do nothing but reboot. I've not figured
> out the pattern yet. I'm switching to numbers, or using Parallels until this
> is fixed.
>
> Apparently, not even Mac OS X kernel can save Microsoft. I've never had ANY
> product on my mac freeze the machine so badly that I had to reboot (only the
> mouse would work). Beachball of death.

--
Pat McMillan
Macintosh Business Unit
Microsoft Corp.
This posting is provided �AS IS� with no warranties, and confers no rights.

Hi, Pat -

It may be more effective if we all contact Apple about these Excel problems in the same way. Can you supply an e-mail address to use?

Thanks.

 

[Pat McMillan]

Hi Roger,

I wish I could do that, but I don't think it would be good for our
relationship with Apple if I did so! I'm not sure of the best way for Apple
customers to report these types of issues, but there should be a way via
Apple's web site.

Thanks,

Pat

 

[Gwyn_Headley]

Since I upgraded yesterday from Office 2004 to Office 2008, the new Excel has crashed 8 times, first giving the warning "Not enough memory". I have 2 GB of memory on a MacBook Pro running 10.5.2. I can't recall the last time Excel in Office 2004 crashed, if ever.

Is this the Apple issue referred to above? If so, why didn't it affect the old, working, Excel?

 

[Gwyn_Headley]

Make that 10 times now. I haven't had memory problems like this since I bought Word 6.0 on 16 floppy disks.

 

[Bob Greenblatt]

Make that 10 times now. I haven't had memory problems like this since I bought
Word 6.0 on 16 floppy disks.

I suppose it could be the Apple problem mentioned. And the reason it did not
effect Excel 2004, is that Excel 2004 is running in simulation via Rosetta
on Intel machines while Excel 2008 is "native."

On the other hand, I have been running Excel 2008 daily on a MacBook Pro
with 10.5.2 and the latest office updates, and it has never crashed for me.
Have you tried running it in a new user account?

 

[Gwyn_Headley]

Do you mean a new user account in the Mac OS? If so, no I haven't. Every time I wanted to use Excel (and I dip in and out of it because I'm using it as a database for a book) I'd have to log out of my open applications and effectively restart. Not an appealing work routine. But if it's the only way to go, then I'll have to do it. Or go back to Office 2004. I have the disk somewhere …

 

[Bob Greenblatt]

Do you mean a new user account in the Mac OS? If so, no I haven't. Every time
I wanted to use Excel (and I dip in and out of it because I'm using it as a
database for a book) I'd have to log out of my open applications and
effectively restart. Not an appealing work routine. But if it's the only way
to go, then I'll have to do it. Or go back to Office 2004. I have the disk
somewhere …

Yes, I meant a new user account in the Mac OS. I did not mean for it to be
an answer to your problem, but only as a diagnostic. If it works in a new
user account, then there is something (I have no idea what yet) wrong with
your main configuration.

 

[Gwyn_Headley]

OK Bob, many thanks! I'll give it a go and report back.

It's up to 12 now.

 

[Pat McMillan]

Have you updated Office to 12.0.1 (via Help/Check for Updates)? We fixed a
random crashing bug with that update.

Thanks,

Pat

 

[Douglas J Gill]

Phew - seems like loadsa people having serious hassle with Excel 2008.

Me too - far too many to list, and incidentally Microsoft Support are no use at all (so far), they don't seem to be very clued up.

I am off to try OO. tatty bye.

 

[Barry Huebert]

My XL08 can't find files to open, even when I click on the file in the Finder. That opens XL, but then I get a message saying it can't find the file and maybe I misspelled the name! PPT seems okay, but Word is also having file problems: it decides that I can't save a file I'm working on because I don't have permission to. I've tried the Genius Bar ("I've never seen that before"), reloading Office 2008, eliminating .plist files, and reloading OS 10.5.2, all to no avail. I even tried to get Time Machine to reset me to early last week, before these problems began, but I "didn't have enough memory" to accomplish that.

If only I could get back to the good old days (a month ago) when Excel only crashed several times a day, but worked for an hour or so between crashes ... I sound like a Windows user! Leopard definitely brought me multiple problems, from not being able to print to software not working. I haven't felt this frustrated since I quit Windows for Mac.

Barry

 

[ND4SPD]

After a few minutes of working on a spreadsheet, I can't get keyboard

commands to work. I have to go to the menu and "save" and then exit
the program, then start it up again to get keyboard commands back.
Over and over and over.

Did you ever get a fix for this issue? I too am having the same problems.

 

[andyd]

I am having four major problems with Excel 2008;

1) Nearly every time I open .DOC files (rather than .DOCX) the application crashes my whole system. I have contacted Microsoft technical support (see point 4) and the only thing they suggested is trashing the preference files, this has not worked;

2) The second problem is that whenever I save a file with the cells formatted as currency using the £ (pound) sign, when I re-open the file all of the £ (pound) signs have changed to $ (dollar) signs. As I am in the UK this is a major headache.

3) The third problem I am having is that when I open files previously created on Office for Mac 2004 or Office for PC 2003 I cannot get the page breaks to reset. Even when I use the 'reset all page breaks' command, some page breaks remain and cannot be a) moved or b) removed. The way page breaks are handled in Office 2008 seems to be a major step back from Office 2004.

4) Dealing with Microsoft Technical Support has been like swimming through treacle! I send an email and have to wait for a reply overnight asking me questions that I have already answered. I realise that the support is probably not based in the UK, but it does seem a bit poor that a company Microsoft's size cannot provide round the clock support. Also, because they will only deal with one issue at a time, it could take months to get to the bottom of these problems. I feel like it is designed to make people 'give up' and live with the issues (which cannot happen in this case as they are too great).

Office 2008 has been the most bug-ridden and disappointing software I have purchased in twenty years as a Mac user.

If anybody has any suggestions for solving these problems, I would be very grateful.

Regards

Andy

 

[JE McGimpsey]

I am having four major problems with Excel 2008;

1) Nearly every time I open .DOC files (rather than .DOCX) the application
crashes my whole system. I have contacted Microsoft technical support (see
point 4) and the only thing they suggested is trashing the preference files,
this has not worked;

Hmm... both .doc AND .docx files should be opened with Word, not XL. I
get a dialog that asks if I want to switch - do you? Do you have Word
set as the default application for .doc files in Finder?

As far as the pref file, did you have XL closed when you trashed it? If
not, XL will write any bad settings to the new file.

2) The second problem is that whenever I save a file with the cells formatted
as currency using the £ (pound) sign, when I re-open the file all of the £
(pound) signs have changed to $ (dollar) signs. As I am in the UK this is a
major headache.

XL *SHOULD* pick up its currency format from System Preferences'
International Format Pane setting when XL starts up. I assume you have
that set to British Pound Sterling?

What do you see for number format in Format/Style when you select
Currency as the Style name?

3) The third problem I am having is that when I open files previously created
on Office for Mac 2004 or Office for PC 2003 I cannot get the page breaks to
reset. Even when I use the 'reset all page breaks' command, some page breaks
remain and cannot be a) moved or b) removed. The way page breaks are handled
in Office 2008 seems to be a major step back from Office 2004.

I haven't seen this here - page breaks have worked the same for me as
XL04 (except that my page handling macros no longer work, obviously).

Do you have "Fit to x pages wide and y pages tall" set in File/Page
Setup?

4) Dealing with Microsoft Technical Support has been like swimming through
treacle! I send an email and have to wait for a reply overnight asking me
questions that I have already answered. I realise that the support is
probably not based in the UK, but it does seem a bit poor that a company
Microsoft's size cannot provide round the clock support. Also, because they
will only deal with one issue at a time, it could take months to get to the
bottom of these problems. I feel like it is designed to make people 'give up'
and live with the issues (which cannot happen in this case as they are too
great).

Not really an XL problem, but sounds frustrating. I've never dealt with
Tech support by email - but I've had more luck with phone support.

 

[Pat McMillan]

I'm sorry to hear of your pain with Excel 2008. Here are a few comments
about the issues you're encountering:

1) If you meant .xls or .xlsx files, then I'm guessing you have an Nvidia
GeoForce graphics card and this is a known OS X driver issue that has been
affecting Excel and a lot of other applications. We've alerted Apple about
the bug and have encouraged them to release a fix as soon as possible.

2) We are aware of this problem and are hoping to release a fix very soon.

3) We are also aware of this issue and, like the currency symbol issue, hope
to have a fix available soon. Please set Microsoft AutoUpdate to check for
updates regularly.

4) Although Technical Support is provided by a separate organization than
the Mac Business Unit that develops Mac Office, I've forwarded your comments
onto a contact on the Technical Support team.

Thanks,

Pat

 

[Bozrite]

I continue to have problems with excel on my Imac (2.4Ghz Intel Core 2 Duo, ATI Radeon HD 2600 Pro Video, OSX 10.5.2) Most frequent is "Not enough memory" message that appears after using for a while. I close spreadsheet, quit excel and restart excel and it's ok for a while. Also have had excel crashes and cases where excel won't open file again after it is saved (reopened with older excel on another machine, resaved and then was able to open in excel 2008?? Any help would be appreciated as I use excel pivot table a lot and this release has been a very frustrating experience.

 

[Pat McMillan]

Please watch for the next update for Office 2008 and let us know if you
still encounter these problems after installing the update.

Thanks,

Pat

 

[Jon Stafford]

I have just bought OfficeMac 2008 and Excel will not open some files. Other files open o.k. All the files are similar and there does not seem to be any reason why some wont open

I am running 10.5.2 on a 24" iMac. The excel files were created on Office X

Can anyone tell me how to open these. I tried File Open but that does not help