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OPENING EXCEL FREEZES COMPUTER

  1. #1
    Lindsay Graham
    Guest

    OPENING EXCEL FREEZES COMPUTER

    Not sure if this is the best newsgroup, but if there's a better one, I hope
    someone will tell me.

    My OS is Win98SE and MS critical/security updates are kept up-to-date. For the
    last few days, my computer has been freezing occasionally. When it freezes, the
    mouse still moves the cursor, but nothing else works (not even Ctrl-Alt-Del), so
    that a reboot is necessary. The only thing that causes this freeze EVERY time
    is trying to open Excel. It freezes when the initial small Excel display comes
    on the screen. Is there anything in Excel that might be causing this? All
    ideas gratefully received.

    --
    Lindsay Graham



  2. #2
    Dave Peterson
    Guest

    Re: OPENING EXCEL FREEZES COMPUTER

    There are a couple of easy things to try.

    With excel closed (if you were able to get into it!)
    1. Clean up your windows temp folder
    A quick way to get there:
    windows start button|Run|%temp%

    2. It could be a corrupted .xlb file. This is were excel stores your
    customized toolbars.
    windows start button|find|
    look for *.xlb
    rename all the ones you find to *.xlbOLD

    Test excel out.

    If it worked, delete those *.xlbOLD files and rebuild any of your
    custom changes at your leisure.

    Lindsay Graham wrote:
    >
    > Not sure if this is the best newsgroup, but if there's a better one, I hope
    > someone will tell me.
    >
    > My OS is Win98SE and MS critical/security updates are kept up-to-date. For the
    > last few days, my computer has been freezing occasionally. When it freezes, the
    > mouse still moves the cursor, but nothing else works (not even Ctrl-Alt-Del), so
    > that a reboot is necessary. The only thing that causes this freeze EVERY time
    > is trying to open Excel. It freezes when the initial small Excel display comes
    > on the screen. Is there anything in Excel that might be causing this? All
    > ideas gratefully received.
    >
    > --
    > Lindsay Graham


    --

    Dave Peterson

  3. #3
    NewsMan
    Guest

    Re: OPENING EXCEL FREEZES COMPUTER

    You may also want to check any excel add-ins that you may have added
    recently. However, excel may be corrupt, consider uninstalling and then
    re-installing.

    Lindsay Graham wrote:
    > Not sure if this is the best newsgroup, but if there's a better one, I hope
    > someone will tell me.
    >
    > My OS is Win98SE and MS critical/security updates are kept up-to-date. For the
    > last few days, my computer has been freezing occasionally. When it freezes, the
    > mouse still moves the cursor, but nothing else works (not even Ctrl-Alt-Del), so
    > that a reboot is necessary. The only thing that causes this freeze EVERY time
    > is trying to open Excel. It freezes when the initial small Excel display comes
    > on the screen. Is there anything in Excel that might be causing this? All
    > ideas gratefully received.
    >


  4. #4
    Lindsay Graham
    Guest

    Re: OPENING EXCEL FREEZES COMPUTER

    Thanks for your advice, Dave. I've tried your suggestions, and I think the
    problem may have been with the .xlb file. But following the steps you suggested
    has raised more questions and I hope you (or anyone else) can help.

    1. %temp% took me to a folder called \TEMPFILE which contained 118 .TMP files
    (now deleted), but also 400 other files in that folder or in several sub-folders
    called \TEMPFILE\_ISTEMPDIRn (n=1,2,3) and other names. All files are at least
    2 years old, but many of them are .dll files, which I've been reluctant to
    delete. Where have these come from and is it safe to delete all?

    There's also a folder\WINDOWS\TEMP which contains another 445 files, of which
    221 are .TMP files but, again, the remaining 224 are all in subfolders and are
    not .TMP files and I'm reluctant to delete them. Where might these have come
    from and is it safe to delete all of them? What is the difference between
    \TEMPFILE and \WINDOWS\TEMP and why did %temp% go to only the former?

    I've also deleted all Temporary Internet Files using Internet Explorer
    Tools>Options>General ...

    2. I found 5 .xlb files (I prefer ZTree to Windows Explorer for file search and
    manipulation) -- 4 old ones in \WINDOWS and one current one in
    \WINDOWS\Application Data\Microsoft\Excel. I renamed the 4 old ones but, as
    expected. Excel still would not fire up. But when renamed the current .xlb
    file, Excel miraculously appeared as it should. What might have caused the
    corruption in the .xlb file? I did not have a lot of customisation in my
    toolbars, but I did have a few macros and I see that all bar one have
    disappeared. Is there any way to find out exactly what was in my corrupt .xlb
    file? And is it now safe to delete the 4 old .xlb files?

    Sorry about all the questions, but I hope you are able to help me understand
    what this is all about.

    --
    Lindsay Graham


    "Dave Peterson" <[email protected]> wrote in message
    news:[email protected]...
    > There are a couple of easy things to try.
    >
    > With excel closed (if you were able to get into it!)
    > 1. Clean up your windows temp folder
    > A quick way to get there:
    > windows start button|Run|%temp%
    >
    > 2. It could be a corrupted .xlb file. This is were excel stores your
    > customized toolbars.
    > windows start button|find|
    > look for *.xlb
    > rename all the ones you find to *.xlbOLD
    >
    > Test excel out.
    >
    > If it worked, delete those *.xlbOLD files and rebuild any of your
    > custom changes at your leisure.
    >
    > Lindsay Graham wrote:
    > >
    > > Not sure if this is the best newsgroup, but if there's a better one, I hope
    > > someone will tell me.
    > >
    > > My OS is Win98SE and MS critical/security updates are kept up-to-date. For

    the
    > > last few days, my computer has been freezing occasionally. When it freezes,

    the
    > > mouse still moves the cursor, but nothing else works (not even

    Ctrl-Alt-Del), so
    > > that a reboot is necessary. The only thing that causes this freeze EVERY

    time
    > > is trying to open Excel. It freezes when the initial small Excel display

    comes
    > > on the screen. Is there anything in Excel that might be causing this? All
    > > ideas gratefully received.
    > >
    > > --
    > > Lindsay Graham

    >



  5. #5
    Dave Peterson
    Guest

    Re: OPENING EXCEL FREEZES COMPUTER

    \Tempfile seems like an unusual name, but I think you (or the admin) could name
    the temp file anything they want.

    My belief is that anything that writes to the Tempfile (%temp% version) can be
    deleted at will. Obviously, you shouldn't be doing something at the same time
    that's writing to that folder (installing new programs???).

    I have a .vbs file that I keep on my desktop. I click on that anytime I want
    with no second thoughts at all.

    x:\Windows\temp folder is a more usual name (at least in earlier versions of
    windows). I just started using WinXP and it looks like the %temp% folder is now
    associated with the current user.

    I get this folder (8.3 naming rules):
    C:\DOCUME~1\DAVIDP~1\LOCALS~1\Temp
    And this (same folder--but long file names):
    C:\Documents and Settings\David Peterson\Local Settings\Temp

    (Under win98, my temp folder was named: C:\windows\temp.)

    The Temporary Internet files: I delete those whenever I want, too. The
    difference is that when I revisit a frequently visited web site, I might have to
    wait for stuff (pictures/graphics) to download again. (MSIE is pretty smart.)

    If you upgraded through different versions of Windows, then this would explain
    the various Temp folders. (But some programs create their own instead of using
    the windows temp folder that has been "reserved" for temporary files/folders.
    When I find those Temp folders hanging around, I'll empty/delete them, too.)

    One word of warning. I've seen people store important files (email attachments
    especially) in those Temp folders. If you don't do this, then I'd delete at
    will. If you do this, then stop it! <bg>. Find those files that haven't been
    stored in their correct homes and move them where they belong.

    Yesterday, I installed some software. It created c:\temp and didn't clean up
    after itself. I just deleted that folder. (I could see that it was
    installation files (.CABs in different folders).

    =====
    As for the multiple *.xlb files, I'm betting that you upgraded through various
    versions of excel. I like to rename all of them (with excel closed). Then
    reopen excel, make a small change to the toolbar and close excel.

    Then I'd search for that newest *.xlb and know where the current version of
    excel likes to find it. (Upgraded versions of excel know to look at folders
    that were used with the older versions of excel.)





    Lindsay Graham wrote:
    >
    > Thanks for your advice, Dave. I've tried your suggestions, and I think the
    > problem may have been with the .xlb file. But following the steps you suggested
    > has raised more questions and I hope you (or anyone else) can help.
    >
    > 1. %temp% took me to a folder called \TEMPFILE which contained 118 .TMP files
    > (now deleted), but also 400 other files in that folder or in several sub-folders
    > called \TEMPFILE\_ISTEMPDIRn (n=1,2,3) and other names. All files are at least
    > 2 years old, but many of them are .dll files, which I've been reluctant to
    > delete. Where have these come from and is it safe to delete all?
    >
    > There's also a folder\WINDOWS\TEMP which contains another 445 files, of which
    > 221 are .TMP files but, again, the remaining 224 are all in subfolders and are
    > not .TMP files and I'm reluctant to delete them. Where might these have come
    > from and is it safe to delete all of them? What is the difference between
    > \TEMPFILE and \WINDOWS\TEMP and why did %temp% go to only the former?
    >
    > I've also deleted all Temporary Internet Files using Internet Explorer
    > Tools>Options>General ...
    >
    > 2. I found 5 .xlb files (I prefer ZTree to Windows Explorer for file search and
    > manipulation) -- 4 old ones in \WINDOWS and one current one in
    > \WINDOWS\Application Data\Microsoft\Excel. I renamed the 4 old ones but, as
    > expected. Excel still would not fire up. But when renamed the current .xlb
    > file, Excel miraculously appeared as it should. What might have caused the
    > corruption in the .xlb file? I did not have a lot of customisation in my
    > toolbars, but I did have a few macros and I see that all bar one have
    > disappeared. Is there any way to find out exactly what was in my corrupt .xlb
    > file? And is it now safe to delete the 4 old .xlb files?
    >
    > Sorry about all the questions, but I hope you are able to help me understand
    > what this is all about.
    >
    > --
    > Lindsay Graham
    >
    > "Dave Peterson" <[email protected]> wrote in message
    > news:[email protected]...
    > > There are a couple of easy things to try.
    > >
    > > With excel closed (if you were able to get into it!)
    > > 1. Clean up your windows temp folder
    > > A quick way to get there:
    > > windows start button|Run|%temp%
    > >
    > > 2. It could be a corrupted .xlb file. This is were excel stores your
    > > customized toolbars.
    > > windows start button|find|
    > > look for *.xlb
    > > rename all the ones you find to *.xlbOLD
    > >
    > > Test excel out.
    > >
    > > If it worked, delete those *.xlbOLD files and rebuild any of your
    > > custom changes at your leisure.
    > >
    > > Lindsay Graham wrote:
    > > >
    > > > Not sure if this is the best newsgroup, but if there's a better one, I hope
    > > > someone will tell me.
    > > >
    > > > My OS is Win98SE and MS critical/security updates are kept up-to-date. For

    > the
    > > > last few days, my computer has been freezing occasionally. When it freezes,

    > the
    > > > mouse still moves the cursor, but nothing else works (not even

    > Ctrl-Alt-Del), so
    > > > that a reboot is necessary. The only thing that causes this freeze EVERY

    > time
    > > > is trying to open Excel. It freezes when the initial small Excel display

    > comes
    > > > on the screen. Is there anything in Excel that might be causing this? All
    > > > ideas gratefully received.
    > > >
    > > > --
    > > > Lindsay Graham

    > >


    --

    Dave Peterson

  6. #6
    Dave Peterson
    Guest

    Re: OPENING EXCEL FREEZES COMPUTER

    And that .vbs file on my desktop empties the temp folder.

    Dave Peterson wrote:
    > I have a .vbs file that I keep on my desktop. I click on that anytime I want
    > with no second thoughts at all.


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