Excel XP file goes into endless loop in Excel 2003

Hi,

I have a workbook that I developed in Excel 2002 that uses does a lot of statistical computation and numerical recursion.

Whenever I try and open the file in Excel 2003, the file seems to go into an endless loop and just freezes the application. I've seen this on three different machines.

Is there some setting in Excel 2003? I don't think any of my functions are volatile, so am not sure why the spreadsheet goes crazy.

I can either post the code up here or email the spreadsheet to any volunteers!

Thanks in advance.

After breaking down my code in small pieces, I managed to debug the problem.

It turns out that there is one particularly expensive calculation that was triggered whenever the workbook was opened in 2003 but not XP.

This particularly sheet never has to be recalculated, but it seems that Excel 2003 triggers an automatic calculation of all the sheets when a workbook is opened.

Any idea how to avoid or address this?

Thanks,
Anuj

To all who might be interested: the source of the problem is that my workbook was created in Excel XP and then directly opened in Excel 2003.

From Microsoft's web site:

To ensure that older workbooks are calculated correctly, Excel behaves differently when you first open an old workbook than when you open a workbook created in the current version.

When you open a workbook created in the current version, Excel recalculates only the formulas that depend on cells that have changed.

When you use open a workbook that was created in a earlier version of Excel, all of the formulas in the workbook — those that depend on cells that have changed and those that do not — are recalculated. This ensures that the workbook is fully optimized for the current Excel version.

Because complete recalculation can take longer than partial recalculation, opening a workbook that was not previously saved in the current Excel version can take longer than usual. Once you save the workbook in the current version, it will open faster.