Need help with ramdom Excel crashes with file open, but idle

We have creates an Excel 2010 file for leaving up on a LCD TV 24/7. The file is protected. All the data for the file is supplied via links to external files on corporate network. Everything seemed to work fine. During testing we left it running overnight. We came in and saw Excel was closed. When Excel was opened it showed recovery files like it was a forced reboot or crash. This has happened over and over again. We feel certain it is not a forced reboot or computer crash. Is there something else we should be checking?

Originally Posted by 6StringJazzer

What OS is it running?

The operating system is Windows 7

The fact that it happens repeatedly suggests that it is not a Windows reboot, unless an administrator has scheduled a nightly reboot. If it were a Windows crash it would not restart automatically, that I know of. It could be an Excel crash but it is very unusual for Excel to crash when it is not doing anything. Does this Excel file run any macros? What is the scenario for updates to the files that are the source of the data?

The only thing like this I have experienced is a rather exotic issue that is still unresolved. It is probably unrelated to yours but I'll describe it anyway. I use Vista and Excel 2010. I also use Dropbox. If I save an Excel file to a Dropbox folder, Excel almost always crashes shortly after the save. My working theory is that if Excel is open, and the Dropbox synchronizer detects the new or updated file and attempts to replicate the file over the network, something about that action causes Excel to crash.

I may have found the issue. It is not actually Excel. On this same computer we are running a program called Xibo. I guessed there may be some conflict between it and Excel. I closed Xibo and left the Excel file running overnight. No issues. I will continue testing.

With regard to dropbox- Thanks for the tip. I had thought the problem maybe related to the data files residing on the company network. I had considered creating a local copy and using dropbox to keep them synced. Based on your experience I may stay away from that one. I hope my problems are over. Thanks for your help.

Please note that I use Dropbox on three computers, and I only have problems on one. I think there is just some perfect storm of configuration occurring that causes this. My input was not so much to avoid Dropbox but to troubleshoot interaction with other programs that might be touching the same files. Sounds like Xibo might be a suspect.