Calculate message

[Mark]

I am running an Excel 2003 spreadsheet with 20 tabs, many calculations and
Links to external Query Tables resulting in a file that is 33Mb in size.

Initially Auto calculate was enabled, but resulted in the file struggling to
save and re-load as it was taking a very long time to attempt re-calculate to
95%, then eventually giving up and returning the 'Calculate' message in the
bottom left hand corner of the message bar.

I then disabled Auto calc and the file loaded much quicker, but an F9 recalc
still presented the same result of 95% progress and the 'Calculate' message.

Using some previous advice on here, I then tried the CTRL+ALT+F9, same result.

Using further previous advice on here, I wrote a macro to recalculate each
worksheet individually. This showed that some tabs were taking longer to
calculate than others, as I would expect, but each of them achieved 100%.
However, I am still left with the 'Calculate' message.

Should I believe the 'calculate' message? If so, how do I establish where
the problem is as there are no obvious calculation errors?

Thanks.

 

[Mark]

Further information:
I have removed 11 of the tabs (11 months) to reduce the file size, this made
no difference.

I have also copied and pasted all the cell contents as values, but it's
still reporting that I need to 'Calculate' the spreadsheet! I have also
created another worksheet with one calc in it to see if my Excel is
corrupted, this works fine.