I found the following in an <old> KB article for much earlier versions of
Excel, but I don't know if it still applies to Excel 97/2000 or even to your
scenario.
CAUSE
=====
This error may occur if the first three characters in a tab-delimited
text file are, in the following order:
(C or K)(any character)(return/line break)
For example, any of these sequences may cause an error:
CA KT Cz Ku C9 K@
Note that this problem is case sensitive: "c" and "k" (lower case) do
not cause the error to occur.
This sequence signifies to Microsoft Excel that the file being opened
is a dBASE file. If the file is not truly a dBASE file, Microsoft
Excel will be unable to convert the file into a usable format, and an
error message will be displayed.
WORKAROUND
==========
To open a tab-delimited text file with a filename that begins with the
characters "C" or "K":
1. Open the file in a text editing program, such as Notepad
2. Replace the "C" or "K" with any other character.
3. Save the file in its original format.
4. In Microsoft Excel, open the file.
Hope this helps.
