Excel crash on document open

[donsullivan]

Version: 2008
Operating System: Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard)
Processor: intel

I'm having a strange symptom with Excel 2008 that I waited to report until I applied the update today.

Whenever I open a spreadsheet and the first action I take is the click on the green zoom button in the window, the window expands to full size, the scroll bars stay visually where they were and my entire computer is locked up hard required a power cycle reboot.

It started shortly after I installed 2008 and I recently rebuilt my MacBook Pro from scratch and re-installed everything clean from the original media.

I'm in an office environment where everything needs to be saved in Office 2003 format for compatibility.

So far this is 100% reproducable problem. If I do any other action as the first thing I do after opening the spreadsheet everything is just fine.

Am I the only one seeing this?

 

[Pat McMillan]

Hi,

We've been investigating many reports of this, but have yet to get to the
bottom of it. Can you answer the following questions for me:

1. Do you have Parallels installed on this machine?
2. If so, is Parallels running when you encounter this problem?
3. Does this happen with any workbook, or just specific workbooks?
4. Does it happen with a blank workbook?
5. Does your machine use an Nvidia graphics card (like the GeForce 8600M
GT)?
6. Have you installed the "Leopard Graphics Update" on your machine?

Thank you for any help you can provide. We really want to figure this
problem out.

Thanks,

Pat

 

[Don Sullivan]

See below for answers to these questions:

1. Do you have Parallels installed on this machine?
* ** Yes

2. If so, is Parallels running when you encounter this problem?
* ** I confirmed that it happens without parallels running but I'm not specifically aware of whether it happens when Parallels is active

3. Does this happen with any workbook, or just specific workbooks?
* ** There does not seem to be any pattern to the workbook. I've seen it one ones created new in 2008, originally created in 2004 for Mac and those created by others on 2003 for Windows.

4. Does it happen with a blank workbook?
* ** I've not noticed this pattern but I'm nearly always working with worksheet templates and the like so I don't create new blank workbooks very often.

5. Does your machine use an Nvidia graphics card (like the GeForce 8600M
GT)?
* ** It's a MacBook Pro 2.4GHz w/GeForce 8600M GT w/256MB of VRAM

6. Have you installed the "Leopard Graphics Update" on your machine?
* ** I do have the Leopard Graphics Update installed but this problem existed before the release of 10.5.2 which brought that update

 

[Pat McMillan]

Thank you, Don. That helps a lot.

See below for answers to these questions:

1. Do you have Parallels installed on this machine?
* ** Yes

2. If so, is Parallels running when you encounter this problem?
* ** I confirmed that it happens without parallels running but I'm not
specifically aware of whether it happens when Parallels is active

3. Does this happen with any workbook, or just specific workbooks?
* ** There does not seem to be any pattern to the workbook. I've seen it one
ones created new in 2008, originally created in 2004 for Mac and those created
by others on 2003 for Windows.

4. Does it happen with a blank workbook?
* ** I've not noticed this pattern but I'm nearly always working with
worksheet templates and the like so I don't create new blank workbooks very
often.

5. Does your machine use an Nvidia graphics card (like the GeForce 8600M
GT)?
* ** It's a MacBook Pro 2.4GHz w/GeForce 8600M GT w/256MB of VRAM

6. Have you installed the "Leopard Graphics Update" on your machine?
* ** I do have the Leopard Graphics Update installed but this problem existed
before the release of 10.5.2 which brought that update

 

[joel.lovell]

Hi,

We've been investigating many reports of this, but have yet to get to the
bottom of it. Can you answer the following questions for me:

1. Do you have Parallels installed on this machine?

I have VMWare fusion.

2. If so, is Parallels running when you encounter this problem?

Both when it is running and when no other app is running.

3. Does this happen with any workbook, or just specific workbooks?

Older workbooks.

4. Does it happen with a blank workbook?
No.
5. Does your machine use an Nvidia graphics card (like the GeForce 8600M
GT)?
Yes.
6. Have you installed the "Leopard Graphics Update" on your machine?

Don't know.

 

[CyberTaz]

Do those "older workbooks" include any VBA that runs on open? Do you know if
they can open OK in 2004?

--
Regards |:>)
Bob Jones
Office:Mac MVP

Hi,

We've been investigating many reports of this, but have yet to get to the
bottom of it. Can you answer the following questions for me:

1. Do you have Parallels installed on this machine?

I have VMWare fusion.

2. If so, is Parallels running when you encounter this problem?

Both when it is running and when no other app is running.

3. Does this happen with any workbook, or just specific workbooks?

Older workbooks.

4. Does it happen with a blank workbook?
No.
5. Does your machine use an Nvidia graphics card (like the GeForce 8600M
GT)?
Yes.
6. Have you installed the "Leopard Graphics Update" on your machine?

Don't know.

 

[Don Sullivan]

I can speak only for myself that the ones I'm having trouble with do not have any VBA in them at all. They all worked just fine in 2004.

 

[Tim]

I'm having the same issue - context added as comments below:

Hi,

We've been investigating many reports of this, but have yet to get to the
bottom of it. Can you answer the following questions for me:

1. Do you have Parallels installed on this machine?

VM Ware Fusion

2. If so, is Parallels running when you encounter this problem?
Yes

3. Does this happen with any workbook, or just specific workbooks?

Experienced it happening on two workbooks, first time from a
regular .xsl file from Windows, created in the VM Ware partition but
opened on the Mac side, the second on a brand new Excel file.

4. Does it happen with a blank workbook?
Yes

5. Does your machine use an Nvidia graphics card (like the GeForce 8600M
GT)?

MacBook Pro 2.6 GHz 4 Gb 10.5.2, with that graphics card.

 

[Pat McMillan]

If your getting a system freeze with these steps, then what you're seeing is
this issue, which is caused by an Apple bug:
http://www.officeformac.com/ProductForums/Excel/822. If that's not what
you're seeing, please let me know.

Thanks,

Pat