Excel X for Mac causes kernel panic when opening certain sheets

[Allen L]

Our office was recently upgraded to system 10.2.8 (this is
on a 400Mhz G4). I had a workbook that had old style
macros. Trying to open this workbook caused a kernel panic:
the entire screen went gray and I had to force restart.
This problem has now occurred with other people (who were
also upgraded to 10.2.8). It should be noted that the
workbook opened fine on his computer, but not on mine.

Our Systems Manager (before leaving on a 3 wk vacation --
Murphy's Rule, right? <sigh>), tried the following:
- tried Word and Powerpoint. They worked fine -- it was Excel
- tried to create a new worksheet -- this worked fine -- it
was obviously the file, not Excel itself
- trashed the preferences (both the com.apple.... and the
other folder in there)
- replaced my entire Office folder with the one on his computer

Nothing worked. He wasn't able to figure out what was going
on before he left. He ended up having to open up the old
workbook on his computer, creating a new workbook and
copying all of the sheets except the "Macro" sheet to the
new workbook. This worked. All I had to do was fix the
links to the now non-existent old workbook.

As I said above, now others in the office are experiencing
the same problem. Any suggestions would be GREATLY
appreciated! (TIA)

-Allen

 

[Guest]

I should clarify some stuff:

In the 1st paragraph: the workbooks open fine on the
Systems Mgr's computer (and on another systems person's
computer who's pinch-hitting).

We were on an earlier version of 10.2 before, and
everything worked fine for me. The workbook that crashed
(for me) was one I created and wrote the macros for
(several years ago), and wasn't linked to any other
workbook. I never bothered to convert them to VBA because
they still worked and I couldn't figure out nor had the
time to figure out VBA. I'm not familiar with others'
problems, except for one person -- I know she was sent a
worksheet from someone else that is constantly crashing her
computer.

If someone responds, I'll get the pinch-hitting systems
person on here (we're both researching this).

 

[JE McGimpsey]

As I said above, now others in the office are experiencing
the same problem. Any suggestions would be GREATLY
appreciated! (TIA)

First, make sure that Office is updated fully:

http://www.mcgimpsey.com/macoffice/office/vxversions.html

Next, you can try the troubleshooting methods at

http://www.mcgimpsey.com/macoffice/excel/troubleshooting.html

However, it does sound like the problem is with the file.

It sounds like you have XL4M Macro sheets rather than VBA. If that's not
the case, does the problem happen when you hold down the shift key?

If you have access to WinXL02/03, they have enhanced capabilities to fix
corrupt files. If not, you may have some luck opening the file with
OpenOffice:

http://openoffice.org

which runs on the X Window platform, such as Apple's X11:

http://www.apple.com/macosx/features/x11/

You can also try saving the file as a web page and then reading it back
in. You'll lose the macros, but it will remove any corruption in the
file.

 

[JE McGimpsey]

I should clarify some stuff:

In the 1st paragraph: the workbooks open fine on the
Systems Mgr's computer (and on another systems person's
computer who's pinch-hitting).

We were on an earlier version of 10.2 before, and
everything worked fine for me. The workbook that crashed
(for me) was one I created and wrote the macros for
(several years ago), and wasn't linked to any other
workbook. I never bothered to convert them to VBA because
they still worked and I couldn't figure out nor had the
time to figure out VBA. I'm not familiar with others'
problems, except for one person -- I know she was sent a
worksheet from someone else that is constantly crashing her
computer.

This sounds even more like the problem is that you need to update Office.