Most important file won't open

[Jim Campbell]

The only file I can't get into is my most important one.
Each time I try to open it I get a "This program has
performed an illegal operation and will be shut down."
In the details it says, "Excel caused an invalid page
fault in module MS097.dll at 0167:306eef2e." How do I fix
the problem?

 

[Paul B]

Jim, "The only file I can't get into is my most important one" why is it
always this file!
Just a couple of things to try, have you rebooted the computer? this will
sometime solve a world of problems, try opening it on another computer, was
anything added to the file right before this happened, like a macro that
runs on open, if there are macros in the file try to open it with macros
disabled. In the end you may have to use a data recovery program. also list
what version of excel you are using, it may help somebody else answer you
question.
--
Paul B
Always backup your data before trying something new
Using Excel 2000 & 97
Please post any response to the newsgroups so others can benefit from it
** remove news from my email address to reply by email **

 

[Ken Wright]

Excel 2002 is usually good at recovering corrupted files, and the free
OpenOffice (60MB download) www.openoffice.org will also open many Excel files
that even Excel can't. Sometimes only raw data or values can be recovered as
opposed to formulas, but it depends on the level of corruption. If push comes
to shove then by all means mail me your file and I'll have a stab at it for you
with both of those programs. You would need to take the NOSPAM bit out of my
email address, and I am on cable so anything up to about 2MB will be OK.