Weird screen refresh problem in Excel 2003 - bits of differentworksheets display.

[Chrisso]

Hi All

I have an Excel 2003 system that I wrote for my company about 2 years
ago. It collects data from the user on one worksheet and then my
macros run and place the data on another worksheet. During my macros
the system switches between different worksheets with ScreenUpdating
turned off.

All of a sudden on some users PCs Excel is not refreshing the screen
properly on open (when macros run) and during operation (when other
macros) run.

What happens is that the screen displays bits of one worksheet and
bits of another worksheet interleaved randomly. If you minimise Excel
and then maximise Excel again the screen refreshes fine to show just
the worksheet it should. You can also make Excel refresh properly by
switching to another application (like Windows Explorer) and then
switching back - Excel refreshes properly for any part that was
covered on the screen by the other application.

This problem does not occur on every user's PC - it depends on the
version of Excel 2003. So far I have observed it to have the problem
on 4 PCs all with build 11.8316 - the PCs that dont have the problem
have other builds of Excel 2003.

What sort of workaround can I implement? Do I have corruption in the
file? Should I pull it apart and rebuild it? Has anyone seem this sort
of problem before? Unfortunatley I cannot get IT to install a
different build of Excel 2003 onto the users PCs.

Thanks in advance for any ideas.

Chrisso

 

[Harald Staff]

Hi Chrisso

Memory and system resources are allocated in mysterious ways. It gets even
worse when working with MediaPlayers and those things. The solution is to
rewrite your code so that you do not change sheets or selections or
anything. Excel can run silent in 99.5% of her operations, and if so
noticeably faster than when jumping around.

Like, this code

Sheets(3).Range("H14").Value = Sheets(2).Range("C14").Value

will run with Sheet1 active and you won't see a single flash except perhaps
a very very short hourglass.

HTH. Best wishes Harald

 

[Martin Brown]

Hi Chrisso

Memory and system resources are allocated in mysterious ways. It gets
even worse when working with MediaPlayers and those things. The solution
is to rewrite your code so that you do not change sheets or selections
or anything. Excel can run silent in 99.5% of her operations, and if so
noticeably faster than when jumping around.

Like, this code

Sheets(3).Range("H14").Value = Sheets(2).Range("C14").Value

will run with Sheet1 active and you won't see a single flash except
perhaps a very very short hourglass.

HTH. Best wishes Harald

This rings a bell. There was a graphic driver related update that messes
up certain types of Excel screen refresh. Try searching MSKB for details
and workarounds (which I think consist of uninstalling a patch).

I can't figure out the right keywords to persuade Bling to show the
answer in MSKB but I am pretty sure it is in there somewhere. And ISTR
there was a thread about at the time in microsoft.public.excel.*

Regards,
Martin Brown

 

[Chrisso]

This rings a bell. There was a graphic driver related update that messes
up certain types of Excel screen refresh. Try searching MSKB for details
and workarounds (which I think consist of uninstalling a patch).

I can't figure out the right keywords to persuade Bling to show the
answer in MSKB but I am pretty sure it is in there somewhere. And ISTR
there was a thread about at the time in microsoft.public.excel.*

Regards,
Martin Brown- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Thanks for your posts - I will look into both.

Cheers
Chrisso

 

[Chrisso]

Thanks for your posts - I will look into both.

Cheers
Chrisso- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Martin - thanks for the tip. Did a search on my version of Excel and
screen refresh and this turned up this thread:

http://groups.google.co.uk/group/mi...41c?hl=en&q=excel+screen+refresh+2003+11.8316

I quote some of this thread here (thanks to Peter T):

Microsoft released a Hotfix for the buggy KB973475 patch for Excel2003
download
http://support.microsoft.com/hotfix/KBHotfix.aspx?kbnum=978908&kbln=e...

and another Hotfix for the similarly buggy KB973593 for Excel-2007
description
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;978522
download
http://support.microsoft.com/hotfix/KBHotfix.aspx?kbnum=978522&kbln=e...

Regards,
Peter T


This looks like my problem exactly: Will update soon.

Chrisso

 

[Jojo Rouptchini]

Try hotfix (KB978908). It worked like a charm for me despite the Microsoft disclaimer:

"This hotfix has not undergone full testing. Therefore, it is intended only for systems or computers that are experiencing the exact problem that is described in the one or more Microsoft Knowledge Base articles that are listed in "KB Article Numbers" field in the table at the end of this e-mail message. If you are not sure whether any special compatibility or installation issues are associated with this hotfix, we encourage you to wait for the next service pack release. The service pack will include a fully tested version of this fix. We understand that it can be difficult to determine whether any compatibility or installation issues are associated with a hotfix. If you want confirmation that this hotfix addresses your specific problem, or if you want to confirm whether any special compatibility or installation issues are associated with this hotfix, support professionals in Customer Support Services can help you with that."

You will have to request the hotfix from Microsoft. They will send you a link to the file as well as a password with which to open it. From there on it is self explanatory.

 

[jojorup]

Chrisso wrote on 07/16/2010 00:36 ET

Hi Al

I have an Excel 2003 system that I wrote for my company about 2 year
ago. It collects data from the user on one worksheet and then m
macros run and place the data on another worksheet. During my macro
the system switches between different worksheets with ScreenUpdatin
turned off

All of a sudden on some users PCs Excel is not refreshing the scree
properly on open (when macros run) and during operation (when othe
macros) run

What happens is that the screen displays bits of one worksheet an
bits of another worksheet interleaved randomly. If you minimise Exce
and then maximise Excel again the screen refreshes fine to show jus
the worksheet it should. You can also make Excel refresh properly b
switching to another application (like Windows Explorer) and the
switching back - Excel refreshes properly for any part that wa
covered on the screen by the other application

This problem does not occur on every user's PC - it depends on th
version of Excel 2003. So far I have observed it to have the proble
on 4 PCs all with build 11.8316 - the PCs that dont have the proble
have other builds of Excel 2003

What sort of workaround can I implement? Do I have corruption in th
file? Should I pull it apart and rebuild it? Has anyone seem this sor
of problem before? Unfortunatley I cannot get IT to install
different build of Excel 2003 onto the users PCs

Thanks in advance for any ideas

Chriss

Try hotfix KB978909. You can request it from Microsoft. They send you a lin
t
the file as well as a password with which to expand it

It worked like a charm for me and resolved the display refresh issue relate
t
protecting and unprotecting worksheets as well as screen refresh activate an
deactivate calls in VBA

Microsoft sends a disclaimer that this is an untested hotfix and a permanen
fi
will be part of the next service pack release. So you may want to be carefu
fo
unintended consequences.

 

[jojorup]

Chrisso wrote on 07/16/2010 00:36 ET

Hi Al

I have an Excel 2003 system that I wrote for my company about 2 year
ago. It collects data from the user on one worksheet and then m
macros run and place the data on another worksheet. During my macro
the system switches between different worksheets with ScreenUpdatin
turned off

All of a sudden on some users PCs Excel is not refreshing the scree
properly on open (when macros run) and during operation (when othe
macros) run

What happens is that the screen displays bits of one worksheet an
bits of another worksheet interleaved randomly. If you minimise Exce
and then maximise Excel again the screen refreshes fine to show jus
the worksheet it should. You can also make Excel refresh properly b
switching to another application (like Windows Explorer) and the
switching back - Excel refreshes properly for any part that wa
covered on the screen by the other application

This problem does not occur on every user's PC - it depends on th
version of Excel 2003. So far I have observed it to have the proble
on 4 PCs all with build 11.8316 - the PCs that dont have the proble
have other builds of Excel 2003

What sort of workaround can I implement? Do I have corruption in th
file? Should I pull it apart and rebuild it? Has anyone seem this sor
of problem before? Unfortunatley I cannot get IT to install
different build of Excel 2003 onto the users PCs

Thanks in advance for any ideas

Chriss

Try hotfix KB978909. You can request it from Microsoft. They send you a lin
t
the file as well as a password with which to expand it

It worked like a charm for me and resolved the display refresh issue relate
t
protecting and unprotecting worksheets as well as screen refresh activate an
deactivate calls in VBA

Microsoft sends a disclaimer that this is an untested hotfix and a permanen
fi
will be part of the next service pack release. So you may want to be carefu
fo
unintended consequences.

 

[Chrisso]

Try hotfix (KB978908). It worked like a charm for me despite the Microsoft disclaimer:

"This hotfix has not undergone full testing. Therefore, it is intended only for systems or computers that are experiencing the exact problem that isdescribed in the one or more Microsoft Knowledge Base articles that are listed in "KB Article Numbers" field in the table at the end of this e-mail message. If you are not sure whether any special compatibility or installation issues are associated with this hotfix, we encourage you to wait for thenext service pack release. The service pack will include a fully tested version of this fix. We understand that it can be difficult to determine whether any compatibility or installation issues are associated with a hotfix. If you want confirmation that this hotfix addresses your specific problem, or if you want to confirm whether any special compatibility or installationissues are associated with this hotfix, support professionals in Customer Support Services can help you with that."

You will have to request the hotfix from Microsoft. They will send you a link to the file as well as a password with which to open it. From there onit is self explanatory.










- Show quoted text -

Thanks very much Jojo