Excel 2003 error when opening and opens ALL excel files..??

Hello,

I have a user on Office 2003 that is having an issue with his Excel 2003
SP1. All was working perfect until last Friday when he attempted to reopen
an excel file and ALL of his excel fiels started to open. He had to
ctrl-alt-del end task Excel for them to stop opening. Upon reopening his
Excel.exe, he gets a pop up message:

"Excel experienced a serious error the last time the add-in
'c:\docs\dba\240367.txt' was opened. Would you like to disable this add-in?
To reactivate this add-in, click About Microsoft Office Excel on the Help
menu, and then click Disable Items"

Yes was selected and that is when all the other Excel files started to open.
I opened Excel via excel.exe /safe and disabled the add-in <stated above>.
Opened Excel.exe and got the same message and same opening files.

I uninstalled his Excel and reinstalled it..same.

Any suggestions?

Much Thanks!

Hi Fast.DC5,

> Yes was selected and that is when all the other Excel files started to open.
> I opened Excel via excel.exe /safe and disabled the add-in <stated above>.
> Opened Excel.exe and got the same message and same opening files

Check Tools, options, general and remove the path listed under "At startup,
open all files in:"

Regards,

Jan Karel Pieterse
Excel MVP
http://www.jkp-ads.com

Jan,

Thanks for the prompt reply. This user has no entry in "At startup, open
all files in:"



"Jan Karel Pieterse" wrote:

> Hi Fast.DC5,
>
> > Yes was selected and that is when all the other Excel files started to open.
> > I opened Excel via excel.exe /safe and disabled the add-in <stated above>.
> > Opened Excel.exe and got the same message and same opening files
>
> Check Tools, options, general and remove the path listed under "At startup,
> open all files in:"
>
> Regards,
>
> Jan Karel Pieterse
> Excel MVP
> http://www.jkp-ads.com
>
>

No files/Folders in XLstart either.
Tried to uninstall/reboot/reinstall..same
Ran excel.exe /regserver.......same


Thoughts?

"Fast.DC5" wrote:

> Jan,
>
> Thanks for the prompt reply. This user has no entry in "At startup, open
> all files in:"
>
>
>
> "Jan Karel Pieterse" wrote:
>
> > Hi Fast.DC5,
> >
> > > Yes was selected and that is when all the other Excel files started to open.
> > > I opened Excel via excel.exe /safe and disabled the add-in <stated above>.
> > > Opened Excel.exe and got the same message and same opening files
> >
> > Check Tools, options, general and remove the path listed under "At startup,
> > open all files in:"
> >
> > Regards,
> >
> > Jan Karel Pieterse
> > Excel MVP
> > http://www.jkp-ads.com
> >
> >

Hi Fast.DC5,

> No files/Folders in XLstart either.
> Tried to uninstall/reboot/reinstall..same
> Ran excel.exe /regserver.......same

Hmm. Autorecovery maybe? Start Excel in safe mode (to prevent the files
from opening). Then look in Tools, options, save tab what path is set
for Autorecovery files. Open Explorer and find this path. Then close
Excel, move all files with extension .xar out of there and try to open
Excel again.

Regards,

Jan Karel Pieterse
Excel MVP
http://www.jkp-ads.com

Jan,

Only filee/Folder located in this "C:\Documents and
Settings\<useraccount>\Application Data\Microsoft\Excel" Directory are:

XLstart (empty)
Excel11.xlb
Excel.xlb



"Jan Karel Pieterse" wrote:

> Hi Fast.DC5,
>
> > No files/Folders in XLstart either.
> > Tried to uninstall/reboot/reinstall..same
> > Ran excel.exe /regserver.......same
>
> Hmm. Autorecovery maybe? Start Excel in safe mode (to prevent the files
> from opening). Then look in Tools, options, save tab what path is set
> for Autorecovery files. Open Explorer and find this path. Then close
> Excel, move all files with extension .xar out of there and try to open
> Excel again.
>
> Regards,
>
> Jan Karel Pieterse
> Excel MVP
> http://www.jkp-ads.com
>
>

Hi Fast.DC5,

But in Safe mode nothing happens?

Note that there might be more than just one XLSTART folder around on the
system!

Could it be a COM addin?

Regards,

Jan Karel Pieterse
Excel MVP
http://www.jkp-ads.com

> Only filee/Folder located in this "C:\Documents and
> Settings\<useraccount>\Application Data\Microsoft\Excel" Directory are:
>
> XLstart (empty)
> Excel11.xlb
> Excel.xlb
>
> "Jan Karel Pieterse" wrote:
>
> > Hi Fast.DC5,
> >
> > > No files/Folders in XLstart either.
> > > Tried to uninstall/reboot/reinstall..same
> > > Ran excel.exe /regserver.......same
> >
> > Hmm. Autorecovery maybe? Start Excel in safe mode (to prevent the files
> > from opening). Then look in Tools, options, save tab what path is set
> > for Autorecovery files. Open Explorer and find this path. Then close
> > Excel, move all files with extension .xar out of there and try to open
> > Excel again.
> >
>

When I go into safe mode, I get a popup as well in reference "recovered from
a serious error, do I want to disable an addin, either yes/no...proves to do
nothing when I go back into normal mode. And either way in safe mode, it
opens fine thereafter.
Which in Help.....disable items, all items are checked.
Tools/addins, no items are checked.
I did a search for XLstar*.* and confirmed the below.

COM addin? Sorry, not certain what that is.

Would it be logical to uninstall, delete Excel REG key and reinstall? Or
might there be another issue going on here?

"Jan Karel Pieterse" wrote:

> Hi Fast.DC5,
>
> But in Safe mode nothing happens?
>
> Note that there might be more than just one XLSTART folder around on the
> system!
>
> Could it be a COM addin?
>
> Regards,
>
> Jan Karel Pieterse
> Excel MVP
> http://www.jkp-ads.com
>
> > Only filee/Folder located in this "C:\Documents and
> > Settings\<useraccount>\Application Data\Microsoft\Excel" Directory are:
> >
> > XLstart (empty)
> > Excel11.xlb
> > Excel.xlb
> >
> > "Jan Karel Pieterse" wrote:
> >
> > > Hi Fast.DC5,
> > >
> > > > No files/Folders in XLstart either.
> > > > Tried to uninstall/reboot/reinstall..same
> > > > Ran excel.exe /regserver.......same
> > >
> > > Hmm. Autorecovery maybe? Start Excel in safe mode (to prevent the files
> > > from opening). Then look in Tools, options, save tab what path is set
> > > for Autorecovery files. Open Explorer and find this path. Then close
> > > Excel, move all files with extension .xar out of there and try to open
> > > Excel again.
> > >
> >
>
>
>

Hi Fast.DC5,

> When I go into safe mode, I get a popup as well in reference "recovered from
> a serious error, do I want to disable an addin, either yes/no...proves to do
> nothing when I go back into normal mode. And either way in safe mode, it
> opens fine thereafter.
> Which in Help.....disable items, all items are checked.

Normally, no items should be checked there. Excel will not load any items in
that list!

> Tools/addins, no items are checked.
> I did a search for XLstar*.* and confirmed the below.
>
> COM addin? Sorry, not certain what that is.

That is buried way deep:

Open Excel, rightclick a toolbar and select customize. Select the "Commands"
tab and click on the tools entry in the left list. Then find an entry called
"COM add-ins". Drag that onto a toolbar or menu. Close the dialog and click
that new command. See if anything is listed there.

BTW: when checking XLSTART, was explorer set to show hidden files?

Regards,

Jan Karel Pieterse
Excel MVP
http://www.jkp-ads.com