Excel XP web query - Unable to open URL... data not available

  • Thread starter Thread starter Jason
  • Start date Start date
J

Jason

I've recently formatted my HD and re-installed XP and
Office 2002/XP. After doing that, I checked my Excel web
queries (error below was part of the reason for the
reinstall) and they worked fine.

After installing all the Critical and most of the
recommeded XP (not Office, yet) updates, my web queries
stopped working. Every web query I enter now returns the
error message: Unable to open URL. The Internet site
reports that a connection was established but the data is
not available.

The query options and properties are all left at their
defaults. There's nothing fancy about the query. It's
just a stock seach on Yahoo. For instance -
http://finance.yahoo.com/q/cq?d=v1&s=msft,orcl and select
the table with the stock data (just below the word Basic).

I can't seem to find answers to this problem anywhere on
the net. I'm guessing one of the updates failed (although
they're showing successful) and now my ODBC (maybe .NET)
settings are wrong.

Any help is GREATLY appreciated as I've tried everything
I can think of.

-Jason
 
Well, I've finally discovered what the problem was. A Critical XP update.

How'd I find out? By wiping my HD (again), reinstalling XP (now on my 4th
attempt), installing all my apps and only then applying MS updates for XP
and Office - checking the web query constantly throughout the process.

I applied them one at a time, re-booting after each installation to discover
that it was update KB832894 (Cumulative Security Update for Internet
Explorer 6 Service Pack 1) that was the culprit. Thank goodness for the
System Restore functionality in XP.

I've no idea why this update doesn't seem to work for me any longer (I'm
pretty sure I had all critical updates applied at the time I decided to
reinstall everything) but I do know for certain that it is the one at
fault - not Office, nor any other updates as they're all on at the moment
and the web query functionality works fine. I've tried a couple times to
install that Critical Update but each time it messes up Excel's ability to
perform web queries. Bizarre, but true! Case closed. Can finally sleep
easy...

If anyone has any explanation/suggestion why this Critical XP update is
messing up my Excel XP web queries, I'd love to hear from you.

-Jason
 
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