MSExcel has taken on life of its own

[Terri Creagh]

This is a follow-up to my previous message with additional information.

I have an urgent problem! All of a sudden, when I opened MSExcel 2000, it
tried to open many, many files, one right after the other, without regard to
the file format. It also kept giving a "format is not valid" message with
every document. I am running Windows 2000 and Microsoft Office 2000 Small
Business (version 9.0.3822) on a Dell Dimension 8100 with lots of RAM and
lots of conventional memory. This computer is not networked. My firewall
is ZoneAlarm and I have Norton Antivirus. MS Office 2000 was pre-installed
by Dell, I have tried re-installing MSOffice 2000, but that did not fix the
problem. I am unable to get into Excel to change any options, because every
time I open it, it just begins opening one file after another and does not
give me the opportunity to change settings.

When I ran Norton Utilities to try to fix the problem, I got the following
message:

"C:\WINNT\SYSTEM32\MAPISRVR.EXE" cannot access a necessary file "gapi32.dll"
"gapi32.dll" might be located on a removable drive, a non-visible volume
such as an NTFS drive, or on a network. .you might need to reinstall
"C:\WINNT\SYSTEM32\MAPISRVR.EXE".

I can in fact locate "gapi32.dll" in the folder "C:\Program Files\Common
Files\System\Mapi\1033\NT", but I cannot find the file "MAPISRVR.EXE" on my
computer, so I guess it does need to be re-installed, but how can I do
that?. I don't know whether this latter problem is related to my MSExcel
problem, but I must assume they are related since they seem to have occurred
at roughly the same time.

I am sending this message to several newsgroups, because I am not sure which
application(s) is the source of these problems. I would appreciate any help
or advice anyone can offer. Thank you.

 

[Ken Wright]

You either have all those file in your XLSTART folder or your alternate path is
set to that folder, likely the second.

Tools / Options / General - At start up open all files in..... <<<--- CLEAR
THIS

 

[Gord Dibben]

Excel will try to open any files it finds in either the XLSTART folder or
"Alternate startup file location" or "at startup, open files in". This could
be the source of your problem.

First thing I would try is to start Excel in Safe Mode so you bypass any
XLSTART folder or "Alternate startup file location" if you have one entered.

Enter this at Start>Run(your path may differ) to start in Safe Mode

"C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office\excel.exe" /s

Then I would check the Tools>Options>General and delete any path in "Alternate
startup file location".

I would move any files from the Office\XLSTART folder that aren't
Personal.xls, Book.xlt or Sheet.xlt.

Gord Dibben Excel MVP

 

[Terri Creagh]

Thank you for your response.

As you suggested, I opened Excel in safe mode, but nothing was listed in the
"alternate file location" box. I checked all the most recently saved Excel
files just in case. None of them had anything listed in the "alternate file
location" box. Also, my XLSTART folder is empty. I also tried changing the
default file location to an empty folder, but this did not help either.

 

[Dave Peterson]

I think Gord wanted to eliminate any extra stuff happening when you opened
excel. (That's what starting in safe mode did.)

But I bet he expected you to open excel normally to try to clean up the
"alternate startup file location" problem.

(Starting in safe mode temporarily "kills" that "alternate startup file
location" box.)

If you know the name of that folder, you could rename it, clean up excel, and
name it back.

 

[Gord Dibben]

Thanks Dave

Had forgotten that the safe mode kills the "alternate startup file
location" path.

Question now is......if OP can't get Excel up and running and can't remember
the path.........what is the next option?

I tried starting in safe mode and entering a new path to a dummy folder with
nothing in it but Excel won't keep it. Wants to go back to original when not
started in safe mode.

Gord

 

[Dave Peterson]

I believe a guy named Gord once corrected my post (similar to this thread).

He suggested a registry entry modification.

But I wouldn't suggest that until the OP came back and said they couldn't open
excel--and didn't know the name of the folder (for temporary renaming).

I'd bet dollars to doughnuts (hmmmm, doughnuts) that that Gord was you!!!

===
pssst.

For me (xl2002 and win98):
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\software\microsoft\office\10.0\excel\options

There was a key named:
AltStartup

I deleted the whole key--not just the value in the key and starting excel worked
ok. And that box was empty.

 

[Ken Wright]

Hi Gord - The OP shouldn't need to remember the path if he can only remember one
of the documents that it is opening up. Don't know if it appears in the MRU
list whilst you are in safe mode but if it remembers all the last ones it opened
from that folder, then that may give a hint as to the filename and ultimately
the containing folder.

 

[Dave Peterson]

And just a word of warning to the OP:

Be very careful when editting the registry--back it up before hand--else you may
have a very expensive doorstop (or boat anchor).

 

[Gord Dibben]

Yup.

It was yours truly and the AltStartup key is the one to delete.

I knew that....this was a test to see if anyone was paying attention<g>

Scary to think this is just going to get worse.

Although meeting new people every day will be an adventure<VBG>

Gord

 

[Dave Peterson]

And you'll be able to hide your own Easter eggs. (I forget the 3rd benefit!)

Yup.

It was yours truly and the AltStartup key is the one to delete.

I knew that....this was a test to see if anyone was paying attention<g>

Scary to think this is just going to get worse.

Although meeting new people every day will be an adventure<VBG>

Gord

<<snipped>>

 

[Terri Creagh]

Thank you so much. That was the answer. I renamed the last folder I opened
in Excel before the crash, cleared the alternate path, and then put the
folder name back to its original name. I still am not sure how something
got into the alternate path setting, as I have never used that setting, but
I am just so glad to have it fixed!
Thanks again!
Terri