Newly opened spreadsheet doesn't display in Excel 2007

[kwdavids]

I've started having a problem with Excel 2007 SP1 under Windows XP
SP2. When I attempt to open an existing spreadsheet (any spreadsheet
I've tried both xls and xlsx) by double-clicking on the file, Excel
opens, but the spreadsheet doesn't display.

When Excel opens the menus are there, as is a disabled quick access
toolbar and all of the frame and "Ready" in the lower left corner.
However there is no grid, and no data. I can make the grid and data
appear by clicking on another window, and clicking back on the Excel
drag bar, by clicking on the Excel formula bar splitter, the "Office
button", the Macro recorder gadget or Customize Quick Access button.

If I open Excel without a document, it opens normally and if I open a
document from within Excel, that's fine too.

This all started happening AROUND the time I upgraded Norton Internet
Security from 2007 to 2008. However, the problem persists if I disable
Auto Protect in NAV.

Kevin

 

[cwhit]

Kevin: an excellent description of the same problem I am having. I haven't
been able to correlate its initial occurrence with anything in particular but
I doubt it's related to your NAV; I am running AVG. There are a few
scattered reports of the same issue out there and I've experimented with some
of the posted "solutions" but to no avail. Fortunately, this anomaly is 100%
repeatable, at least for me. Also, 100% annoying.

Chris

 

[kwdavids]

Kevin:  an excellent description of the same problem I am having.  I haven't
been able to correlate its initial occurrence with anything in particularbut
I doubt it's related to your NAV; I am running AVG.  There are a few
scattered reports of the same issue out there and I've experimented with some
of the posted "solutions" but to no avail.  Fortunately, this anomaly is 100%
repeatable, at least for me.  Also, 100% annoying.

Chris

I did find a solution that worked for me. I deleted the PDFMaker.xla
file from the two places it appeared (once in Documents and Settings
and once in Program Files) and immediately all the spreadsheets
started opening normally. When I put either of the files back,
failures returned. This is the Adobe Acrobat Version 6 add-in for
Excel.

Why this should have started happening all of the sudden (the Adobe
files were dated last year) I cannot say.

Kevin

PS. How did I find it? I ran a program called File Monitor (from
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/default.aspx) and
noticed around 50,000 references to the file. I deleted the file and
saw around 50,000 references to the second version of the file. After
deleting the second one, things started working.