Excel 2003 print error

Question

When i attempt to either print, or, print-preview in excel, i get a dialog box error report with the following,   'Microsoft Office Excel has encountered a problem and needs to close.  We are sorry for the inconvenience.'  This error report states it has detected a problem with installation of the product and to try repair or reinstall.   To date, i've use the detect and repair feature in excel, as well as reinstalling from the Office 2003 CD.  While all the other software in MS Office works ok, i'm still unable to print or print-preview on either old or new worksheets.   Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

abach · Answer

You may want to  check what is loading as an add-in. In Excel, Tools, Add-ins. Deselect one at a time, restarting Excel after each change.

abach · Answer

Try starting Excel as follows:

Start, Run, type

Excel /regserver

Click OK (There is a space after the Excel and before the / )

Excel will start and quit. Then open from the menu, see if problem is fixed. If not try uninstalling, then reinstalling, your printer. Restart Windows after the uninstall and reinstall. Excel is finicky with printer drivers, and, if they are the least bit corrupt, Excel will give a notice.

Message Edited by abach on 11-02-2005 04:53 PM

willi12 · Answer

Thanks Allan:

The only Add-in checked was Lookup Wizard, which I deselected, closed, and opened excel. Unfortunately, the same error report box came up. Some sort of strange, in the many years I've used excel and office, I've never came up with a problem like this. The only recent hardware changes have been increased RAM, but, this selective print problem with excel preceeded that.

willi12 · Answer

I ran regserver, it did its thing. Same error. I had removed and reinstalled printer software yesterday, and even set different printers as default, no go.

The error report, which is created each time I attempt print or print-preview, is quite extensive. Wish I could understand what it's telling MS

abach · Answer

OK, try opening Excel in safe mode. Start, Run, Excel /s

willi12 · Answer

Running in safe mode produces the same error.

abach · Answer

Seems to be a real challenge. If you're OK with registry keys, Start, Run, type regedit and find the following key:   HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\11.0\Excel\Options   Delete the Options key and restart Excel.

willi12 · Answer

Deleted options key. Booted excel, tried print and print-preview.  Same error.   I wonder if the repair/reinstall from the Office CD is actually performing the proper procedure.

abach · Answer

Have you deleted all files in your temp folder? Start, Run, type %temp%, CRTL-A, Shift-Delete.

Also, is there anything in the XLStart folder?

Search your hard drive for folders named XLStart. When Excel starts, it opens all the files in these folders. Find these folders (you may have more than one, depending on your version of Excel and Windows), and move the files in them to another location, such as the Desktop. Start Excel normally. If Excel starts, one of the files in the XLStart folders is the problem. Add the files back to the folder, one at a time, starting and closing Excel between each file, until the problem recurs. When the problem recurs, you have found the file that is causing the problem. Remove this file from the XLStart folder.

** Just a thought - Have you updated your printer driver lately?

Message Edited by abach on 11-03-2005 12:13 PM

willi12 · Answer

Hello again Allan:

I deleted all files in the temp folder, located XLStart folder (empty) dragged it to destop. Ran excel, it gathered necessary files to reconfigure program, booted up, loaded a spreadsheet - same error report.

When I load, word, publisher, power point, i can bring up the print dialog box (and select a different printer if i choose), or in all the office programs (except excel) i can select print-preview and it works as it should. In excel the print dialog box never appears. Whether i select print-preview or print, i get the hourglass for 3-6 seconds, then the error report box.

The hardware is a Dell Inspiron 8600 running XP pro, plenty of RAM and space on the HD. Yes, i've updated it recently.... Wouldn't you know, the program which is the most important one for work is the one crappin out.

What about this. I ordered three dell dimensions a few years ago for the office. Each system had its own MS Office CD (though the software was pre-installed by dell. A year or so later i bought this notebook with Office 2003 as well. Now my conumdrum is do i have in my possession the CD's for the dimension or the inspiron... and would this make a difference in running detect/repair or reinstall. I don't know....

willi12 · Answer

Thanks Denny:

I ran Belarc, and it confirms the product key on this machine matches MS Office CD's. Neat information, thanks for the tip. I love a good problem almost as much as a better solution, however, this may just drive me to drink....

I'll attempt a uninstall, followed by a reinstall tomorrow morning... (if i'm not too hungover)

Denny Denham · Answer

willi12,

I ordered three dell dimensions a few years ago for the office. Each system had its own MS Office CD (though the software was pre-installed by dell. A year or so later i bought this notebook with Office 2003 as well. Now my conumdrum is do i have in my possession the CD's for the dimension or the inspiron... and would this make a difference in running detect/repair or reinstall. I don't know....

If you bought them a few years ago the Dimensions should have a version of Office earlier than 2003. All the copies of Office should have their Product IDs on the packaging. You can run the Belarc Advisor (available here) on any of your systems and it will display the Product ID of the copy of Office installed on it, which you can compare with the Product IDs on the CD packaging. If more than one of the systems has Office 2003 installed it will make a difference in reinstallation as Product Activation will come into play and not allow installing the application on a computer on which it has not been activated.

abach · Answer

One item you could try is deleting the Excel11.xlb file. Start, Run %userprofile%\Application Data\Microsoft\Excel Click OK Restart Excel and a new file will be created.

willi12 · Answer

It is back amongst the printing world. The complete removal and reinstall appears to have resovled the problem, also had to download and install SP2 again.

Lessons learned in this situation was the "detect and repair" function did neither. Thanks for your valuable suggestions.

abach · Answer

Glad to hear you're problem is fixed. It still bothers me why this occurred. Some things are just mysteries...

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Excel 2003 print error

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