When this happens...
- CTRL+ALT+DEL for Task Manager
- Click the Processes Tab
- End Task on all Excel.exe 's
- Try again
I've seen this happen, especially in excel, especially on Novell filesystems.
Excel would get hung up when exiting a network file, and when it was launched again, seemingly, a blank excel screen with no rows/data/anything. Just a file/edit/view/etc menu. Then we found that the previous version of excel was actually open, most likely with a message saying "Would you like to revert to the saved copy of WhateverFile.xls?", and the version of Excel you just launched was waiting to see how you'd answer before it closed itself or reverted to the saved copy.
This issue happened most on Network filesystems, especially Novell in type, and *really* extra specially if they were compressed Novell filesystems.
If that's not it, try this...
- Close Excel
- Open My Computer
- Double-click the network drive letter your document is stored on.
- Close this window.
- Open Excel document.
If that works, then it's all about how your copy of Excel reads disconnected network drives. Actually, we can't blame Excel, just the files it operates on, which could be replaced upon the installation of any other software.
My Win2000 box has this issue here at home even. If I reboot my fileserver while my 2k box has an excel file open, unless I re-connect to the drive by opening it in my computer, I'll get an error upon hitting save.
If all of the above does not apply, see if you can find certain situations that this happens most. I.e. files you've been working with a lot that day, or certain times of the day it occurs.
Also, find out if that portion of the network filesystem is compressed. I *really* remember that being the key.
