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Article ID: 213951 - Last Review: September 30, 2004 - Revision: 3.1
How to troubleshoot the source of the problem when you save files in Excel 2000 and they become corrupted
This article was previously published under Q213951
For a Microsoft Excel 97 version of this article, see
142116Â
(http://kbalertz.com/Feedback.aspx?kbNumber=142116/
)
.
Files that you save to a floppy disk or to a network drive
may intermittently become corrupted or damaged.
This problem may occur for either of the following reasons:
- The method that is used when Microsoft Excel reads and
writes files.
Microsoft Excel uses a technique called "back seeking" when reading
and writing files. "Back seeking" means that when Microsoft Excel
opens a file and reads from it, it does not necessarily read or write
in a sequential manner. It may start at the first record in the file,
jump to the fifteenth record, go back to the third record, and so on.
This "jumping back" part may be what is causing the intermittent
corruption of files especially when you are saving to a floppy disk
drive. Microsoft Excel is one of a few programs that uses this
technique when reading and writing files. Often these disk problems
appear to exist only in Microsoft Excel. Having the floppy disk drive
heads realigned should correct this problem.
-or- - A conflict occurs when Microsoft Windows virtualizes the
hard disk controller.
Testing for a Conflict with Microsoft Windows
To test for a conflict with Microsoft Windows, follow these
steps:
- Start Windows in Safe mode.
Windows 95
To start Windows 95 in Safe mode, restart your computer. Press F8
when you see the "Starting Windows 95" message, and then choose Safe Mode from the Startup menu. Windows 98
To start Windows 98 in Safe Mode, restart your computer. Hold
down CTRL until the Microsoft Windows 98 Startup Menu appears. On some
computers, you can press F8 instead of CTRL to bring up the Microsoft Windows
98 Startup Menu. - Disable the file system properties settings. To disable the
file system properties settings, follow these steps:
- Use the right mouse button to click My Computer, and then click Properties.
- Click the Performance tab.
- Click the File System button.
- Click the Troubleshooting tab. Click to select the following check boxes:
Disable protect-mode hard disk interrupt handling
Disable synchronous buffer commits
Disable all 32-bit protect-mode disk drivers
Disable write-behind caching for all drives
- Restart your computer.
For information about recovering data from damaged
workbooks, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
179871Â
(http://kbalertz.com/Feedback.aspx?kbNumber=179871/
)
Methods for recovering data from damaged Excel 2000 workbooks
APPLIES TO
- Microsoft Excel 2000 Standard Edition
| kbnetwork kbprb kbsavefile KB213951 |
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