XL97: Clicking Undo Last May Cause Error

• Microsoft Excel 97 for Windows

SYMPTOMS

When you check the spelling in a worksheet that contains a cell that contains at least 256 characters, one or more of the following problems may occur:

• Up to 12 characters, starting with the 256th character, are converted into random binary characters. For example, these characters are converted to squares or other strange characters.

      -or-
  

• You receive the following error message:

        The text string you entered is too long. Reduce the number of
        characters used or cancel the entry.
  

      -or-
  

• You receive the following error message:

        This program has performed an illegal operation and will be shut
        down. If the problem persists, contact the program vendor.
  

  If you click Details, you receive an error message similar to either of the following:

        EXCEL caused an invalid page fault in module EXCEL.EXE at
        0137:304dbb1e.
  

        EXCEL caused an invalid page fault in module EXCEL.EXE at
        0137:30258b90.
  

  When you click Close, Microsoft Excel 97 quits.

CAUSE

These problems may occur if the following conditions are true:

• One or more cells in the worksheet contain more than 256 characters.

      -and-
  

• In the Spelling dialog box, you click Undo Last.

WORKAROUND

To work around these problems, do not click Undo Last if any cells in the worksheet contain more than 256 characters.

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem in the Microsoft products listed at the beginning of this article. We are researching this problem and will post new information here in the Microsoft Knowledge Base as it becomes available.

MORE INFORMATION

When you use the spelling checker in Microsoft Excel 97, you can undo the most recent action performed in the Spelling dialog box by clicking Undo Last.

Note that the problems described in this article occur only if you click Undo Last; you can usually check the spelling of any cell, no matter how many characters it contains, without receiving any error messages.