XL98: System or Lexicon Error Message Starting or Running Excel

• Microsoft Excel 98 Macintosh Edition

SYMPTOMS

When you start Microsoft Excel 98 Macintosh Edition, you may receive one of the following errors:

   Sorry a system error occurred.
   "Microsoft Excel"
   error type 11

   -or-

   A lexicon <long path name> is missing or damaged

   where <long path name> represents the path to Excel.

   Sorry a system error occurred.
   "Microsoft Excel"
   error type 11

   -or-

   The application "Microsoft Excel" has unexpectedly quit, because an
   error of type 2 occurred.

   You should save your work in other open applications and restart the
   computer.

CAUSE

These problems may occur when the path to the Excel program file exceeds 240 characters. You may be able to start Excel if the path exceeds 240 characters; however, you may receive one of the error messages in the "Symptoms" section when you perform the following operations:

• You click the equal sign in the formula bar.

  -or-

• You start the Visual Basic Editor.

  -or-

• You start the PivotTable wizard.

  -or-

• You apply conditional formatting to the worksheet.

WORKAROUND

To work around this problem, move the folder that contains the Excel program file to a location that does not use a path of more than 240 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.