XL98: Problems If Virtual Memory Off or Available Memory Low

Last reviewed: February 2, 1998
Article ID: Q178596
The information in this article applies to:
  • Microsoft Excel 98 Macintosh Edition

SYMPTOMS

When you use Microsoft Excel 98 Macintosh Edition, you may notice one or more of the following problems:

  • When you start Microsoft Excel 98 Macintosh Edition, you receive one of the following error messages:

          There is insufficient memory to launch Microsoft Excel.
    

          -or-
    

          There is not enough memory to load the Microsoft Office 98
          Microsoft Object Transport shared library.
    
  • If you click the Tools menu, point to Macro, and click Visual Basic Editor, or if you press OPTION+F11, you may receive one or more of the following error messages:

          Not enough memory to run; quitting
    

          Cannot use object linking and embedding.
    

          One of your object libraries (Standard OLE Types (PowerMac)) is
          missing or damaged. Please install the program again.
    

          An error occurred initializing the VBA libraries (8)
    

          'VBA Extensibility Library (1)' could not be loaded.
    

          Out of memory
    

    The computer may stop responding (hang).

  • If you attempt to insert a UserForm into a workbook in the Visual Basic Editor, the UserForm appears, but it is incomplete. As a result, you cannot insert controls into the UserForm.
  • When you click the Search button on the Object Browser in the Visual Basic Editor, the computer stops responding (hangs).
  • When you quit Microsoft Excel 98 Macintosh Edition, you receive the following error message:

          Microsoft Visual Basic
          Error accessing the system registry
    

The smaller the amount of memory installed on your computer, the more likely it is that these problems may occur.

CAUSE

These problems may occur when one or more of the following conditions are true:

  • Virtual memory on your computer is turned off.

        -or-
    
  • In the Info dialog box for Microsoft Excel, the Minimum Size setting is too low.

        -or-
    
  • The amount of available memory is very low, either because there are too many programs running, or because your computer has insufficient total memory (regular memory plus virtual memory).

RESOLUTION

If you receive any of these error messages, you may need to perform one or more of the following sets of steps.

Turn on Virtual Memory

  1. On the Apple menu, click Control Panels. Then, double-click the Memory control panel.

  2. Select the On option button in the Virtual Memory section.

  3. On the File menu, click Close Window. Then, click Restart on the Special menu.

When the computer restarts, virtual memory is turned on.

NOTE: If necessary, you can set the amount of virtual memory in the Memory control panel.

Change the Minimum Size and Preferred Size of Memory

  1. In the Finder, select Microsoft Excel in the Microsoft Office 98 folder.

  2. On the File menu, click Get Info.

  3. In the Minimum Size and Preferred Size edit boxes, enter the amount of memory you want Microsoft Excel to use.

    NOTE: Do not set the Minimum Size setting too low. If you do, you will receive an error message similar to the following:

          You have set the Minimum size below <x>K, which may cause "Microsoft
          Excel" to crash. Are you sure you want to continue?
    

  4. When you are finished, click Close Window on the File menu.

Increase Available Memory

The following are two methods that you can use to increase the amount of available memory in your computer:

  • Upgrade your computer by installing more memory.
  • Do not run unnecessary programs or extensions. You can disable extensions by using the Extensions Manager in the Control Panel; however, you should be careful when you disable extensions, because some extensions need to be loaded in order for some programs to work correctly.

STATUS

This behavior is by design of Microsoft Excel 98 Macintosh Edition.

MORE INFORMATION

It is strongly recommended that you turn virtual memory on if you are running Microsoft Excel 98 Macintosh Edition on your computer. If you turn virtual memory off, you will likely need to increase the amount of memory available to Microsoft Excel by performing the steps shown in the "Resolution" section.

For more information about virtual memory, please see the following articles in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

   ARTICLE-ID: Q120506
   TITLE     : How Virtual Memory Works on a Power Macintosh

   ARTICLE-ID: Q127084
   TITLE     : Power Mac Applications Require Less RAM with Virtual Memory


Additional query words: XL98 locks up freezes vm
Keywords : xlvbainfo kberrmsg
Version : MACINTOSH:98
Platform : MACINTOSH
Issue type : kbprb
Solution Type : kbworkaround


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Last reviewed: February 2, 1998
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