Excel Setup Fails and Drops to the MS-DOS Prompt

• Microsoft Excel for Windows, version 4.0

SUMMARY

In Microsoft Excel, if you encounter memory allocation errors when trying to run Setup under Microsoft Windows operating environment version 3.1, you may be dropped back to the MS-DOS prompt without explanation.

MORE INFORMATION

This behavior can result from a variety of system configurations. As a result, it is difficult to identify systems or combinations of hardware and software that cause it to happen. If you experience this type of problem, try the following workaround:

Workaround

Use one or more of the following troubleshooting steps:

1. Start with a clean boot by temporarily removing TSR (Terminate and Stay Resident) programs and other programs from your AUTOEXEC.BAT and CONFIG.SYS files. Remove anything from these files that is not necessary for booting your computer system by typing REM at the start of the line (for example, REM CoolTSR=C:\Cool). To determine what is necessary to boot your computer, consult your MS-DOS manual and the documentation that came with your system.

2. Remove any TSR programs from the Load= and Run= lines in your WIN.INI file. You can do this using Notepad or SysEdit in Windows. To temporarily remove everything from these lines, type a semicolon (;) at the beginning of each line (for example, ;Run=).

3. Remove any programs from the StartUp group by moving their icons to a different group.

4. Run Microsoft Windows version 3.1 with the "/d:vx" command line switch by typing "Win /d:vx" (without quotation marks) at the MS-DOS prompt. This does the same thing as adding "emmexclude a000-efff" and "virtualhdirq=false" to the 386 enhanced section of your SYSTEM.INI file.

REFERENCES

"Microsoft Windows User's Guide" version 3.1, pages 527-531

"Getting Started With Microsoft Windows" version 3.1, pages 12-15, 60-61