Excel: Choosing Page Setup Fails or Causes Excel to Halt

The information in this article applies to:

• Microsoft Excel for Windows, version 4.0

SUMMARY

When you run Microsoft Excel with Microsoft Windows operating environment, version 3.1, and choose Page Setup from the File menu, the dialog box may fail to appear. Also Microsoft Excel may lock up when the default printer is set to a corrupted printer driver or if the third-party driver is incompatible with the COMMDLG.DLL file. The same behavior may also occur when you choose Print or Print Preview. This may also be caused by conflict with your current video driver.

MORE INFORMATION

When you upgrade to Microsoft Windows 3.1, third-party printer drivers are not updated. As a result, a printer driver installed with another application under Microsoft Windows version 3.0 will be the driver in use in Microsoft Windows 3.1. If this driver is incompatible with the COMMDLG.DLL, Microsoft Excel may momentarily stop, and the Page Setup dialog box may fail to appear or Microsoft Excel may lock up. The only way to regain control is to press CTRL+ALT+DEL.

To use Page Setup and print successfully from Microsoft Excel, upgrade the old printer driver to the Windows 3.1 version supplied by the Windows 3.1 setup disks, the Windows Driver Library, or third-party vendor. If you are already using the Windows 3.1 version of the driver, it may be corrupt. Remove it from the Control Panel, delete the associated .DRV file from the WINDOWS\SYSTEM subdirectory and reinstall it.

If you're using an OEM or other third-party video driver, try changing to either the standard VGA or Super VGA driver that ships with Microsoft Windows.

For information on installing printer drivers, see pages 200-209 in the "Microsoft Windows User's Guide."

REFERENCES

"Microsoft Windows User's Guide," version 3.1, pages 200-209