Fletch;
Don't think this may help much, but;
"Sticky Keys" are part of the "accessibility options" in the control panel.
On an XP m/c it is also invoked if you hold down a key (shift, for ex) for an extended
period of time (eight seconds-IIRC).

The symptoms you describe sound an awful lot like the Extended or Add mode. F8 will
toggle the EXTend mode and Shift-F8 will toggle the ADD mode. A Shift-F8 will turn it on
and if you follow it with a straight F8 (no Shift) it will change to EXT.
I know you tried F8 but thought I'd mention it because it drove me to fits of insanity
when I set the Add on by accident then hit F8 thinking it would turn it off (didn't have
the status bar displayed!) but of course it turned on EXT.
Of course then I got ticked and started pounding F8 which set it off on the first "pound"
then turned EXT on with the second pound!
Since then I've ensured that I've got the status bar on and keep a close eye on it!

--
Regards;
Rob
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"Fletch" wrote in message
...
I have read numerous posts detailing this issue and all the replies have been
unhelpful. So hopefully, I can get some actual help for this issue.

This issue seems to happen randomly, and effects one out of 10 similar
machines with the same setup. All the machines are running windows 2000
(fully patched to the latest service/security level), running Office XP, also
fully patched to the latest service/securit level.

The problem is, a cell gets selected and the mouse continues to select cells
even thou the mouse button is not pressed, basically disabling excel. The
only way to stop this seems to be to "End Task" on the excel process.

Pressing escape does not work to cancel the selection.
I have changed the mouse to a new one, same problem.
I have changed the keyboard to a new one, same problem.
I have pressed f8 to remove EXT, same problem.
There does not seem to be a sticky key option, I have looked and fialed to
find one, so I'm not sure what that posting was on about.
I have reinstalled the mouse drivers, same problem.
I have changed from a serial mouse to a ps2 mouse, to a usb mouse, same
problem.
I have tried to reinstall Office XP, same problem.
I have searched microsoft and the internet for a solution, none of the ones
I have found have been any help.

The mouse is a microsoft intellimouse, serial, two button, no track wheel.
Pretty basic and standard. Using the built in microsoft drivers. I have
changed from the intellimouse drivers to standard serial ones, and the same
problem still occurs.

I feel like this is a hardware problem, but it only effects excel, and there
are no other ssues with the machine. As there are 5 other machines with the
same spec running without this problem, it can not be a odd problem
associated with hardware conflict. As such I can not assume it is a software
problem.

Any suggestions?