Hi-

I'm trying to open an xls file on a computer that has 2000 Excel on it. I
get a 'file error:data may have been lost' or something similar to that. It
opens fine on my laptop in compatibility mode (I'm running 2007).

Thanks for any suggestions,
Mark

Try opening it in 2007 and then using SAVE AS to save it in a multi-version
(97-2003/95 Office 5) compatible format rather than just 2003 format.
Although a 2003 created file should open just fine in 2000. But the file on
disk, or the disk itself may be a bit flakey, so won't hurt to have a second
copy of it available in case the first becomes unusable with any version.

"Newtie" wrote:

Hi-

I'm trying to open an xls file on a computer that has 2000 Excel on it. I
get a 'file error:data may have been lost' or something similar to that. It
opens fine on my laptop in compatibility mode (I'm running 2007).

Thanks for any suggestions,
Mark

Thanks for the advice, but no luck. If you click the file error 'OK' button
about 25 times, the file will eventually open. This is drivin' me nuts!

"JLatham" wrote:

Try opening it in 2007 and then using SAVE AS to save it in a multi-version
(97-2003/95 Office 5) compatible format rather than just 2003 format.
Although a 2003 created file should open just fine in 2000. But the file on
disk, or the disk itself may be a bit flakey, so won't hurt to have a second
copy of it available in case the first becomes unusable with any version.

"Newtie" wrote:

Hi-

I'm trying to open an xls file on a computer that has 2000 Excel on it. I
get a 'file error:data may have been lost' or something similar to that. It
opens fine on my laptop in compatibility mode (I'm running 2007).

Thanks for any suggestions,
Mark

What type of device is the file stored on when you are having troubles? If
it's a removable media (CD, DVD, usb thumb drive, ect) try copying it to the
Excel 2000 system's hard drive before attempting to open it. Sometimes low
memory availability in a thumb drive can cause problems.

That's about all the guesses I have tonight, sorry.

"Newtie" wrote:

Thanks for the advice, but no luck. If you click the file error 'OK' button
about 25 times, the file will eventually open. This is drivin' me nuts!

"JLatham" wrote:

Try opening it in 2007 and then using SAVE AS to save it in a multi-version
(97-2003/95 Office 5) compatible format rather than just 2003 format.
Although a 2003 created file should open just fine in 2000. But the file on
disk, or the disk itself may be a bit flakey, so won't hurt to have a second
copy of it available in case the first becomes unusable with any version.

"Newtie" wrote:

Hi-

I'm trying to open an xls file on a computer that has 2000 Excel on it. I
get a 'file error:data may have been lost' or something similar to that. It
opens fine on my laptop in compatibility mode (I'm running 2007).

Thanks for any suggestions,
Mark

Already tried that. Oh well, somethings just go unexplained... :(

"JLatham" wrote:

What type of device is the file stored on when you are having troubles? If
it's a removable media (CD, DVD, usb thumb drive, ect) try copying it to the
Excel 2000 system's hard drive before attempting to open it. Sometimes low
memory availability in a thumb drive can cause problems.

That's about all the guesses I have tonight, sorry.

"Newtie" wrote:

Thanks for the advice, but no luck. If you click the file error 'OK' button
about 25 times, the file will eventually open. This is drivin' me nuts!

"JLatham" wrote:

Try opening it in 2007 and then using SAVE AS to save it in a multi-version
(97-2003/95 Office 5) compatible format rather than just 2003 format.
Although a 2003 created file should open just fine in 2000. But the file on
disk, or the disk itself may be a bit flakey, so won't hurt to have a second
copy of it available in case the first becomes unusable with any version.

"Newtie" wrote:

Hi-

I'm trying to open an xls file on a computer that has 2000 Excel on it. I
get a 'file error:data may have been lost' or something similar to that. It
opens fine on my laptop in compatibility mode (I'm running 2007).

Thanks for any suggestions,
Mark

Well, there are 2 things left to consider that may be causing this:
failing hard drive,
failing memory

Now, before testing the hard drive you should backup any data files you have
on it, just to be absolutely safe; anything you can't restore from some
source such as CD/DVD or downloaded file. Then you can run chkdsk (a tool
that comes with Windows) to verify the integrity of the drive. 99.999% of
the time it will run without creating any problem, but I've heard of
instances where it seemed that running chkdsk made things worse, or seemed
to. The backup is to protect against that .001% rare occurrance. Use Start
| Help and Support and search for CHKDSK for instructions on how to use the
command.

But BEFORE testing the hard drive, I recommend running MemTest86+ which will
test the RAM in the computer for errors. That would be a more likely problem
(in my opinion) than a bad drive, and it's definitely easier to fix. You can
get a copy of it free of charge from http://www.memtest.org To use it you
download the file, easiest with floppy - you create a bootable floppy, set
your system to boot from floppy, then boot from it. It begins running a
continuous loop until you stop it. The longer you let it run the better
chance it has of finding memory errors. I've found it to be very accurate in
discovering RAM errors. If you get some, then you have some detective work
to do to figure out which chip the error is on, but swapping them around or
going down to single chip/pair and retesting usually reveals that. Then you
just get replacement RAM.




"Newtie" wrote:

Already tried that. Oh well, somethings just go unexplained... :(

"JLatham" wrote:

What type of device is the file stored on when you are having troubles? If
it's a removable media (CD, DVD, usb thumb drive, ect) try copying it to the
Excel 2000 system's hard drive before attempting to open it. Sometimes low
memory availability in a thumb drive can cause problems.

That's about all the guesses I have tonight, sorry.

"Newtie" wrote:

Thanks for the advice, but no luck. If you click the file error 'OK' button
about 25 times, the file will eventually open. This is drivin' me nuts!

"JLatham" wrote:

Try opening it in 2007 and then using SAVE AS to save it in a multi-version
(97-2003/95 Office 5) compatible format rather than just 2003 format.
Although a 2003 created file should open just fine in 2000. But the file on
disk, or the disk itself may be a bit flakey, so won't hurt to have a second
copy of it available in case the first becomes unusable with any version.

"Newtie" wrote:

Hi-

I'm trying to open an xls file on a computer that has 2000 Excel on it. I
get a 'file error:data may have been lost' or something similar to that. It
opens fine on my laptop in compatibility mode (I'm running 2007).

Thanks for any suggestions,
Mark