Excel spreadsheet problem - Montana Owners Club

dsprik · 03-24-2008, 01:47 PM

I have an HP laptop running Windows XP (SP2) and Office 2007. AMD processor. 1.6 Ghz. 640 mg RAM.

I have never had problems with my excel sheets on speed before. But now I have created a budget spreadsheet with over 1200 rows - not that big I didn't think - and suddenly I am having all sorts of problems with the spreadsheet slowing WAY down, my virtual memory trying to expand and finally having to re-boot the latop as it becomes virtually unresponsive. My smaller files still work at normal speed.

I have tried shutting down all other programs and changing as many of formulas to "values only" as possible. I even hid some rows and changed many colors in the cells to plain white. Only very minor difference in speed and eventually have to restart again.

What do I have to do to keep this relatively small - in my opinion - file from totally bogging down my computer? I have a couple of macros that I have also deleted - keeping only 2. Do I need to buy more ram? How do I increase the application memory size? I could do this on my Mac. Still in a learning curve on Windows...

I appreciate any help and ideas.

Dave

*On Edit~ As a side note, my 2007 Outlook program is also a little sluggish. This program has always been this way though on my laptop, but it might also be an application memory or RAM problem.

rogue · 03-24-2008, 03:04 PM

Before adding memory, check to make sure you did not copy a formula across all the columns for a row. That will create a almost infinite length column and really slow things down. Also check for one down a row out beyond your 1200 rows. It's been a while since I used macros. You might also try doing a copying or all your cells (A-1 to "X"-1200 "X" being your last column), and pasting it into another spread sheet. Then see if that one works any better. I have not used Excel with big worksheets in a long time, but early on they did have a problem where if the spread sheet was too big it did not work, unfortunately I don't remember what that size was. But that should have been fixed long ago.

If these don't help, and you want me to look at the spread sheet, send me a PM and I'll give you my e-mail.
Bob

Countryfolks · 03-24-2008, 03:10 PM

Dave;
Have you had a chance to google "slow excel"? The answer may be there if no one is able to help.

Skip

Parrothead · 03-24-2008, 04:05 PM

Dave
It is not the number of row or columns usually that cause the problems. I have spreadsheets with over 4000 rows. One thing that does cause problems is formating the whole row or whole column, especially if it is a complex format. Try what Bob suggested or try deleting the unused rows and columns. Colors do add to the size of the spreadsheet as does Macros. How much memory do you have? Size of hard drive?
Happy trails......................

Jolu · 03-24-2008, 04:13 PM

I have MS Office (Word&Excel) and all the other stuff that goes with it and it got sluggish with 1 gig of memory. I added another gig of memory and it was happy.
I have also heard that Word and Excel can get slow when memory may be a little short. Who would think it would be slow with a gig of memory.
I know it sure seems to take a lot of memory anymore for web pages to load up with any speed to them. The MOC Forum loads a lot quicker with the additional memory.
JB

Waynem · 03-24-2008, 04:15 PM

David,
You are running Windows XP SP2 with 640Mb of RAM!!!!
I'm surprised you never had a problem before. The recommended memory is 512Mb as a minimum and higher is highly suggested. I'm running 512 on this Toshiba with the same processor and speed as you and have never had a problem. You may want to check your system preferences and see what your virtual memory is set to. Mine is 756Mb page file. That is the amount of hard disk space that will be used as a storage area for virtual memory.

Another thing, check to see how much hard disk space you have. If you have added a lot of programs over the years you could have used up your disk cache space and it will definately make the system run slower.

Good luck

bncinwv · 03-25-2008, 01:45 AM

Time for a memory upgrade Dave, 640 is bare-bones for most applications, I have not had less than 2 GB in a laptop or desktop for about 4 years now. Even our home computers we keep 1 GB minimum. It is just my opinion (you know what those are worth) but I believe you already knew what the problem was (more memory - and nowadays it is a cheap fix). Maker sure you get the same speed (nanoseconds) or faster that is already in the system. If the 640 is on one chip, you should be able to pop in a replacement 1GB or 2GB with no problem.
Bingo

Leaseit · 03-25-2008, 04:19 AM

Just educated hunch, but you you most likely need more memory. Reason: Excel, like many other programs for todays PC's and especially anything that is written by MS, use DLL's. (Dynamic Link Library) The slang term is "Overlays" They are "Called" into memory by the main program to do specific tasks. Excel uses DLLs very heavely with Formulas or Macros. They are loaded into an Overlay area in memory and they are Dynamic because once used, the Memory is released for other Overlays to be loaded in and used.
Think of a kitchen with limited counter space. You would get out the mixer and use it, then put it away releasing that counter space to use the cutting board. Once your through with the cutting board, you would put it away and bring out the mixer again if Called for.
This would happen over and over takng up time and making your work task slow down as you made dinner or some dessert.
MS Windows Operating Systems look at how much memory there is when you boot up and assign more memory for Overlay's to be loaded in so that DLLs can be kept in memory if they are used often.
Go buy more memory and your Excel application will speed back up.
Randy

Parrothead · 03-25-2008, 10:03 AM

Dave
This is just a suggestion. Most actions that a Macro does can be handled with a formula like an "If" statement. Macros take up a lot of memory and space. Another idea if you cannot solve your problem is to create several spreadsheets and link them although you may not have enough memory for that either. Or instead of 1200 rows on your spreadsheet, create tabs for each month, i.e., and do a formula to refer to the "balance" i.e., on the previous month. This way what is on the screen is just say the current month. I did accumulative attendance for school districts this way. I love Excel and love to show people all it can do. I taught classes for many years in Excel, Word and PowerPoint. I had the very first version of Excel a lot of years ago. The geek that installed it for me was Bill Gates' college roommate and he called Bill for help during the installation. Bill was pretty much a nobody then.
Happy trails.........................

dsprik · 03-25-2008, 03:21 PM

I bought this HP in Nov of 2006. It was a bare bones Walmart loss-leader with 128 MB RAM. I immediately bought an additional 512 chip to supplement. I also just checked my paging file size. Wayne, it is only 333 MB. Can I change this? Or is this all I'm going to be able to get out of my current set up?

Sue, I am using tabs, but I have been doing year tabs, not by months. I can try that, but I like seeing a continuous flow of money when I make a change in the middle of the previous month, I can see the effect of this at the end of the next month. Instead of scrolling down, though, I guess I could just click through the tabs...

Bob, JB and Randy, thanks for the info. That was info I didn't have.

Skip, I will try that Google...
Bingo, thanks for the info on the chips. I would have to replace the 512 MB chip, but I don't have a problem with that. Do you recycle these, or just throw them away?

Countryfolks · 03-25-2008, 05:03 PM

Sell or give to somebody, they are just a small, special purpose circuit board.

Skip

bncinwv · 03-26-2008, 02:02 AM

Dave,
If you have an array available (places for more than chip) that will hold two or four memory chips, you may have to do some web research but you should be able to add a GB chip and still leave the 512 in. They usually have to be installed in pairs so if the 128 mb is one chip in an array of two, it can be disposed of and you would end up with 1.5 GB on board. Don't hold me to this, since about every manufacturer does it different, but it should be obvious by looking at what you have in there now. The speed rating is the important part, it must match or be faster than what the motherboard requires. Hope this helps.
Bingo

dsprik · 03-26-2008, 02:34 AM

Thanks, Bingo. I will open up and check. I know the processor is 1.59 GHz speed. I will research.

Skip I agree. But you know this $299 laptop that I had to get up at 2 AM the day after Thanksgiving and drive 100 miles round trip through a virtual blizzard to be 3rd in line out of hundreds of people to get what we discovered were only 23 laptops at the Gaylord Super Center has served my purposes surprisingly well over the past two years. If I can get some extra memory to fix this speed and loading up problem, then I will do it for now.

9 months ago, I did just buy my wife a rather expensive swivel screen, high end HP laptop that is really sweet. After years of her complaining that I never shared my laptops with her, I figured I owed her that. I do have my eye on that Mac "Air Book", though...

Jolu · 03-26-2008, 06:03 AM

Dave,
You may already know this and for others that are interested in memory upgrades for their desktops or laptops www.Crucial.com is a site you can go to and look up your computer brand & model and you will find what memory your computer came with and they will show you what is compatible with yours. I have ordered from Crucial and they have been very prompt with service. You can also shop and compare with the info gained from them.
JB

Waynem · 03-26-2008, 12:27 PM

Dave,
Yes, you can change the page file, but it is using 333mb because you don't have the memory to support a larger page file. Memory is cheap and easy to install. upgrade the memory and I believe your problem will go away.

There are some proprietary programs that start up when you turn the computer on. HP has a bunch of them. You can seary on Google for windows start-up programs and disable those that are not needed.

Go to the Start/Run line and type in the command "msconfig" without the quotes and see what you have running by clicking on the "start-up" tab. Remember what you turn off or on so you can change it back if necessary. I stopped a lot of the Toshiba start up progams that just take up memory.

dsprik · 03-26-2008, 05:51 PM

Thanks, JB. I'll check it out in the AM.

Thanks Wayne. I have no idea what most of those startup programs are. Is there some description of each that I can read?

Waynem · 03-27-2008, 01:26 PM

Dave,
Here is some information from SysInfo Org

Application Startup List

H. John Kohl · 03-27-2008, 11:56 PM

I know this is common sense but I did not follow it so here is what I learned (well proved again). Try shutting down all other programs especially IE if you are on line and run your excel as the only open program.
Ok, so you are already doing that then back to what the other guys said about memory.

dsprik · 03-28-2008, 05:11 AM

Thanks, Wayne. I will check that out. John I have tried that and it seemed to have little effect one way of the other. I think it's a RAM issue.

I broke up the spreadsheet for now into more tabs - Carol's suggestion - and that had a huge effect on the speed of the file. I also did format a few columns on the original sheet to infinity on certain colors. That was mentioned here as a problem also. I undid that. Seemed to help a little also.

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