Problem cause?
Posted by Dan on October 23, 2001 7:48 AM
I've gotten a few people over the last year with this problem. The only solution to fix it has been to restart the computer. Here it is:
A user launches Excel and opens up a new or existing workbook and clicks on a cell. When he moves the mouse around, it highlights the cells that he moves the pointer to. It acts as though you are holding down the mouse button and moving the mouse around, but you aren't. It won't let you close the workbook or choose any of the menus. You can only end-task to close Excel. If you relaunch it again, the same thing happens.
I'd like to know if anyone knows what's happening here. TIA.
Posted by Robert M on October 23, 2001 7:56 AM
OH yeah, I think I know EXACTLY what you are talking about! Let me know if I'm wrong, but what will happen occasionally, and almost randomly, is that when I attempt to move my mouse pointer around and select another cell (say down 1 and right 1) it will highlight all 4 cells between that point. Any direction I move my mouse, it will do this. I dont know if this happens with you too, but this might be a windows problem in general. Once this Excel "bug" develops, the same thing will happen when I am in a Windows Explorer window (whereby I highlight one file (icon) and then attempt to highlight another file on the other side of the window, all files in between are highlighted. Its the equivalent of holding down the "Shift" key while clicking)
As far as solutions go, I am at a loss too. The only solution that is guaranteed to work is if you reboot your machine, or at the very least restart windows. This appears to be an Excel "bug", but could also be a Windows bug as well (I am running Windows 2000 Professional). If anyone else has any insight into this, I'd appreciate it too!
Robert
Posted by Dan on October 23, 2001 8:12 AM
Exactly, anyone know the cause?
Yep, that's it, although I haven't noticed it carry over to Windows explorer yet (I never checked). I'm running Office 97 and NT 4.0.
Can anyone give a cause for this. I have searched the Microsoft knowledge base in the past and couldn't find anything. Thanks.
Posted by Giacomo on October 23, 2001 9:00 AM
Re: Exactly, anyone know the cause?
I've had this happen to me before. Check your scroll lock ("ScrLk") on your keyboard next to the printscreen button. Turning the srcoll lock off fixes this problem for me.
Posted by Robert M on October 23, 2001 9:05 AM
Re: Exactly, anyone know the cause?
That never occurred to me. Thanks, i will try that next time this annoyance presents itself!
Posted by Dan on October 23, 2001 2:00 PM
Re: Exactly, anyone know the cause?
I'm fairly certain I've checked that when it has happened, but if it happens again, I'll make sure.
Thanks.
