The information in this article applies to:
- Microsoft Excel for Windows, versions 2.x, 3.0, 4.0, 5.0
- Microsoft Windows operating environment, versions 3.0, 3.1
SUMMARY
If the math coprocessor is faulty, you may receive some of the
following symptoms (the numbers given are examples only; different
numbers may appear than the ones used in these examples):
- Column width: will add 10 to 20 more units and save that way.
- Font sizes: Font size is carried out to multiple decimal places (for
example, size 10 will be displayed as 9.3333 or 10.00781250000018).
- Cell numbers: entering a whole number in a cell will show a decimal
number added to it.
- Help: When you click About on the Help menu, it will appear that your
computer has ten times the memory that is possible for your computer to
have.
- Cell values: any values entered into a cell will appear as the
same value. For example, if you enter 1, 2, 3 in different cells,
all of the cells will display the value 8.
- Unrecoverable Application Errors can occur when using Microsoft Excel
with Microsoft Windows 3.0 and general protection (GP) faults can occur
when you use using Microsoft Windows 3.1). In addition, the computer may
stop responding (hang) when you change a cell width.
- Choosing Page Setup from the File menu and pressing OK without
making any changes causes a "Number is not valid" error message
when you highlight one of the margin entries.
These symptoms may also occur in a system which has the wrong math
coprocessor installed. The math coprocessor should be the same clock
speed as the computer or one level faster. (For example, a 25 mhz
computer should be able to function correctly with a 33 mhz
coprocessor.) To test for this, turn off the turbo switch (if your
computer has one). This will reduce the clock speed by half, which
will effectively make the computer slower than the coprocessor. If the
symptoms disappear, then the installed math coprocessor is most likely
the wrong clock speed for the system.
If you have the symptoms noted above, you can also remove the math
coprocessor and then restart Microsoft Excel. If the problem does not
occur again, then the math coprocessor may be faulty.
Be sure to check the AUTOEXEC.BAT and CONFIG.SYS files for obvious
items (TSRs), make sure the system BIOS version is current, and check
to see if the coprocessor is properly seated.
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