XL2000: Crash Saving Workbook If Module Name Contains Equal Sign (200790)



The information in this article applies to:

  • Microsoft Excel 2000

This article was previously published under Q200790

SYMPTOMS

When you save a workbook that contains one or more module sheets, you receive an error and Microsoft Excel quits without saving the workbook.

Windows 95 or Windows 98

The following error appears when you try to save the workbook:
This program has performed an illegal operation and will be shut down.
If you click Details the following error appears:
Excel caused an invalid page fault in module VBE6.DLL at 015f:6500b31e

Windows NT 4.0

The following error appears when you try to save the workbook:
An application error has occurred and an application error log is being generated.
excel.exe Exception: access violation (0xc0000005), Address: 0x6504223d
NOTE: The memory address of the errors may vary.

CAUSE

This problem may occur if the workbook contains a module sheet with a name that contains an equal sign (=).

Module names can contain only alphabetic, numeric and underscore characters; the equal sign character is not valid for module names. However, versions of Microsoft Excel earlier than Excel 97 allowed module sheet names to contain equal signs. Microsoft Excel 2000 can successfully open these files. However, when you attempt to save the workbook in the Microsoft Excel 2000 file format, you receive an error, and the workbook is not saved.

WORKAROUND

To work around this problem, change the name of the module sheet to a valid Microsoft Excel module name before you save the file. To do this, follow these steps:
  1. Open the workbook.
  2. Press ALT+F11 to activate the Visual Basic Editor.
  3. Click Project Explorer on the View menu to display the Project Explorer.
  4. In the Project Explorer, double-click the Modules folder for the workbook.
  5. Select the module that has an equal sign in its name and press F4 to display the Properties window for that module.
  6. In the Properties window, change the name of the module so that it contains only valid characters (alphabetic, numeric and underscores are valid). For example, you could change the name VB=Module to VB_Module.
  7. On the File menu, click Close and Return to Microsoft Excel.

    You should now be able to save the workbook without receiving the error message described in this article.

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in the Microsoft products that are listed at the beginning of this article.

Modification Type:MinorLast Reviewed:10/10/2006
Keywords:kbbug kbdtacode kbpending KB200790