OFF97: Office for Alpha Chip Error Vba332.DLL Could Not Be Found (168331)

SYMPTOMS

If you attempt to compile a macro in Microsoft Office 97 on the alpha platform that references a Visual Basic for Applications runtime function, you may receive the following error:

VBA332.DLL could not be found.

CAUSE

In the process of trying to compile a reference to a Visual Basic for Applications runtime function, the VB compiler (inside Vba332.dll) tries to demand-load Vba332.dll. When FX!32 is running, the loading of Vba332.dll fails.

The function that tries to load Vba332.dll searches the system path, the current directory, and also the currently running process. With FX!32 installed, this third search fails and the function is unable to locate the file.

WORKAROUND

To work around this problem, use one of the following methods.

Method 1: Move the DLLs to a directory on the system path

Copy the Vba332.dll and Vba3en.dll files from the \Program Files\Microsoft Office\Shared folder to the \System32 folder.

Method 2: Add the Office 97 Applications to the Exception List

It is possible for native Alpha applications to incorrectly interact with Digital FX!32 and not behave as expected. If you notice this interaction, perform the following steps to disable Digital FX!32 for such applications:

From the FX!32 Manager/Options menu, click Preferences.
Click Advanced Preferences and move the insertion point into the box labeled, "Disable FX!32 for these applications."
From the end of the list, press ENTER and type the name of the application, such as WinWord.exe.

This disables FX!32 for the named application. If more than one application on the computer has the same name, you can provide the specific path, including the drive and directory.

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem in the Microsoft products listed at the beginning of this article. We are researching this problem and will post new information here in the Microsoft Knowledge Base as it becomes available.

MORE INFORMATION

Digital FX!32, is an x86 binary translator for the Alpha platform. It gives you the ability to run x86 Win32 applications on Windows NT 4.0 for Alpha. You can load a 32-bit x86 application on the Alpha, double-click its icon, and the application runs just as if it were running on a Pentium system.

REFERENCES

For more information about FX!32, please see one of the following resources:

The FX!32 Readme.txt file located in the FX32 directory on your computer.
The online help for FX!32.

For more complete information about Digital FX!32, please see the Digital FX!32 Web site at the following address:

http://www.digital.com/info/semiconductor/amt/fx32

For more information about running Office 97 for the Alpha, please see the Wdread8.txt and Xlread8.txt files located in the \Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office directory.