UNSOLVED

ARC1588

updated

3 years ago

A

ARC1588

4 Posts

0

13381

April 17th, 2019 22:00

Excel sluggish and freezes, impossible to use

Hello, 

I just bought a new Dell XPS 13 9380 with 8th generation i7, 16GB memory, 512GB SSD Hard drive and touchscreen. The biggest disappointed. (It has two weeks and the problem began since day 1)

Its impossible to use the Excel (the main program I use for work). Its very slow, it hangs, I get grey boxes all over the screen when I scroll on the sheets and at the end it freezes. The files work perfectly on my old computer but not on this one. 

I have talked endlessly to Dell but they haven't been able to solve the problem yet. 

Does anyone have had the same problem? If yes, did you find a solution?

Thank you!

  • Dell-SreejithR

    6 Operator

    •

    3398 Posts

    10544

    0

    Posted April 18th, 2019 06:00

    Thank you for your message. Does the system freeze only when using the MS office application?

     

    Did this happen out of the box or after any Windows update?

     

    Does every application under MS office have this issue or is it only with Excel?

     

    For my reference, please click on the message tab next to your avatar– click “New Message” & search for my Dell username (Sreejith R) & send a private message with the service tag, registered name & email address.         

     

    I have also responded to your post here.

     

     

  • unknown54

    1 Message

    10471

    0

    Posted May 1st, 2019 12:00

    I have got the same exact problem. I have updated every driver and every software and the problem won't go away. Dell are not helping either. I'm thinking of returning it and switching to a thinkpad
  • 10337

    0

    Posted June 4th, 2019 10:00

    Hi, i have the same issue, Dell XPS 13 9380, 16 ram etc etc. Excel freezes when i open large excel files, get solid grey areas when scrolling then after some fiddeling gets all grey. Weird thing, it does it only when on battery, just plugged in charger and its still sketchy but no grey fields. Whit dockingstation and large screen at work (usb-c) i dont have this issue. So perhaps it is a power issue? If you think about the price we paid for these machines its kind of a silly but highly important problem. I bought it solely because of its power and mobility.
  • 10595

    0

    Posted June 4th, 2019 10:00

    Well that didnt age well, same issue now even with charger plugged in.

  • 10592

    0

    Posted June 4th, 2019 11:00

    There is a chance i might have solved it..

    Under display settings, i changed 'Change the size of text, apps and other items' from 125% to 100%, and now i can scroll in the excel file without crashing.

    Try and see if it works for you guys?

     

    Edit: started crashing again.......

  • Nicks61

    1 Message

    10475

    0

    Posted June 21st, 2019 02:00

    Crazy that Dell ask basic questions on this - they should and probably DO know about it. I've tried multiple options including changing Excel options for hardware acceleration - none make a significant difference. It renders Excel almost unusable. My recommendation: Try changing the Display Settings (right click on your desktop) from 3840x2160 down to 1920x1200. This is the only thing that makes Excel usable for me.
  • pnw guy

    4 Posts

    9814

    0

    Posted October 23rd, 2019 15:00

    I have this same issue with my Dell XPS 13 9370 with i7 and 16gb Ram and 4k screen.  I think it's video card or driver and resolution related as i have both Excel 2007 and Excel 365 installed on this machine with Windows 10.  

    Confirmed on Dell XPS 13 by creating blank sheets in Excel 2007 and Excel 365
    -In both, if you hold down arrow key for 5 seconds in blank sheet, you scroll about 160 rows
    -If you add just one comment to any cell, you only scroll about 50 to 80 cells in Excel 365 while you still scroll 160 cells in Excel 2007
    -Disablling hardware acceleration (Options>Advanced) makes no difference
    -Hiding comments (Options>Advanced) makes no difference
    -Another wrinkle: while in a blank sheet, Excel 365 will scroll about 160 cells in 5 seconds, but if you watch the left row numbers as you hold down the down arrow key, they don't display smoothly but will skip large amounts of numbers even though you end up in row 160 after depressing down arrow key at 5 second mark; Office 2007 doesn't do this, and instead properly displays the row numbers changing as you hold down the down arrow key.

    Scrolling is a bit better with Excel 365 if you reduce screen resolution to 1920x1080.  But we shouldn't have to do that!

    How is one of the most popular laptops incompatible with the world's most popular spreadsheet application? I've had this issue for months so looks like a fix isn't imminent.

     

  • pnw guy

    4 Posts

    9795

    0

    Posted October 24th, 2019 11:00

    Duplicate

  • pnw guy

    4 Posts

    9794

    0

    Posted October 24th, 2019 11:00

    I made the post just before this one and have an important update.  So I did the above tests on my Dell XPS 8500 server and encountered the same issue:

    Dell XPS 8500 i7-3770 16GB RAM, SSD HD, 4k screen running Windows 10 Pro Build 18632

    On Dell XPS 8500 Desktop holding down down arrow for 5 seconds:
    Blank sheet
    Excel 365: 160 rows, row number change is smooth
    Excel 2007: 160 rows, row number change is smooth

    Blank sheet with one comment
    Excel 365: 80 rows, row number change is smooth
    Excel 2007: 160 rows, row number change is smooth

    So it looks like this issue isn't specific to the Dell XPS 13.  I bought the above desktop in 2013 while my XPS 13 is from 2018.  So something tells me this isn't just a Dell issue that's been around for 6 years.  I think it's likely an issue with Excel 2016 itself and maybe Dell and non Dell computers.  If someone has a non Dell computer that can run the above test (literally just create the blank spreadsheet with and without a comment in the first cell, then hold down the down arrow key while you start and stop a stopwatch on your phone clock app), that would help isolate this problem.  Please update this thread with what you find!  

     

  • RoHe

    12 Elder

    •

    45230 Posts

    •

    172625 Points

    3297

    0

    Posted December 24th, 2019 11:00

    Anybody check to see if Filter Keys (Settings>Keyboard) is enabled in Windows? If it's enabled, try disabling it.

    Anybody try running Excel in Compatibility Mode for Win 7? Right-click the Excel short-cut and select Properties. Click Compatibility tab, check the box and select Win 7. Save the change and see if that helps...