Excel 3.0 and OS/2 Macro Problem and Workaround

For users of Excel for OS/2 and ATI Graphics Ultra video drivers:

I have had the Excel for OS/2 session (3.0) crash with SYS3175 trap 2 access violations at 1055d when creating macros. The situation which seems to cause the problem is whenever an invalid cell reference is generated by the macro (a common situation until you've debugged). My only recourse at this point is to run the macro in single step mode and evaluate each expression before execution, then halt whenever I see that a bad cell reference is being generated, just before the command that will use the reference is executed. Once the reference is being generated correctly by the macro code, I can let it run in normal mode.

Sample macro code which causes this error: =FORMULA.GOTO("TestName") =RETURN where TestName has not been defined on the current worksheet

After re-installing OS/2 and Excel and re-doing my system customizations for device drivers, CONFIG.SYS settings, OS/2 System Set-up, etc. I have narrowed the problem down to some interaction between Excel and the ATI Graphics Accelerator PM video driver (version 1.3) for my Graphics Ultra card. When I installed the ATI PM driver in 1024x768 mode, I started experiencing the Excel macro problem. The IBM drivers supplied with OS/2 for both VGA and 8514A video modes do not result in the Excel problem; the macro stops with a message box but the Excel session does not go down. I have tried installing the Graphics Accelerator in all 3 resolutions - 1024x768,800x600 and 640x480, and Excel exhibits the problem described above in all cases. I have not experienced problems with any other applications using the ATI driver.

I contacted ATI Technologies and they informed me that the ATI driver I am using was designed for OS/2 1.3, but can be used with 2.0; there are some limitations, one of which causes my problem with Excel macros. They are aware of the problem, and will be providing a fully OS/2 2.0 compliant driver for the Graphics Ultra in 1024x7868 mode, to be ready for early October/92.

In the meantime, a reasonable compromise is to use the IBM 8514A driver supplied with OS/2 2.0, which will provide the benefit of 1024x768 resolution, although not attaining the full video performance of the card which the ATI driver provides.