Microsoft Excel* 2007 Solver Bug Work-Around
If you use Solver in Excel 2007 for linear programming, you may run
into the following bug. This has come and gone since at least
summer 2007 and has yet to be permanently solved by Microsoft.
The quickest currently known work-around is described below.
Bug:
You use Excel 2007 to set up a linear programming problem and enter the
proper cells into Solver. You click Solve, and Solver indicates
that it has found a solution. If you simply click OK, the solver
solution is preserved on the spreadsheet. But,
if you click to select one or more reports before clicking OK, you get
an error message reading "Solver: an unexpected internal error
occurred, or available memory was exhausted." The report(s) are not
generated. If you have this problem, it occurs very consistently
with any attempt to generate a linear programming report. The bug
does not appear in Excel 2003.
Work-around:
Remove the Solver add-in from Excel 2007, then add it back.
Procedure to remove Solver:
-Start Excel 2007 and click the “Office Button” at top left
-click the Excel Options button near the bottom of the resulting window
-click the Add-ins button on the left of the next screen
-near the bottom at Manage Excel Add-ins, click Go
-un-check the box for Solver Add-in, then click OK
-click the Data tab and verify that Solver does not show in the Analysis section.
Now reverse what you just did:
-click the “Office Button” at top left
-click the Excel Options button near the bottom of the resulting window
-click the Add-ins button on the left of the next screen
-near the bottom at Manage Excel Add-ins, click Go
-check the box for Solver Add-in, then click OK
-click the Data tab and verify that Solver shows in the Analysis section.
-Solver will now work properly.
This solution should work until you exit Excel 2007. The steps
must be repeated every time you start Excel if you wish to generate
linear programming reports.
*Microsoft and Excel are trademarks of Microsoft Corporation.
Send comments and corrections concerning this page to:
wfisher@sfasu.edu
Last updated September 9, 2008