Excel calculating everytime slow no formulas?

I'm not sure what is going on but excel is calculating formulas even when there are no formulas present and its taking a eternity sometimes for it to calculate when there are formulas. I've had this happen once before but I don't remember how to fix it. Don't suggest manual because that isn't the fix I desire. Its not a large spreadsheet with complex array formulas or anything like that. It normally takes less than 5-10 seconds to calculate but not its taking 5-10 minutes no exaggeration either. At one point yesterday I left it and just went to lunch came back and it was at 80 something %. I was dumbfounded and confused as to why its taking so long to calculate. Also when running macros it seems like it pauses at each line of code now to calculate. Yes automatically calculate has always been on. I know you can use vba to turn off calculation while it runs but again that's not the fix I'm looking for. Why not? Because it worked just fine being on automatic before why not now. I want to know is what changed and why is it so slow now? No frustration directly intended for the repliers or readers fyi.

Do you have any other excel spreadsheets open at the same time? You're problem could be a volatile formula in another open workbook.

any Conditional Formatting?

No volatile formulas. No conditional formatting either. Its like it went from 4 processor speed to 1 processor speed and from calculating once really quick to almost every moment really slow. Its not just one specific worksheet either its all of them even on worksheets with no formulas whatsoever. I have a macro for one spreadsheet that just change the font size and deletes some columns to prepare it for a report and even it stops on every time a column is deleted and recalculates every time but it didn't' do this before. I mean I could understand if this was a large worksheet or even a specific worksheet but not all of them.

I'll ask the obvious...

Microsoft has detected mouse movement, please reboot (sorry, very old joke)

have you tried reboot?...

have you opened task master/manager to look at resources?

have you tried running these files on a different machine?

So, if you open a blank workbook and in cell A1 type: =1+1 - that bogs down excel? (Even with NO other excel files open)

Have you changed anything about your excel application globally, like selected a new Add-in or something?

Originally Posted by judgeh59

I'll ask the obvious...

Microsoft has detected mouse movement, please reboot (sorry, very old joke)

have you tried reboot?...

have you opened task master/manager to look at resources?

have you tried running these files on a different machine?

Exactly lol

Originally Posted by GeneralDisarray

So, if you open a blank workbook and in cell A1 type: =1+1 - that bogs down excel? (Even with NO other excel files open)

Have you changed anything about your excel application globally, like selected a new Add-in or something?

I created a new workbook, typed in a1 = 1+1, then deleted column D, and it calculates for about 5-10 seconds before deleting the column with nothing else open. No new addins, not sure what you mean by anything else globally though.

Originally Posted by judgeh59

I'll ask the obvious...
have you opened task master/manager to look at resources?
have you tried running these files on a different machine?

I tried that and resources jumped from like 5% to around 70% when deleting that column from the a1 = 1+1 blank worksheet while its calculating. Its the weirdest thing. Just started doing this a few days ago. Wonder if any windows updates would cause this?

does TM show all 4 CPU's? and are they activated during the process?...

I guess I'm thinking system and GD is thinking XL....I'm leaning more toward GD's thinking....

Originally Posted by judgeh59

does TM show all 4 CPU's? and are they activated during the process?...
I guess I'm thinking system and GD is thinking XL....I'm leaning more toward GD's thinking....

All processors are running and activated during the process. Sometimes it shoots up to 100% while deleting a column on a larger spreadsheet. But on a brand new spreadsheet I shouldn't be seeing anything calculate especially with a 1+1 formula lol. I'm at a loss for words here.

Oh well since it magically started happening maybe it will just magically go back to normal. Thanks all.

agreed, it makes no sense. and if you made no changes except a windows update, then that sort of leads to that. really weird. can you run a repair on XL?

Ran XL repair and restarted. Works like a charm now. Hopefully it will stay that way. Thank you! lol omgoodness.

Wow....glad I could help and thanks for the rep points....

Originally Posted by Jack7774

Ran XL repair and restarted. Works like a charm now. Hopefully it will stay that way. Thank you! lol omgoodness.

Glad I checked this thread, I now have more faith in that process.... thought that was like the cable company telling you to reset your set-top-box and wait 10 mins

Originally Posted by GeneralDisarray

Glad I checked this thread, I now have more faith in that process.... thought that was like the cable company telling you to reset your set-top-box and wait 10 mins

I know right. I was like well might as well try it and then it was like BOOM it worked. Strange but effective. Now maybe if I could solve my personal PC from random hangs my life would be great. haha. but that has nothing to do with excel though.