excel 2003 error message

I work as a helpdesk support person and I have this user who has been having problems accessing Excel 2003 files on his laptop networked to our servers. Some Excel files open up and some don't, but all of the Excel files are locally on his harddrive. The excel files are not locked, have no security and are not set to read-only. The message he gets is that Excel cannot find the file even though you can see it there in Windows Explorer. It says the file is either renamed or misspelled or not physically there in the folder.

I tried reinstalling Office 2003 and even repairing Office 2003 and still the same pop up message appears. I couldn't find anything remotely on technet.

Is the user using Excel or Explorer to open the files?

both.

I had him use Excel 2003 to open up the files and Windows Explorer. His version of Office 2003 has sp2 integrated in it.

Can anyone else open them on their PC / Laptop ?

yes.

I'm able to logon as myself as I have administrator rights and I can easily open the excel files.

The folders that the files are in have been created by him, so he has full control and rights over the folders and files. When he places those excel files in his shared network drive, he can open them.

Is there anything I've overlooked??

It sounds like the permissions or system settings for the folders where the files are having problems may be at fault. You could try the "Take Ownership" change on the folders and see what happens. Or, delete the folders, re-boot, and re-create them to see if that corrects the problem.

well I tried renaming his profile with <example>username.old, then had him relogon so that his profile would be rebuilt, then transferred the files back into their original locations and I still get that message.

I think I was checking to see the permissions on the folders and I believe that the "take ownership" was already checked...I think if you look at the permissions, type in name and click the "check name" button, all of the checkboxes were checked.

I think the last resort option will be to save all of those files onto a shared network drive to backup those files, then do a clean install.....this user is using a Dell 610 dimension laptop by the way.. He's an elderly man, so it'll be a real headache for him to reconfigure his settings all over again with the activsync settings with his dell axim and other peripheral devices...

I have seen this happen on some systems, even though Windows reported that all the correct options were in place. That's why I suggested moving the files, deleting the problem folders, re-booting, and re-creating the folders and transferring the files back. It couldn't hurt to try that, as it would be a lot faster than a system wipe and re-install.