Hi Mike

Very much a loooonnng shot, but try opening with macros disabled. Or, if
possible, try opening on a later version.

Does the Workbook have links to other Workbooks? If so, are there a lot?

Try searching here;
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=fh;EN-US;KBHOWTO

Using the words "Hangs open"

I'd try opening excel in safe mode:

close excel
windows start button|Run
excel /safe

then File|Open

Safe mode will disable lots of stuff--macros and toolbars, for instance.

If it turns out you can open the workbook, maybe it's not the workbook with the
problem.

It might be your *.xlb file (where excel stores your customized toolbar
settings).  Close excel and windows start button|Find/Search for *.xlb (search
for hidden files and through hidden folders, too.)

Rename all of the *.xlb to *.xlbOLD.

Then reopen excel and try your workbook.  If it opens, delete those *.xlbOLD's
and rebuild your customizations.

If it didn't open, then rename the *.xlbOLD back to *.xlb.

You might be able to recover the file by using another program--OpenOffice has a
better reputation for opening files that excel couldn't.  (and I've seen posts
that say that xl2k may open files that xl2002 couldn't!)

(http://www.openoffice.org, a 60-65 meg download or a CD)

If the file is really important, there are commercial recovery services.  I've
never used it, but you might want to check into:
http://www.officerecovery.com

Try 'www.fdrlab.com' (http://www.fdrlab.com/repair.html)
They can recover corrupted Excel files (incuding password protected
with all contained information, including comments, VBA, charts, link
etc.
No one software can do this completely.

Good Luck

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