I have installed office 2010.I have a excel file created with excel-2003.Data validation-list-different worksheet is not working when opening Excel file in 97-2003 compatibility mode.But Data validation-list-same worksheet is working.

Can u please anyone suggest me to resolve this.

Problems in the sheet itself, it sounds like.

On the sheet with the DV list, make sure you create a Named Range from the list, like MyList or MyNames, then use the name in your DV formula:

Allow: List
Source: =MyList