Excel Automation In Access Problem

The code below is executed in Microsoft Access to open an Excel file, find any blank rows (where the formula in the cell returns an empty string) and delete them.  The code works as expected to delete the rows, however EXCEL is left in memory after the code executes, preventing it from being run more than once without exiting Access and re-opening the database first.  The problem seems to have something to do with this line:

Do Until i >= xlWs.Cells(65536, "A").End(xlUp).Row

If I condition out the .End(xlUp).Row portion, the code runs (but doesn't delete the rows) and EXCEL leaves memory as expected.  Any thoughts on how to delete the rows AND force EXCEL out of memory?

Thanks!
ChadStart Free Trial

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Function delrows()
 
Dim xlApp As Excel.Application
Dim xlWb As Excel.Workbook
Dim xlWs As Excel.Worksheet
Dim strXLFile As String
Dim i As Integer
 
strXLFile = "i:\report.xls"
 
Set xlApp = CreateObject("Excel.Application")
Set xlWb = xlApp.Workbooks.Open(strXLFile)
Set xlWs = xlWb.Worksheets("Report")
 
xlWs.Range("A2").Select
i = 1
Do Until i >= xlWs.Cells(65536, "A").End(xlUp).Row
If (Trim(ActiveCell.Value) = "") Then
xlWs.Rows(i).Delete
xlWs.Cells(i, 1).Select
Else
ActiveCell.Offset(1, 0).Select
i = i + 1
End If
Loop
 
xlWs.Range("A2").Select
xlWb.Save
Set xlWs = Nothing
Set xlWb = Nothing
 
xlApp.Quit
Set xlApp = Nothing
 
End Function