PPT 2007 Doesn't Like Its Own Format

[Guest]

Hi! - I've been using PPT 2007 for a while now, and on my own desktop &
laptop computers, I don't have a problem. I just recently had it installed
on the computer in the room I teach in (I use it for all my presentations),
and it's acting strangely there. In some -- not all! -- of my .pptx
presentations, some slides more or less hang the machine when it's in Slide
Show mode. I say "more or less" because it basically slows the computer to
an absolute crawl, so slow that it looks like the computer has hanged, though
it really hasn't. There's no mouse control or anything during these
digitaleptic seizures, but if I've pressed a button to advance the slides,
they build up so that when the seizure is done, they all happen really
quickly (more or less instantaneously).

What's particularly odd is that when I run the exact same presentation saved
as a .ppt file, it runs fine and without any problems. The .pptx versions
run fine on more or less every other computer I've run them on (including a
Macintosh), so whatever the problem is, it seems to be indigenous to that one
computer in my classroom. I'm getting extremely frustrated with it, though
I've stopped short of taking a sledgehammer to the machine. I've tried many
of the usual suspects -- checked for Spyware, viruses, Disk Check, etc., and
all report that the machine is in dandy shape. If anyone's got some ideas
about what I can do/check to rectify this problem, it would be greatly
appreciated! Many, many thanks in advance!

 

[Guest]

Hi

Have you run Office Diagnostics? Office button -> PowerPoint options ->
Resources -> Diagnose. And check for updates to the video card driver.

Let us know how you get on.

Lucy

 

[Echo S]

In addition to Lucy's good suggestions, also make sure you have a
Windows-certified printer driver installed locally (not on the network) and
set as the default printer. (I know, I know -- it sounds weird. But it often
resolves these odd issues.) See

How to install a local printer driver
http://www.pptfaq.com/FAQ00605.htm

--
Echo [MS PPT MVP] http://www.echosvoice.com
What's new in PowerPoint 2007? http://www.echosvoice.com/2007.htm
(New!) The PowerPoint 2007 Complete Makeover Kit http://tinyurl.com/2qzlpl
Fixing PowerPoint Annoyances
http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/powerpointannoy/index.html

 

[Steve Rindsberg]

Hi! - I've been using PPT 2007 for a while now, and on my own desktop &
laptop computers, I don't have a problem. I just recently had it installed
on the computer in the room I teach in (I use it for all my presentations),
and it's acting strangely there. In some -- not all! -- of my .pptx
presentations, some slides more or less hang the machine when it's in Slide
Show mode. I say "more or less" because it basically slows the computer to
an absolute crawl, so slow that it looks like the computer has hanged, though
it really hasn't. There's no mouse control or anything during these
digitaleptic seizures,

Digitaleptic ... love the term. <g>

In addition to Lucy's suggestions, try installing a Windows-certified printer
driver on the PC in question and make it the default. Sounds crazy, I know, but
*it matters*.

How to install a local printer driver
http://www.pptfaq.com/FAQ00605.htm

How to select a default printer
http://www.pptfaq.com/FAQ00131.htm

Steve Rindsberg, PPT MVP
PPT FAQ: www.pptfaq.com
PPTools: www.pptools.com
================================================

 

[Guest]

Hi Echo

You know I was going to write about the printer driver thingo and thought
'Naaah, that can't be it - and you can't just write that for *every* 2007
issue'. Seems you can

Lucy
--
MOS Master Instructor
www.aneasiertomorrow.com.au

In addition to Lucy's good suggestions, also make sure you have a
Windows-certified printer driver installed locally (not on the network) and
set as the default printer. (I know, I know -- it sounds weird. But it often
resolves these odd issues.) See

How to install a local printer driver
http://www.pptfaq.com/FAQ00605.htm

--
Echo [MS PPT MVP] http://www.echosvoice.com
What's new in PowerPoint 2007? http://www.echosvoice.com/2007.htm
(New!) The PowerPoint 2007 Complete Makeover Kit http://tinyurl.com/2qzlpl
Fixing PowerPoint Annoyances
http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/powerpointannoy/index.html

Hi! - I've been using PPT 2007 for a while now, and on my own desktop &
laptop computers, I don't have a problem. I just recently had it
installed
on the computer in the room I teach in (I use it for all my
presentations),
and it's acting strangely there. In some -- not all! -- of my .pptx
presentations, some slides more or less hang the machine when it's in
Slide
Show mode. I say "more or less" because it basically slows the computer
to
an absolute crawl, so slow that it looks like the computer has hanged,
though
it really hasn't. There's no mouse control or anything during these
digitaleptic seizures, but if I've pressed a button to advance the slides,
they build up so that when the seizure is done, they all happen really
quickly (more or less instantaneously).

What's particularly odd is that when I run the exact same presentation
saved
as a .ppt file, it runs fine and without any problems. The .pptx versions
run fine on more or less every other computer I've run them on (including
a
Macintosh), so whatever the problem is, it seems to be indigenous to that
one
computer in my classroom. I'm getting extremely frustrated with it,
though
I've stopped short of taking a sledgehammer to the machine. I've tried
many
of the usual suspects -- checked for Spyware, viruses, Disk Check, etc.,
and
all report that the machine is in dandy shape. If anyone's got some ideas
about what I can do/check to rectify this problem, it would be greatly
appreciated! Many, many thanks in advance!

 

[Echo S]

heh. I used to think that about hardware acceleration. I felt like I
suggested it for *everything*! It was like my standard cure-all answer, lol.
And I thought the same thing as you -- no way. That can't be right. Then I
heard Bill Gates say something about how video drivers and hardware
acceleration were responsible for some ungodly percentage of Windows
crashes.... (ISTR it was like 80% or something! I'm probably
misremembering, but still, it was a large number.)

That was back in the Windows 95/98 days. But still, wow. So I've stopped
worrying about it. There are some things that just seem to help. In PPT
2007's case, the printer driver thing is one of them. And cranking down
hardware accleration down and updating video drivers is still quite valid,
too. ;-)

--
Echo [MS PPT MVP] http://www.echosvoice.com
What's new in PowerPoint 2007? http://www.echosvoice.com/2007.htm
(New!) The PowerPoint 2007 Complete Makeover Kit http://tinyurl.com/2qzlpl
Fixing PowerPoint Annoyances
http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/powerpointannoy/index.html

"Lucy Thomson (aka aneasiertomorrow)"

Hi Echo

You know I was going to write about the printer driver thingo and thought
'Naaah, that can't be it - and you can't just write that for *every* 2007
issue'. Seems you can

Lucy
--
MOS Master Instructor
www.aneasiertomorrow.com.au

In addition to Lucy's good suggestions, also make sure you have a
Windows-certified printer driver installed locally (not on the network)
and
set as the default printer. (I know, I know -- it sounds weird. But it
often
resolves these odd issues.) See

How to install a local printer driver
http://www.pptfaq.com/FAQ00605.htm

--
Echo [MS PPT MVP] http://www.echosvoice.com
What's new in PowerPoint 2007? http://www.echosvoice.com/2007.htm
(New!) The PowerPoint 2007 Complete Makeover Kit
http://tinyurl.com/2qzlpl
Fixing PowerPoint Annoyances
http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/powerpointannoy/index.html

Hi! - I've been using PPT 2007 for a while now, and on my own desktop &
laptop computers, I don't have a problem. I just recently had it
installed
on the computer in the room I teach in (I use it for all my
presentations),
and it's acting strangely there. In some -- not all! -- of my .pptx
presentations, some slides more or less hang the machine when it's in
Slide
Show mode. I say "more or less" because it basically slows the
computer
to
an absolute crawl, so slow that it looks like the computer has hanged,
though
it really hasn't. There's no mouse control or anything during these
digitaleptic seizures, but if I've pressed a button to advance the
slides,
they build up so that when the seizure is done, they all happen really
quickly (more or less instantaneously).

What's particularly odd is that when I run the exact same presentation
saved
as a .ppt file, it runs fine and without any problems. The .pptx
versions
run fine on more or less every other computer I've run them on
(including
a
Macintosh), so whatever the problem is, it seems to be indigenous to
that
one
computer in my classroom. I'm getting extremely frustrated with it,
though
I've stopped short of taking a sledgehammer to the machine. I've tried
many
of the usual suspects -- checked for Spyware, viruses, Disk Check,
etc.,
and
all report that the machine is in dandy shape. If anyone's got some
ideas
about what I can do/check to rectify this problem, it would be greatly
appreciated! Many, many thanks in advance!

 

[Guest]

Hi Everyone! -- Many thanks for the suggestions! I've done all of them now
-- updated the video card drivers, run the diagnostic (it found one problem
and fixed it), and ensured that the printer drivers installed on the machine
are certified. None of these, however, has fixed the problem. But I have
noticed something else: the problem occurs whenever the program approaches a
slide that has an animated gif on it. That is, even when not in Slide Show
mode, when scrolling down through the slides, it has one of its seizures when
a slide with an animated gif on it is about to come onto the screen. When in
Slide Show mode, on those same slides, is also when it freezes up. Most of
the animated gifs I have on those slides I also have in other formats (like
..avi), but I greatly prefer the animated gif format because I don't have to
launch an external program to show them (I have to do that with many other
clips/animations I use that are in, say, Quicktime format, and it's a pain in
the butt to waste silent seconds launching the things), plus they
automatically rewind and start over when the animation is through. Is this a
known bug and is there a fix, or can you suggest an alternative means of
showing the animations/clips without having to manually launch an external
program in a separate window?

 

[Echo S]

Good detective work. I saw some issues with animated GIFs and PPT 2007 on a
user's presentation at PPTLive last week. You might want to test by deleting
the GIF and see if the file works properly. If so, then it's definitely the
GIF.

I'd open the GIFs in a GIF editor and see if making any obvious changes
(like changing the LOOP flag and Interation Setting in the header from 0 to
1 and suchlike) makes any difference.
http://www.soniacoleman.com/Tutorials/PowerPoint/animated_gifs/gifs.htm has
more information about how this works in previous versions, but I don't
think any of us has taken time to investigate this in PPT 2007 yet.

--
Echo [MS PPT MVP] http://www.echosvoice.com
What's new in PowerPoint 2007? http://www.echosvoice.com/2007.htm
(New!) The PowerPoint 2007 Complete Makeover Kit http://tinyurl.com/2qzlpl
Fixing PowerPoint Annoyances
http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/powerpointannoy/index.html

 

[Steve Rindsberg]

Hi Echo

You know I was going to write about the printer driver thingo and thought
'Naaah, that can't be it - and you can't just write that for *every* 2007
issue'. Seems you can

Think of it this way:

"Install a Windows-certified printer driver" is the "Make sure it's plugged in
and turned on" for the late first decade of the early 21st century.

 

[Steve Rindsberg]

Hi Everyone! -- Many thanks for the suggestions! I've done all of them now
-- updated the video card drivers, run the diagnostic (it found one problem
and fixed it), and ensured that the printer drivers installed on the machine
are certified. None of these, however, has fixed the problem. But I have
noticed something else: the problem occurs whenever the program approaches a
slide that has an animated gif on it. That is, even when not in Slide Show
mode, when scrolling down through the slides, it has one of its seizures when
a slide with an animated gif on it is about to come onto the screen. When in
Slide Show mode, on those same slides, is also when it freezes up. Most of
the animated gifs I have on those slides I also have in other formats (like
..avi), but I greatly prefer the animated gif format because I don't have to
launch an external program to show them (I have to do that with many other
clips/animations I use that are in, say, Quicktime format, and it's a pain in
the butt to waste silent seconds launching the things), plus they
automatically rewind and start over when the animation is through. Is this a
known bug and is there a fix, or can you suggest an alternative means of
showing the animations/clips without having to manually launch an external
program in a separate window?

Can you give this a try with anigifs from varied sources?
Some programs might create non-standard files that cause problems.

And can you make a copy of one of these anigifs available for us to try? Link
to a web/ftp site would be perfect, but I'll be happy to get one by email to
steve at-sign pptools dot com

 

[Guest]

Can you give this a try with anigifs from varied sources?

Some programs might create non-standard files that cause problems.

And can you make a copy of one of these anigifs available for us to try? Link
to a web/ftp site would be perfect, but I'll be happy to get one by email to
steve at-sign pptools dot com

Hi Again! -- I'll work on getting a hold of some other animated gifs and
give them a shot. In the meantime, here's links to two of the gifs that I
know are causing problems:
http://cactus.dixie.edu/jharris/anigifs/Elephant.gif and
http://cactus.dixie.edu/jharris/anigifs/wildebeest.gif. The elephant one I
took myself with a digital camera as a video; I converted it to an animated
gif using the program RiverPast with their Animated GIF Booster Pack
installed. The wildebeest one I took from a web site using the program
Screen Recorder Gold. I wish I could say whether or not either program
encodes files in a standard way or not; I didn't even know that there was
more than one way! But I hope these help. Keep in mind, though, the exact
same .pptx files that are acting all wonky on the one computer work fine on
all the others I've tried it on to date, which makes me wonder how much the
animated gifs themselves could be the culprits...?

Oh, one other thing: per suggested in one of the other threads where
someone inquired about PowerPoint acting slow, I tried readjusting the
hardware acceleration on the suspect machine, but that didn't change
anything, either. For whatever that's worth!

 

[Guest]

lol!
So should it be promoted above 'turn it off then turn it on again' on The
Helpdesk List of Answers?

Lucy

 

[Steve Rindsberg]

lol!
So should it be promoted above 'turn it off then turn it on again' on The
Helpdesk List of Answers?

How about "Turn it off and then, while it's unconscious, install printer
drivers"? That'll keep them occupied for a while so HelpDesker can get a nice
nap in.

 

[Steve Rindsberg]

Thanks for posting these. I'm hoping someone who knows more about GIF/Animation
will have a look too, but fwiw, I opened the elephant one in Microsoft's GIF
animator app and managed to crash the program several times just by moving around
in the program, not really *doing* anything at all.

It may also be that putting this many frames into a GIF stresses some gif players
beyond what they were intended to handle.

You might want to try conerting them to a video format like AVI to see if that
helps.