PowerPoint 2003 Crashing

[mcp6453]

I'm trying to add narration to a slide show with PowerPoint 2003. It is
installed on a computer that is used for audio and video editing, so the
machine is well tuned, up-to-date, and virus and spyware free. When I
click on Record Narration and Set Microphone Level, PPT crashes with
"Microsoft Office PowerPoint has encountered a problem and needs to
close. We are sorry for the inconvenience."

Thinking that there may be a conflict with an audio driver or codec, I
tried the same thing in a different computer, also well maintained and
quite clean. The same error pops up. One computer is a true blue IBM.
The other is a completely different motherboard. PPT seems to be working
well in every other function I've tried. Both computers are Windows XP
SP2 with all updates. One computer has a Digital Audio Labs CardDeluxe
sound card. The other one has an M-Audio DIO-2496.

Does anyone know what the problem might be?

 

[mcp6453]

I'm trying to add narration to a slide show with PowerPoint 2003. It is
installed on a computer that is used for audio and video editing, so the
machine is well tuned, up-to-date, and virus and spyware free. When I
click on Record Narration and Set Microphone Level, PPT crashes with
"Microsoft Office PowerPoint has encountered a problem and needs to
close. We are sorry for the inconvenience."

Thinking that there may be a conflict with an audio driver or codec, I
tried the same thing in a different computer, also well maintained and
quite clean. The same error pops up. One computer is a true blue IBM.
The other is a completely different motherboard. PPT seems to be working
well in every other function I've tried. Both computers are Windows XP
SP2 with all updates. One computer has a Digital Audio Labs CardDeluxe
sound card. The other one has an M-Audio DIO-2496.

Does anyone know what the problem might be?

The problem is with the audio cards. When I disable the CardDeluxe and
enable thy on-board audio card, PPT does not crash. Now I need to find a
way to get PPT to work with DAL card. The SoundMax cards built onto the
motherboards are garbage. Any suggestions welcome.

 

[mcp6453]

Thanks for coming back with that. I have pretty much the same setup on one of
my PCs (IBM, SoundLacks audio card, etc) but no high-end cards.

No problem recording to PPT using an external USB headset/mic though.

M-Audio also makes some nice external USB sound boards. One of those might do
the trick for you (and they're very handy when you want to record using a
laptop; most of their sound cards make the SoundLacks look like a star.)

I was able to get each computer to record with a USB mic, but it's a crappy one.
It seems silly to have to buy a USB sound card just to record with PPT, but I
guess that's the way it is. Someone who knows the innermost workings of XP could
probably find a way to make the system work.

One thing I discovered is that I can record through the DAL and M-Audio sound
cards so long as I don't click on Set Microphone Level. The levels can be set in
Adobe Audition, and they will remain the same for PowerPoint, so the workaround
is probably going to suffice for my project.