PPT XP Multimedia Meltdown

T

Trev

I'm having a major problem with Powerpoint XP (2002) and multimedia
files. I'm running Win XP Pro on an IBM T40 laptop with 512 MBs Ram
and a 32 MB ATI graphics card.

The problem is this;

I have a PPT file with audio and video (the files reside in the same
folder as the PPT). When I played the file THREE DAYS AGO on my
laptop everything worked fine, all the videos played and the audio ran
perfectly. Now, only three days later and with absolutely NO changes
made to the file, it won't play the multimedia but the rest of the
animations and slide transitions are fine.

Some of the things I've already tried are;

- Deleting the multimedia files from the PPT and then re-linking them
(no help)
- Created a brand new presentation with the same multimedia files (the
new PPT wouldn't play them either)
- Creating a brand new presentation with completely different audio
and video files (they won't play either)
- Playing the multimedia files in Windows Media Player (they played
fine outside of PPT)
- Checking mplay32.exe (it's fine and plays the files, but not in PPT)
- Starting in Safe Mode (PPT runs, but multimedia files do not)
- Copied the entire folder of PPT and multimedia files to another
machine running Win2K and PPT XP (it worked PERFECTLY on the other
machine)
- Uninstalling Office XP and reinstalling (no help)
- Downloading all updates to Office XP (no change)
- Downloading all updates to Win XP (no change)

I'm at a complete loss. The only thing that I can imagine at this
point is that a Windows Update I've downloaded in the past has
suddenly begun to interfere with PowerPoint in some strange way.
However, not knowing which update might have caused the problem, I'm
hesitant to uninstall any of them without asking those who might know
better than me. Writing this board is my second to last option. If
no one here can offer me a working solution by Monday evening, then
I'll be forced to call the useless people at MS and pray that they
have a solution.

Please help me. Thanks.
 
S

Sonia

Although nothing was changed in the presentation, there could have been a
change to your system. I'm wondering if you've recently installed Real
Player or Real One. It will hijack your Windows MCI settings which are
critical for PowerPoint. See the tutorial at
http://www.soniacoleman.com/Tutorials/PowerPoint/multimedia.htm with careful
attention to the third section. Compare your MCI settings to ensure that
they match the provided lists exactly.
 

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