Powerpoint 2007 crashes

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Powerpoint 2007 crashes

Postby Elfin Spectre » Wed Jun 17, 2009 9:11 pm

We are (or were) running Powerpoint 2007 on an XP computer. The presentations loaded o.k. but hitting start caused an error message and a freeze up. I had to close and restart ZW, but the problem recurred time after time.

In desperation, I reverted to Powerpoint 2003 and have been loathe to reinstall 2007, despite it being far superior to 2003.

Admittedly, all this happened before I installed the latest ZW version. Any ideas, please?
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Re: Powerpoint 2007 crashes

Postby brainier » Sat Jun 20, 2009 2:51 pm

What was the error?
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Re: Powerpoint 2007 crashes

Postby Elfin Spectre » Fri Jun 26, 2009 7:17 pm

On opening Powerpoint in Zionworx, I get, "MS Powerpoint has encountered a problem and needs to close. We are sorry, etc..."

On dismissing this, a small error message appears on a black (projection) screen, headed, "Zionworx 2.6" and reading, " Cannot focus a disabled or invisible window." Zionworx is unresponsive.

Trying to open the Powerpoint brings up, "Warning. Powerpoint does not appear to be running. Please start it manually to continue." Clicking "OK" brings up, "The presentation could not be opened."

The only alternative then is to close Zionworx and start again and not use the Powerpoint. Disappointed congregation, frustrated speaker, even more frustrated operator.

Powerpoint 2007 is the Professional Plus version.
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Re: Powerpoint 2007 crashes

Postby paulstokes » Sat Jun 27, 2009 1:37 pm

Rats. I've hit the same problem... and am leaving home in a couple of hours for a conference in which I am using ZW and PPT. Oh dear. Exact same messages ...and a need to roll back immediately in the hope I can rescue this. :(

EDIT
I rolled back to version 2.6.0.1 and this is running okay right now with Powerpoint 2007 on a single monitor (laptop's not plugged into the projector).

Desktop running ZW 2.6.50 and PPT 2007 with dual monitor is running okay.

It looks like:-
(a) the machine spec may have changed for 2.6.50 ... ?
(b) dual monitor is okay, but single monitor is not ... ?
...don't have time to check these right now. Soryy.
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Re: Powerpoint 2007 crashes

Postby paulstokes » Mon Jun 29, 2009 7:44 am

Further to my post on Saturday:-

Laptop running 2.6.50 and Powerpoint2007
- on single display only, launching a PPT slideshow within ZW resulted in the error message "Cannot focus a disabled..." etc.
- on a dual display (extended desktop) PPT2007 and ZW work fine together

But add to the mystery...
[list=]
[*]Initially I updated ZW to 2.6.50 and tried launching a PPT from within it, in single-screen mode. PPT hung, with the error messages exactly as described by Elfin on Friday.
[*]I therefore reverted to a System Restore point to get back to ZW 2.6.0.1. I launched in single-screen mode, and PPT worked okay.
[*]Today I rebooted (I normally hibernate) the laptop, re-updated to 2.6.50, attached the projector and successfully launched PPT in extended-desktop mode.
[*]Next I changed it to 'cloned' output (ie: same on monitor and projector), expected PPT to hang and give error messages ...but it's running happily and will show all slides, transitions etc.[/list]

The laptop specs:-
Dell D400
1.6 GHz CPU
768 MB RAM (64 MB shared for graphics)
40 GB HDD
Windows XP Pro SP3
MS Office 2007 (trial)
Zionworx 2.6.50

So I wonder whether the reboot was the key?
Or did it simply need to be launched in dual-screen mode first, and then some hidden setting had changed and made it function properly?
Or I am I barking up the wrong tree? (or barking mad?)

Hope these analytics help resolve whatever is causing the problem.


BTW - [list=] code isn't working, but [list] does work. I clicked the buttons, rather than enter manually.
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Re: Powerpoint 2007 crashes

Postby Elfin Spectre » Wed Jul 01, 2009 9:37 pm

Thank you for your post. I'm glad I'm not alone although I'm not quite sure I understand your fix.

We run ZionWorx on a dedicated PC, with dual card so I'm puzzled by the single screen mode bit.

I reloaded Works 2007 after removing 2003, rather than upgrading, and still got the error.

I can't give you the spec of the PC off the top of my head but it's fairly high.

I don't recall rebooting the computer but I'll give it a try.
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Re: Powerpoint 2007 crashes

Postby paulstokes » Thu Jul 02, 2009 7:14 pm

I wasn't really trying to provide a fix, simply describing what I encountered.

Machine Specs - well, since yours is likely newer than mine, and mine worked anyway, therefore it seems likely we can rule out the idea of a sub-standard machine.
Single screen - because my laptop was not connected to anything else (like a projector), I wondered aloud whether the problem that I experienced was simply a case of PPT2007 requiring a dual-monitor environment, at least for its first run from within Zionworx.
Rebooting - always worth a go ...although I'm surprised it wasn't required after installing Office 2007 (BTW - you wrote 'Works 2007' - is that correct, or did you mean Office? I wasn't aware that Powerpoint shipped with MS Works).

I'd be interested to hear if anyone else...
- has encountered this problem too?
- knows why it has happened?
- knows how to prevent it?

Hope you get it sorted soon :)
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Re: Powerpoint 2007 crashes

Postby paulstokes » Fri Jul 03, 2009 10:08 pm

Another variation on the problem.

Church PC is running Zionworx 2.6.5
Office 2003 is installed, and the MS Office Compatability pack has been installed.

Powerpoint 2003, running alone, will successfully display the new powerpoint file versions (.pptx)
But when Powerpoint is launched within Zionworx, I find that:-
(a) the .pptx files do not show up when browsing for files to add to the songlist (but .ppt ones do)
(b) if I load the .pptx from within Powerpoint, Zionworx then allows me to add it to the songlist, but... it will not actually display the .ppt when I try to launch it. Instead, an error message tells me that it "Cannot focus a disabled or invisible window" and then, on clicking OK, it instructs me to ensure Powerpoint is running.

I have created a songlist with both .ppt and .pptx files in the same list. The .ppt will display, but the .pptx will not.


(and on a separate note, if you create a .pptx with a video in it, this will not display the video when merely using the MS Office Compatability pack - but that's a MS issue).
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Re: Powerpoint 2007 crashes

Postby Elfin Spectre » Sat Jul 04, 2009 4:35 pm

That's pretty much what I'm getting but using Office 2007 (not Works as I said last time!).

I haven't figured out the way to update the non-web enabled church computer with the compatibility pack so I can't try it out for myself. Is it possible to download this to a memory stick and transfer it?
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Re: Powerpoint 2007 crashes

Postby paulstokes » Sat Jul 04, 2009 4:41 pm

Yes - that's how I installed the Compatability pack.
However, the church PC is running Office 2003 + Compatability Pack (as I have Office 2007 at home).
I thought you were running Office 2007 on your church PC already, in which case you surely wouldn't require the Compatability pack?
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Re: Powerpoint 2007 crashes - workaround ?

Postby paulstokes » Sat Jul 04, 2009 9:12 pm

Elfin, I have discovered what may be a temporary workaround, having installed PPT 2007.

When launched 'normally' under Zionworx, I could not then open the interface to select a Powerpoint in order then to add it to the songlist.
But...
With a normal Zionworx launch (which includes Powerpoint), I then went to Powerpoint and opened the required files from within the Powerpoint interface.
I then returned to Zionworx, and these files were then available to add to the songlist, and they loaded and played perfectly normally.

It appears that Zionworx 2.6.5 does not properly call the Powerpoint program somehow.
But... (caveat)... I have not telephone Microsoft yet in order to activate the program, so I have 23 launches left (and counting). Not sure whether this would affect the way that Zinworx interfaces with Powerpoint. Maybe the developers can help on this?
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Re: Powerpoint 2007 crashes

Postby brainier » Wed Jul 08, 2009 1:16 pm

I have no problems running Zionworx latest version and PowerPoint 2007. Maybe it is because PowerPoint is not activated. The activation wizard does require you, once completed, to restart the application to enable the features that are turned off before activation - maybe that is the problem.

And just becuase it is worth pointing out, one copy of Home and Student Office (http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/suite ... fcresset=1) has a free 60 day trial and can be installed on three computers at the same time. It also costs less than £100 GBP.
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Re: Powerpoint 2007 crashes

Postby Elfin Spectre » Fri Jul 10, 2009 9:41 pm

Paul/Brian

Eureka! I've just tried Paul's "workaround" and it works every time, whereas the old way doesn't.
Rebooting after installing 2007 failed to cure it.
(My reason for wanting the Compatibility Pack was in case I couldn't get 2007 to work and needed to show pptx files. No need now.)

Christian and co; any chance of a permanent fix for this one, please?

Blessings and many thanks

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Re: Powerpoint 2007 crashes

Postby paulstokes » Tue Oct 27, 2009 2:35 pm

PPT 2007 continues its quirky behaviour, but we now use a different workaround (!)

Load Zionworx & setup the service running order as normal, including adding in any PPTs.
Visit the PPT program and go to Slide Show -> Setup SlideShow ...then click "OK"
(That's right, no need to change anything. Just visit this tab and okay it).
Everything works fine.

BUT...
If Zionworx is turned off and restarted, and then this same running order is reloaded, the procedure has to be repeated.
ie: somehow, Zionworx is not correctly recognizing that PPT is up and running. Almost, but not quite.

XP Home SP3
Zionworx 2.6.5
Office 2007, activated

Anybody from the development team have a clue why ZW is being quirky like this?
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Re: Powerpoint 2007 crashes

Postby paulstokes » Thu Dec 03, 2009 7:16 pm

Hmm.... well, I think I have fixed the problem on my machine. Problem is, I wasn't very systematic (sorry guys), but the last bits I remember doing were...

I edited the SHORTCUT (well, the desktop one, as I actually have 2) so that it read:-
"C:\ZionWorx\ZionWorx.exe"
...instead of
C:\ZionWorx\ZionWorx.exe
(ie: I added the quotation marks), and then I also added in the path for PowerPoint, so that my shortcut line actually read:-
"C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office12\Powerpnt.exe""C:\ZionWorx\ZionWorx.exe"
(yes, really!) - of course, this simply launched Powerpoint and told me the remainder of the line was rubbish, but hey.

So, I restored it to read simply:-
"C:\ZionWorx\ZionWorx.exe"

And then clicked on the shortcut. When Zionworx launched, the Powerpoint taskbar button was highlighted. So clicked on this, and then clicked back onto Zionworx.

NOW everything works properly. BEFORE taking these steps, it did NOT work (ie: Powerpoint would crash when launched from within Zionworx). Yes, it truly did - I was working on solving the problem for about an hour, and getting very frustrated with Powerpoint offering to send repeated crash reports to Microsoft. The ONLY thing that changed was my taking this strange sequence of steps. Now it all seems to work fine. I'm happy and perplexed - and I've posted this entry just in case this helps someone else to get theirs working properly too.

=======
EDIT
=======


....hmmm...spoke too soon? This sort of works, until the PC is turned off and then restarted. Then it was back to square one.
So now I have implemented a semi-automatic workaround. I've put a link to PowerPoint in the folder:-
Start > All Programs > Startup

Now, whenever anyone else in the church decides to turn the machine on, PowerPoint is loaded first. When Zionworks is then launched manually, PowerPoint is already up and running, and so Zionworks controls it properly.

Even so, I'd really appreciate knowing how to fix this problem for real. XP, Office 2007, and Zionworx are all fully registered. Any clue from the developers ???
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