PPT 2007. Does sound work differently on Vista compared to XP?

  • Thread starter Thread starter MK of MK/UK
  • Start date Start date
M

MK of MK/UK

I am creating a PPT of a hymn with a wav file playing the tune. The tune
starts on clicking to slide 2 and continues playing to slide 7, with the
slides automatically advancing at the end of each verse.
This works fine on my 2Gb Vista home machine running PPT 2007. When I try
it on the smaller XP church machine on PPT 2007 I get no sound.
Note I am only transfering the words of the hymn to the church machine. I
am linking the wav file and rehersing timings etc on the church machine. The
wav file is 25Mb, and does play in media player on the church machine. It
just doesn't play when triggered from PowerPoint 2007
 
On your home machine and your church machine put the wav file into the same folder as the PowerPoint presentation and reconnect the link and see if that does not clear up your problem.

--
Michael Koerner
MS MVP - PowerPoint


I am creating a PPT of a hymn with a wav file playing the tune. The tune
starts on clicking to slide 2 and continues playing to slide 7, with the
slides automatically advancing at the end of each verse.
This works fine on my 2Gb Vista home machine running PPT 2007. When I try
it on the smaller XP church machine on PPT 2007 I get no sound.
Note I am only transfering the words of the hymn to the church machine. I
am linking the wav file and rehersing timings etc on the church machine. The
wav file is 25Mb, and does play in media player on the church machine. It
just doesn't play when triggered from PowerPoint 2007
 
I do not have a problem on my home machine. I did as you suggested on the
church machine and it made no difference. I cannot get sound out of
Powerpoint 2007 no matter how I try to trigger it. The wav file does work OK
without powerpoint.
 
I understand that your not having the problem on you home computer. but, you are moving the presentation back and forth from Home to church. What I want you to do on the computer that you created the presentation is to put the wave file into the same folder as the presentation. Reinsert it then resave it and then copy both the saved presentation and the wav file into the same folder on the church machine and see if that does not work. Or, you can change the max size for inserted files and just insert you wav file into you presentation will increase in filesize, but should work on either machine.

--
Michael Koerner
MS MVP - PowerPoint


I do not have a problem on my home machine. I did as you suggested on the
church machine and it made no difference. I cannot get sound out of
Powerpoint 2007 no matter how I try to trigger it. The wav file does work OK
without powerpoint.
 
OK Michael, I did as you suggested. It did not work on the church machine,
but it did on the home machine. So to eliminate any 'contamination' from my
home computer I did the following:
1. Shut down PPT2007, restarted it, and typed in a new presentation - 8
slides - that I saved as a pptx file. Note no sound inserted. Shutdown PPT.
2. Found the wav file and played it through media player to confirm that
there is some sound in the file. Closed media player.
3. Restarted PPT, loaded the new presentation, inserted the wav file on
slide 2 to start automatically and started the slide show. No sound.
4. Closed powerpoint without saving the presentation. Moved the wav file
into the same directory as the powerpoint.
5. Restarted powerpoint, loaded the presentation, inserted the wav file on
slide 2 from its new location and started the sound file. No sound
6. Opened media player and tried running the presentation again, still no
sound.
7. Opened the custom animation window and set the sound file to play over 6
slides. No sound when I tried to run the animation, nor when I tried the
running the slide show.
8. Shut down

Powerpoint is version 12.0.4518.1014
The PC is 512Mb running XP/pro
 
You might also want to check out if the church machine has a copy of mplay2.exe. I believe this is the program that PowerPoint uses to play its sounds

--
Michael Koerner
MS MVP - PowerPoint


OK Michael, I did as you suggested. It did not work on the church machine,
but it did on the home machine. So to eliminate any 'contamination' from my
home computer I did the following:
1. Shut down PPT2007, restarted it, and typed in a new presentation - 8
slides - that I saved as a pptx file. Note no sound inserted. Shutdown PPT.
2. Found the wav file and played it through media player to confirm that
there is some sound in the file. Closed media player.
3. Restarted PPT, loaded the new presentation, inserted the wav file on
slide 2 to start automatically and started the slide show. No sound.
4. Closed powerpoint without saving the presentation. Moved the wav file
into the same directory as the powerpoint.
5. Restarted powerpoint, loaded the presentation, inserted the wav file on
slide 2 from its new location and started the sound file. No sound
6. Opened media player and tried running the presentation again, still no
sound.
7. Opened the custom animation window and set the sound file to play over 6
slides. No sound when I tried to run the animation, nor when I tried the
running the slide show.
8. Shut down

Powerpoint is version 12.0.4518.1014
The PC is 512Mb running XP/pro
 
OK will do. I've also found a some help text about >128 character path names.

"If the path name of the linked file exceeds 128 characters, Office
PowerPoint 2007 cannot find and play it. If the path name exceeds 128
characters, rename the file or shorten the path by copying the files into the
same folder as your presentation. Then either update the links by using the
Package for CD feature, or manually update the links by removing the sounds
and adding them back."

On my home PC I renamed a wav file with a very long filename and powerpoint
couldn't play it. It looks like I'll hav eto be more cryptic in my directory
names.
 
Your absolutely correct about the path names. I'm from the old school and still believe in the 8.3 system. the removing the sounds and adding them back is what we have been doing.

--
Michael Koerner
MS MVP - PowerPoint


OK will do. I've also found a some help text about >128 character path names.

"If the path name of the linked file exceeds 128 characters, Office
PowerPoint 2007 cannot find and play it. If the path name exceeds 128
characters, rename the file or shorten the path by copying the files into the
same folder as your presentation. Then either update the links by using the
Package for CD feature, or manually update the links by removing the sounds
and adding them back."

On my home PC I renamed a wav file with a very long filename and powerpoint
couldn't play it. It looks like I'll hav eto be more cryptic in my directory
names.
 
Thanks Michael & Steve
I checked the length of the name of the sound file and found it to be 143
characters. When I renamed the file and a directory and reduced it to 118
characters Powerpoint worked as required.

I am surprised that there is still a bug like this in a product as "mature"
as PowerPoint. Windows tends to force one to use lots of directories and "My
Music" is already quite a long way down the directory tree before one rips
CDs into it using media player.

At the very least PowerPoint could display an error message saying the
filename is too long, or even just putting the 128 character help message at
the top of the help text instead of wittering on about plugging the speakers
in.

Anyhow, thanks for your help, and best wishes.
 
The 128 character bit has been around since the early DOS days ISTR. Thanks for getting back to us with your results, greatly appreciated.

--
Michael Koerner
MS MVP - PowerPoint


Thanks Michael & Steve
I checked the length of the name of the sound file and found it to be 143
characters. When I renamed the file and a directory and reduced it to 118
characters Powerpoint worked as required.

I am surprised that there is still a bug like this in a product as "mature"
as PowerPoint. Windows tends to force one to use lots of directories and "My
Music" is already quite a long way down the directory tree before one rips
CDs into it using media player.

At the very least PowerPoint could display an error message saying the
filename is too long, or even just putting the 128 character help message at
the top of the help text instead of wittering on about plugging the speakers
in.

Anyhow, thanks for your help, and best wishes.
 
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