Presenter view stopped working

  • Thread starter Thread starter Bill
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Bill

I am working from an Acer laptop with Office - Small Business Edition PPT. We
used the laptop with presenter view for a long time & then one week it
stopped working. The primary user of the laptop indicated that he had not
installed anything during this time frame. I have uninstalled, rebooted &
reinstalled but with the same results. The presentation file works fine on
another laptop so I know the problem is locallized to this one machine. The
presenter startup box shows & then disappears. Your assistane would be
greatly appreciated.
 
Hi Bill,

The problem is probably with the multiple screen set-up. There are 2
distinct things that have to be set correctly for presenter's view to
accessible and be shown.

1) The desktop must span 2 screens. One screen is the laptop, the other is
the projector. This setting is found in the Start => Control Panel =>
Display => Settings tab. Both screen should be shown in black and white
(not grayed out). If the one is grayed out, simply right click on it and
select attached. Also check that there is a checkbox in the Extend my
Windows Desktop on this monitor box for screen 2.

2) The second main item is sometimes affected by the first. The computer
has to be told to use the correct monitor for the projector. This part has
two sub-parts (don't worry, its always darkest before the dawn -- or after
optic nerve death, but let's not go there).
First part is easy. In PowerPoint select Slide show => Set-up => Shown
presentation on => Secondary display. If the Primary is selected, it will
show the presenters view, but hide it under the presentation. I think this
is where you are.
The second part varies between laptop brands and models. There is
usually a function key that toggles between the various display modes. In
most cases, the user can select Laptop screen only, projector only, both
showing the same thing (mirror mode), or extended desktop mode by selecting
one of the function keys (Function F4 on my Gateway - Function F7 on my
Dell). You want the last mode - extended desktop. To test this, just look
at the laptop screen and projector. Don't start a presentation, just look
at the mouse pointer. If you can move the mouse pointer on one over to the
other, you should be in the right mode.

Post back, Bill, and let us know how you faired.


--
Bill Dilworth
A proud member of the Microsoft PPT MVP Team
Users helping fellow users.
http://billdilworth.mvps.org
-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_
vestprog2@ Please read the PowerPoint FAQ pages.
yahoo. They answer most of our questions.
com www.pptfaq.com
..
 
Have extended desktop selected within the display controls. The function key
only provides 3 options: laptop only, projector only or mirror, no extended
desktop option. I select the laptop only via the function key & then the
extended desktop from the display properties. I can see the mouse pointer
move from screen to screen. Within PPT setup I selected presenter view onto
the second monitor. When I invoke the slide show the presenter view shows
briefly & then disappears.

Don't know if this makes any difference - when I boot up the machine (Acer
laptop) , only the extended desktop shows the Windows XP logo. On other
laptops (IBM, Sony) I have used it shows both until Windows OS kicks in with
the display controls.

bill
 
Is the computer administered by your IT department or do you control it?
There may be an admin setting they have "tweaked".

Also, do you have any add-in's loaded?

Just as an experiment, while in the windows desktop display setting screen,
try hitting the Identify button. See if the Laptop or the projector is
considered to be primary (1). If the projector is considered primary and
the slideshow is being shown on it as well, it is possible that they are
layering there as well.


--
Bill Dilworth
A proud member of the Microsoft PPT MVP Team
Users helping fellow users.
http://billdilworth.mvps.org
-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_
vestprog2@ Please read the PowerPoint FAQ pages.
yahoo. They answer most of our questions.
com www.pptfaq.com
..
 
Sorry to confuse a bit, but on Toshiba, Extended desktop is Function F7.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
No IT dept. The user & I both have admin rights. I'm not sure about what/if
any addins are loaded. I have not loaded any. Is there an easy way to check?

I don't have the laptop with me right now, but I am pretty sure that the
laptop is primary & the projector is secondary.

One of the other responses indicated that the there is a separate function
key for extended desktop. I am not sure is the Acer has this or not & will
check into it. If it does, is there potential for the Function key Extended
desktop to conflict with the display/property extended desktop option?

Appreciate the help...............bill
 
Is there another function key for laptop/projector/both display options? If
so, does the F7 override, duplicate, or conflict with the display property
extended desktop?

Thanks................bill
 
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