Problems with playing .avi files

[Nima]

Hello,

my powerpoint 2003 won't play .avi files (in the show).

I have done pretty much all the things described here
http://www.soniacoleman.com/Tutorials/PowerPoint/multimedia.htm

But the problem is, that sometimes it works, when I do some of the things
described in the link above, but when I restart at and just run the show, it
won't show the .avi movie..??

Why ? When i restart!!

Please help.

Nima

 

[Echo S]

Hello,

my powerpoint 2003 won't play .avi files (in the show).

I have done pretty much all the things described here
http://www.soniacoleman.com/Tutorials/PowerPoint/multimedia.htm

pretty much? What all have you done?

But the problem is, that sometimes it works, when I do some of the things

Again, some of the things? Can you tell when it works and when it doesn't
and which some things you've done those times? That might give us a clue.

described in the link above, but when I restart at and just run the show, it
won't show the .avi movie..??

"Won't show" covers a lot of ground. What happens after you restart and then
try to run the presentation -- what's the AVI doing? White box only? Black
box only? Sound only? Something else?

One thought, though. If something like QuickTime or Real has hijacked your
registry settings, I suppose it's possible that program is resetting itself
when you reboot. Maybe you can turn off QT and/or Real in your startup
settings (via system information, assuming you're running Window XP) and see
if that helps.

 

[Nima]

Hello again.

Sorry, I can see that my problem description was not so clear.

First of all, my friend has a powerpoint show which contains some .avi movies.

The first time we played the powerpoint-show, the movies were just a black box.

Then I found the site

http://www.soniacoleman.com/Tutorials/PowerPoint/multimedia.htm

Which deals with the problem. So by using the support in MSN (messenger) I controlled his computer and entered all the entries he didn't had in the System Registry.

And after that (still under support in messenger) I startet the show and suddenly it worked!

But the next day he called me and said that he was about to introduce the powerpoint show in a meeting, but the same problem occured! A black box for every movie!

So yesterday I'll tried to control his computer again.

The first thing I tried was to start "mplay32.exe" from the run menu and then i open the movie, to see if it would work there. And the movie DID work! So (still in support mode from messenger) I startet the show and suddenly the movies where running! (strange) I told him to restart his computer and run the show again (but this time without me supporting/ controlling ) from messenger.

And it seem NOT to work when he restarted!

And it seems like, every time I do a support/controlling his computer from messenger, It works, but otherwise a Black box appears.

I uninstalled his mediaplayer from the Control Panel in windows xp and reinstall it! And i checked the System Registry (for missing entries) and I have just install the new DirectX from microsoft's website. But no luck at all!

He is using

Nimo Codec Pack 5.0

http://www.divx-digest.com/software/nimo_pack.html

The powerpoint shows works, because I have tested it on my own computer, and it runs perfect.

So what can be the problem? I have no clue what it can be.

He's computer is a new P4 , so the speed or memory is up-to-date!

The office he's is using is Office 2003 Danish



I hope that it is enough information, but If it is still not clear, just ask me.

I hope that you can help me!

Thank you

Nima (from Denmark, Computer Engineer Student)

Hello,

my powerpoint 2003 won't play .avi files (in the show).

I have done pretty much all the things described here
http://www.soniacoleman.com/Tutorials/PowerPoint/multimedia.htm

pretty much? What all have you done?

But the problem is, that sometimes it works, when I do some of the things

Again, some of the things? Can you tell when it works and when it doesn't
and which some things you've done those times? That might give us a clue.

described in the link above, but when I restart at and just run the show, it
won't show the .avi movie..??

"Won't show" covers a lot of ground. What happens after you restart and then
try to run the presentation -- what's the AVI doing? White box only? Black
box only? Sound only? Something else?

One thought, though. If something like QuickTime or Real has hijacked your
registry settings, I suppose it's possible that program is resetting itself
when you reboot. Maybe you can turn off QT and/or Real in your startup
settings (via system information, assuming you're running Window XP) and see
if that helps.

--
Echo [MS PPT MVP]
http://www.echosvoice.com
presenter, PPT Live '04
Oct 10-13, San Diego http://www.powerpointlive.com

 

[Guest]

Hi, Nima.

Thanks for posting your additional info here. I was hoping someone else might have ideas for you while I was at work today.

At any rate, I'm not sure why the file works whn you're using remote assistance (control), but it won't work for the actual user.

The only thing I can think to try is what I suggested via email -- create a shorter path. http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;[LN];841022 mplay32.exe cannot handle long file paths, so I'd have the user create a folder on his C drive -- C:\Test -- put both the presentation and the AVI in that folder, delete the AVI from the presentation, and then reinsert it into the presentation.

At the very least, this will be a good test to see if the file path length is the problem.

--
Echo [MS PPT MVP]
http://www.echosvoice.com
presenter, PPT Live '04
Oct 10-13, San Diego http://www.powerpointlive.com

Hello again.

Sorry, I can see that my problem description was not so clear.

First of all, my friend has a powerpoint show which contains some .avi movies.

The first time we played the powerpoint-show, the movies were just a black box.

Then I found the site

http://www.soniacoleman.com/Tutorials/PowerPoint/multimedia.htm

Which deals with the problem. So by using the support in MSN (messenger) I controlled his computer and entered all the entries he didn't had in the System Registry.

And after that (still under support in messenger) I startet the show and suddenly it worked!

But the next day he called me and said that he was about to introduce the powerpoint show in a meeting, but the same problem occured! A black box for every movie!

So yesterday I'll tried to control his computer again.

The first thing I tried was to start "mplay32.exe" from the run menu and then i open the movie, to see if it would work there. And the movie DID work! So (still in support mode from messenger) I startet the show and suddenly the movies where running! (strange) I told him to restart his computer and run the show again (but this time without me supporting/ controlling ) from messenger.

And it seem NOT to work when he restarted!

And it seems like, every time I do a support/controlling his computer from messenger, It works, but otherwise a Black box appears.

I uninstalled his mediaplayer from the Control Panel in windows xp and reinstall it! And i checked the System Registry (for missing entries) and I have just install the new DirectX from microsoft's website. But no luck at all!

He is using

Nimo Codec Pack 5.0

http://www.divx-digest.com/software/nimo_pack.html

The powerpoint shows works, because I have tested it on my own computer, and it runs perfect.

So what can be the problem? I have no clue what it can be.

He's computer is a new P4 , so the speed or memory is up-to-date!

The office he's is using is Office 2003 Danish



I hope that it is enough information, but If it is still not clear, just ask me.

I hope that you can help me!

Thank you

Nima (from Denmark, Computer Engineer Student)

Hello,

my powerpoint 2003 won't play .avi files (in the show).

I have done pretty much all the things described here
http://www.soniacoleman.com/Tutorials/PowerPoint/multimedia.htm

pretty much? What all have you done?

But the problem is, that sometimes it works, when I do some of the things

Again, some of the things? Can you tell when it works and when it doesn't
and which some things you've done those times? That might give us a clue.

described in the link above, but when I restart at and just run the show, it
won't show the .avi movie..??

"Won't show" covers a lot of ground. What happens after you restart and then
try to run the presentation -- what's the AVI doing? White box only? Black
box only? Sound only? Something else?

One thought, though. If something like QuickTime or Real has hijacked your
registry settings, I suppose it's possible that program is resetting itself
when you reboot. Maybe you can turn off QT and/or Real in your startup
settings (via system information, assuming you're running Window XP) and see
if that helps.

--
Echo [MS PPT MVP]
http://www.echosvoice.com
presenter, PPT Live '04
Oct 10-13, San Diego http://www.powerpointlive.com

 

[Kathy J]

I wonder if the remote assistance works because it uses some of the video
settings/drivers from Nima's machine to show the presentation, even though
it is running on the other machine. (Does that make any sense?) I know that
when I remote over to another machine here at home, the drivers on the
machine that I am at control what I see, not the drivers on the machine I am
logging into.

One way to check that would be for Nima to have the presentation and video
sent to her and see if they run right on her machine (I am betting they
will).

--
Kathryn Jacobs, Microsoft MVP PowerPoint and OneNote (who really needs to
shorten her sig, but hasn't come up with the new versions yet....)
Get PowerPoint answers at http://www.powerpointanswers.com
Cook anything outdoors with http://www.outdoorcook.com
Get OneNote answers at http://www.onenoteanswers.com

I believe life is meant to be lived. But:
if we live without making a difference, it makes no difference that we lived

Hi, Nima.

Thanks for posting your additional info here. I was hoping someone else

might have ideas for you while I was at work today.

At any rate, I'm not sure why the file works whn you're using remote

assistance (control), but it won't work for the actual user.

The only thing I can think to try is what I suggested via email -- create

a shorter path.
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;[LN];841022 mplay32.exe
cannot handle long file paths, so I'd have the user create a folder on his C
drive -- C:\Test -- put both the presentation and the AVI in that folder,
delete the AVI from the presentation, and then reinsert it into the
presentation.

At the very least, this will be a good test to see if the file path length is the problem.

--
Echo [MS PPT MVP]
http://www.echosvoice.com
presenter, PPT Live '04
Oct 10-13, San Diego http://www.powerpointlive.com

Hello again.

Sorry, I can see that my problem description was not so clear.

First of all, my friend has a powerpoint show which contains some .avi movies.

The first time we played the powerpoint-show, the movies were just a black box.

Then I found the site

http://www.soniacoleman.com/Tutorials/PowerPoint/multimedia.htm

Which deals with the problem. So by using the support in MSN (messenger)

I controlled his computer and entered all the entries he didn't had in the
System Registry.the powerpoint show in a meeting, but the same problem occured! A black box
for every movie!then i open the movie, to see if it would work there. And the movie DID
work! So (still in support mode from messenger) I startet the show and
suddenly the movies where running! (strange) I told him to restart his
computer and run the show again (but this time without me supporting/
controlling ) from messenger.reinstall it! And i checked the System Registry (for missing entries) and I
have just install the new DirectX from microsoft's website. But no luck at
all!

He is using

Nimo Codec Pack 5.0

http://www.divx-digest.com/software/nimo_pack.html

The powerpoint shows works, because I have tested it on my own computer, and it runs perfect.

So what can be the problem? I have no clue what it can be.

He's computer is a new P4 , so the speed or memory is up-to-date!

The office he's is using is Office 2003 Danish



I hope that it is enough information, but If it is still not clear, just ask me.

I hope that you can help me!

Thank you

Nima (from Denmark, Computer Engineer Student)

"Echo S" <[email protected]> skrev i en meddelelse news:[email protected]...

Hello,

my powerpoint 2003 won't play .avi files (in the show).

I have done pretty much all the things described here
http://www.soniacoleman.com/Tutorials/PowerPoint/multimedia.htm

pretty much? What all have you done?

But the problem is, that sometimes it works, when I do some of the things

Again, some of the things? Can you tell when it works and when it doesn't
and which some things you've done those times? That might give us a clue.

described in the link above, but when I restart at and just run the show,
it
won't show the .avi movie..??

"Won't show" covers a lot of ground. What happens after you restart and then
try to run the presentation -- what's the AVI doing? White box only? Black
box only? Sound only? Something else?

One thought, though. If something like QuickTime or Real has hijacked your
registry settings, I suppose it's possible that program is resetting itself
when you reboot. Maybe you can turn off QT and/or Real in your startup
settings (via system information, assuming you're running Window XP) and see
if that helps.

--
Echo [MS PPT MVP]
http://www.echosvoice.com
presenter, PPT Live '04
Oct 10-13, San Diego http://www.powerpointlive.com

 

[Guest]

Good questions, Kathy. I was kind of thinking about that this afternoon, but then I thought that would be odd for the controlling machine to use its codecs/settings to play the stuff from the controlled machine.

So the upshot is that what you say makes perfect sense to me, I just don't know if it really works that way, LOL! Then again, I haven't done much remote assistance, so I'm not a good judge there. Good thought on the test scenario, though.

--
Echo [MS PPT MVP]
http://www.echosvoice.com
presenter, PPT Live '04
Oct 10-13, San Diego http://www.powerpointlive.com

I wonder if the remote assistance works because it uses some of the video
settings/drivers from Nima's machine to show the presentation, even though
it is running on the other machine. (Does that make any sense?) I know that
when I remote over to another machine here at home, the drivers on the
machine that I am at control what I see, not the drivers on the machine I am
logging into.

One way to check that would be for Nima to have the presentation and video
sent to her and see if they run right on her machine (I am betting they
will).

--
Kathryn Jacobs, Microsoft MVP PowerPoint and OneNote (who really needs to
shorten her sig, but hasn't come up with the new versions yet....)
Get PowerPoint answers at http://www.powerpointanswers.com
Cook anything outdoors with http://www.outdoorcook.com
Get OneNote answers at http://www.onenoteanswers.com

I believe life is meant to be lived. But:
if we live without making a difference, it makes no difference that we lived

Hi, Nima.

Thanks for posting your additional info here. I was hoping someone else

might have ideas for you while I was at work today.

At any rate, I'm not sure why the file works whn you're using remote

assistance (control), but it won't work for the actual user.

The only thing I can think to try is what I suggested via email -- create

a shorter path.
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;[LN];841022 mplay32.exe
cannot handle long file paths, so I'd have the user create a folder on his C
drive -- C:\Test -- put both the presentation and the AVI in that folder,
delete the AVI from the presentation, and then reinsert it into the
presentation.

At the very least, this will be a good test to see if the file path length is the problem.

--
Echo [MS PPT MVP]
http://www.echosvoice.com
presenter, PPT Live '04
Oct 10-13, San Diego http://www.powerpointlive.com

Hello again.

Sorry, I can see that my problem description was not so clear.

First of all, my friend has a powerpoint show which contains some .avi movies.

The first time we played the powerpoint-show, the movies were just a black box.

Then I found the site

http://www.soniacoleman.com/Tutorials/PowerPoint/multimedia.htm

Which deals with the problem. So by using the support in MSN (messenger)

I controlled his computer and entered all the entries he didn't had in the
System Registry.the powerpoint show in a meeting, but the same problem occured! A black box
for every movie!then i open the movie, to see if it would work there. And the movie DID
work! So (still in support mode from messenger) I startet the show and
suddenly the movies where running! (strange) I told him to restart his
computer and run the show again (but this time without me supporting/
controlling ) from messenger.reinstall it! And i checked the System Registry (for missing entries) and I
have just install the new DirectX from microsoft's website. But no luck at
all!

He is using

Nimo Codec Pack 5.0

http://www.divx-digest.com/software/nimo_pack.html

The powerpoint shows works, because I have tested it on my own computer, and it runs perfect.

So what can be the problem? I have no clue what it can be.

He's computer is a new P4 , so the speed or memory is up-to-date!

The office he's is using is Office 2003 Danish



I hope that it is enough information, but If it is still not clear, just ask me.

I hope that you can help me!

Thank you

Nima (from Denmark, Computer Engineer Student)

"Echo S" <[email protected]> skrev i en meddelelse Hello,

my powerpoint 2003 won't play .avi files (in the show).

I have done pretty much all the things described here
http://www.soniacoleman.com/Tutorials/PowerPoint/multimedia.htm

pretty much? What all have you done?

But the problem is, that sometimes it works, when I do some of the things

Again, some of the things? Can you tell when it works and when it doesn't
and which some things you've done those times? That might give us a clue.

described in the link above, but when I restart at and just run the show,
it
won't show the .avi movie..??

"Won't show" covers a lot of ground. What happens after you restart and then
try to run the presentation -- what's the AVI doing? White box only? Black
box only? Sound only? Something else?

One thought, though. If something like QuickTime or Real has hijacked your
registry settings, I suppose it's possible that program is resetting itself
when you reboot. Maybe you can turn off QT and/or Real in your startup
settings (via system information, assuming you're running Window XP) and see
if that helps.

--
Echo [MS PPT MVP]
http://www.echosvoice.com
presenter, PPT Live '04
Oct 10-13, San Diego http://www.powerpointlive.com

 

[Nima]

Hello Kathy.

I have tested the powerpoint show and the corresponding movies files on my
own computer, and it worked perfectly. And the strange thing is, that I
havn't changed any settings in the System Registry.
I'm totally lost, can't figure out what the problem is.

Do you have any other suggestions?

Thank you
Nima

Good questions, Kathy. I was kind of thinking about that this afternoon,

but then I thought that would be odd for the controlling machine to use its
codecs/settings to play the stuff from the controlled machine.

So the upshot is that what you say makes perfect sense to me, I just don't

know if it really works that way, LOL! Then again, I haven't done much
remote assistance, so I'm not a good judge there. Good thought on the test
scenario, though.

--
Echo [MS PPT MVP]
http://www.echosvoice.com
presenter, PPT Live '04
Oct 10-13, San Diego http://www.powerpointlive.com

I wonder if the remote assistance works because it uses some of the video
settings/drivers from Nima's machine to show the presentation, even though
it is running on the other machine. (Does that make any sense?) I know that
when I remote over to another machine here at home, the drivers on the
machine that I am at control what I see, not the drivers on the machine I am
logging into.

One way to check that would be for Nima to have the presentation and video
sent to her and see if they run right on her machine (I am betting they
will).

--
Kathryn Jacobs, Microsoft MVP PowerPoint and OneNote (who really needs to
shorten her sig, but hasn't come up with the new versions yet....)
Get PowerPoint answers at http://www.powerpointanswers.com
Cook anything outdoors with http://www.outdoorcook.com
Get OneNote answers at http://www.onenoteanswers.com

I believe life is meant to be lived. But:
if we live without making a difference, it makes no difference that we lived

Hi, Nima.

Thanks for posting your additional info here. I was hoping someone

else
might have ideas for you while I was at work today.

At any rate, I'm not sure why the file works whn you're using remote

assistance (control), but it won't work for the actual user.

The only thing I can think to try is what I suggested via email --

create
a shorter path.
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;[LN];841022 mplay32.exe
cannot handle long file paths, so I'd have the user create a folder on his C
drive -- C:\Test -- put both the presentation and the AVI in that folder,
delete the AVI from the presentation, and then reinsert it into the
presentation.

At the very least, this will be a good test to see if the file path

length
is the problem.

--
Echo [MS PPT MVP]
http://www.echosvoice.com
presenter, PPT Live '04
Oct 10-13, San Diego http://www.powerpointlive.com



:

Hello again.

Sorry, I can see that my problem description was not so clear.

First of all, my friend has a powerpoint show which contains some

..avi
movies.

The first time we played the powerpoint-show, the movies were just a black box.

Then I found the site

http://www.soniacoleman.com/Tutorials/PowerPoint/multimedia.htm

Which deals with the problem. So by using the support in MSN

(messenger)
I controlled his computer and entered all the entries he didn't had in the
System Registry.

And after that (still under support in messenger) I startet the show

and
suddenly it worked!

But the next day he called me and said that he was about to

introduce
the powerpoint show in a meeting, but the same problem occured! A black box
for every movie!

So yesterday I'll tried to control his computer again.

The first thing I tried was to start "mplay32.exe" from the run menu

and
then i open the movie, to see if it would work there. And the movie DID
work! So (still in support mode from messenger) I startet the show and
suddenly the movies where running! (strange) I told him to restart his
computer and run the show again (but this time without me supporting/
controlling ) from messenger.

And it seem NOT to work when he restarted!

And it seems like, every time I do a support/controlling his

computer
from messenger, It works, but otherwise a Black box appears.

I uninstalled his mediaplayer from the Control Panel in windows xp

and
reinstall it! And i checked the System Registry (for missing entries) and I
have just install the new DirectX from microsoft's website. But no luck at
all!

He is using

Nimo Codec Pack 5.0

http://www.divx-digest.com/software/nimo_pack.html

The powerpoint shows works, because I have tested it on my own

computer,
and it runs perfect.

So what can be the problem? I have no clue what it can be.

He's computer is a new P4 , so the speed or memory is up-to-date!

The office he's is using is Office 2003 Danish



I hope that it is enough information, but If it is still not clear,

just
ask me.

I hope that you can help me!

Thank you

Nima (from Denmark, Computer Engineer Student)

"Echo S" <[email protected]> skrev i en meddelelse Hello,

my powerpoint 2003 won't play .avi files (in the show).

I have done pretty much all the things described here
http://www.soniacoleman.com/Tutorials/PowerPoint/multimedia.htm

pretty much? What all have you done?

But the problem is, that sometimes it works, when I do some of

the
things

Again, some of the things? Can you tell when it works and when it doesn't
and which some things you've done those times? That might give us

a
clue.

described in the link above, but when I restart at and just run

the
show,

it
won't show the .avi movie..??

"Won't show" covers a lot of ground. What happens after you

restart
and then

try to run the presentation -- what's the AVI doing? White box

only?
Black

box only? Sound only? Something else?

One thought, though. If something like QuickTime or Real has

hijacked
your

registry settings, I suppose it's possible that program is

resetting
itself

when you reboot. Maybe you can turn off QT and/or Real in your startup
settings (via system information, assuming you're running Window

XP)
and see

if that helps.

--
Echo [MS PPT MVP]
http://www.echosvoice.com
presenter, PPT Live '04
Oct 10-13, San Diego http://www.powerpointlive.com

 

[Kathy J]

Okay. That says that the problems are definitely on the other computer. I am
wondering if the fact that you are changing his registry settings remotely
are causing them not to be saved except in your session. Can you write him
a quick note describing how to change the settings and have him do the
changes directly on his machine (or get him on the phone and step him
through it)? Another idea would be to get physical access to his machine to
make the changes.

I would also wonder if (even though it is a brand new machine), he needs to
update video drivers directly on his machine.

--
Kathryn Jacobs, Microsoft MVP PowerPoint and OneNote
Get PowerPoint answers at http://www.powerpointanswers.com
Cook anything outdoors with http://www.outdoorcook.com
Get OneNote answers at http://www.onenoteanswers.com

I believe life is meant to be lived. But:
if we live without making a difference, it makes no difference that we lived

Hello Kathy.

I have tested the powerpoint show and the corresponding movies files on my
own computer, and it worked perfectly. And the strange thing is, that I
havn't changed any settings in the System Registry.
I'm totally lost, can't figure out what the problem is.

Do you have any other suggestions?

Thank you
Nima

Good questions, Kathy. I was kind of thinking about that this afternoon,

but then I thought that would be odd for the controlling machine to use its
codecs/settings to play the stuff from the controlled machine.

So the upshot is that what you say makes perfect sense to me, I just

don't
know if it really works that way, LOL! Then again, I haven't done much
remote assistance, so I'm not a good judge there. Good thought on the test
scenario, though.

--
Echo [MS PPT MVP]
http://www.echosvoice.com
presenter, PPT Live '04
Oct 10-13, San Diego http://www.powerpointlive.com

I wonder if the remote assistance works because it uses some of the video
settings/drivers from Nima's machine to show the presentation, even though
it is running on the other machine. (Does that make any sense?) I know that
when I remote over to another machine here at home, the drivers on the
machine that I am at control what I see, not the drivers on the

machine
I am needs

to

shorten her sig, but hasn't come up with the new versions yet....)
Get PowerPoint answers at http://www.powerpointanswers.com
Cook anything outdoors with http://www.outdoorcook.com
Get OneNote answers at http://www.onenoteanswers.com

I believe life is meant to be lived. But:
if we live without making a difference, it makes no difference that we lived


Hi, Nima.

Thanks for posting your additional info here. I was hoping someone else
might have ideas for you while I was at work today.

At any rate, I'm not sure why the file works whn you're using remote
assistance (control), but it won't work for the actual user.

The only thing I can think to try is what I suggested via email -- create
a shorter path.
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;[LN];841022 mplay32.exe
cannot handle long file paths, so I'd have the user create a folder on his C
drive -- C:\Test -- put both the presentation and the AVI in that folder,
delete the AVI from the presentation, and then reinsert it into the
presentation.

At the very least, this will be a good test to see if the file path length
is the problem.

--
Echo [MS PPT MVP]
http://www.echosvoice.com
presenter, PPT Live '04
Oct 10-13, San Diego http://www.powerpointlive.com



:

Hello again.

Sorry, I can see that my problem description was not so clear.

First of all, my friend has a powerpoint show which contains some .avi
movies.

The first time we played the powerpoint-show, the movies were just a
black box.

Then I found the site

http://www.soniacoleman.com/Tutorials/PowerPoint/multimedia.htm

Which deals with the problem. So by using the support in MSN (messenger)
I controlled his computer and entered all the entries he didn't had in the
System Registry.

And after that (still under support in messenger) I startet the

show

and

black

box

menu

and

luck

at

clear,

just

us

a

run

the

show,
it
won't show the .avi movie..??

"Won't show" covers a lot of ground. What happens after you restart
and then
try to run the presentation -- what's the AVI doing? White box only?
Black
box only? Sound only? Something else?

One thought, though. If something like QuickTime or Real has hijacked
your
registry settings, I suppose it's possible that program is resetting
itself
when you reboot. Maybe you can turn off QT and/or Real in your startup
settings (via system information, assuming you're running Window XP)
and see
if that helps.

--
Echo [MS PPT MVP]
http://www.echosvoice.com
presenter, PPT Live '04
Oct 10-13, San Diego http://www.powerpointlive.com

 

[Nima]

I made him som .reg files that he could run to automatically to set the
System Registry, so that is not the problem. We also checked the video
drivers, and there are updated.

How can it be that the Powerpoint show and the corresponding .avi movies
works when we are using remote control, but when he restarts and runs the
show without the remote control, black boxes appears?

Very strange. I really hope that we can solve this problem.

- Nima

Okay. That says that the problems are definitely on the other computer. I am
wondering if the fact that you are changing his registry settings remotely
are causing them not to be saved except in your session. Can you write him
a quick note describing how to change the settings and have him do the
changes directly on his machine (or get him on the phone and step him
through it)? Another idea would be to get physical access to his machine to
make the changes.

I would also wonder if (even though it is a brand new machine), he needs to
update video drivers directly on his machine.

--
Kathryn Jacobs, Microsoft MVP PowerPoint and OneNote
Get PowerPoint answers at http://www.powerpointanswers.com
Cook anything outdoors with http://www.outdoorcook.com
Get OneNote answers at http://www.onenoteanswers.com

I believe life is meant to be lived. But:
if we live without making a difference, it makes no difference that we lived

Hello Kathy.

I have tested the powerpoint show and the corresponding movies files on my
own computer, and it worked perfectly. And the strange thing is, that I
havn't changed any settings in the System Registry.
I'm totally lost, can't figure out what the problem is.

Do you have any other suggestions?

Thank you
Nima

Good questions, Kathy. I was kind of thinking about that this

afternoon,
but then I thought that would be odd for the controlling machine to use its
codecs/settings to play the stuff from the controlled machine.

So the upshot is that what you say makes perfect sense to me, I just

don't
know if it really works that way, LOL! Then again, I haven't done much
remote assistance, so I'm not a good judge there. Good thought on the test
scenario, though.

--
Echo [MS PPT MVP]
http://www.echosvoice.com
presenter, PPT Live '04
Oct 10-13, San Diego http://www.powerpointlive.com



:

I wonder if the remote assistance works because it uses some of the video
settings/drivers from Nima's machine to show the presentation, even though
it is running on the other machine. (Does that make any sense?) I

know
that

when I remote over to another machine here at home, the drivers on the
machine that I am at control what I see, not the drivers on the

machine
I am

logging into.

One way to check that would be for Nima to have the presentation and video
sent to her and see if they run right on her machine (I am betting they
will).

needs

to
shorten her sig, but hasn't come up with the new versions yet....)
Get PowerPoint answers at http://www.powerpointanswers.com
Cook anything outdoors with http://www.outdoorcook.com
Get OneNote answers at http://www.onenoteanswers.com

I believe life is meant to be lived. But:
if we live without making a difference, it makes no difference that

we
lived

Hi, Nima.

Thanks for posting your additional info here. I was hoping someone else
might have ideas for you while I was at work today.

At any rate, I'm not sure why the file works whn you're using remote
assistance (control), but it won't work for the actual user.

The only thing I can think to try is what I suggested via email -- create
a shorter path.
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;[LN];841022 mplay32.exe
cannot handle long file paths, so I'd have the user create a folder

on
his C

drive -- C:\Test -- put both the presentation and the AVI in that folder,
delete the AVI from the presentation, and then reinsert it into the
presentation.

At the very least, this will be a good test to see if the file

path
length

is the problem.

--
Echo [MS PPT MVP]
http://www.echosvoice.com
presenter, PPT Live '04
Oct 10-13, San Diego http://www.powerpointlive.com



:

Hello again.

Sorry, I can see that my problem description was not so clear.

First of all, my friend has a powerpoint show which contains

some
.avi

movies.

The first time we played the powerpoint-show, the movies were

just

a

black box.

Then I found the site

http://www.soniacoleman.com/Tutorials/PowerPoint/multimedia.htm

Which deals with the problem. So by using the support in MSN (messenger)
I controlled his computer and entered all the entries he didn't had

in
the

System Registry.

And after that (still under support in messenger) I startet the

show

and
suddenly it worked!

But the next day he called me and said that he was about to introduce
the powerpoint show in a meeting, but the same problem occured! A

black

box
for every movie!

So yesterday I'll tried to control his computer again.

The first thing I tried was to start "mplay32.exe" from the run

menu

and
then i open the movie, to see if it would work there. And the movie DID
work! So (still in support mode from messenger) I startet the show and
suddenly the movies where running! (strange) I told him to restart his
computer and run the show again (but this time without me supporting/
controlling ) from messenger.

And it seem NOT to work when he restarted!

And it seems like, every time I do a support/controlling his computer
from messenger, It works, but otherwise a Black box appears.

I uninstalled his mediaplayer from the Control Panel in windows

xp
and

reinstall it! And i checked the System Registry (for missing

entries)
and I

have just install the new DirectX from microsoft's website. But no

luck

at
all!

He is using

Nimo Codec Pack 5.0

http://www.divx-digest.com/software/nimo_pack.html

The powerpoint shows works, because I have tested it on my own computer,
and it runs perfect.

So what can be the problem? I have no clue what it can be.

He's computer is a new P4 , so the speed or memory is up-to-date!

The office he's is using is Office 2003 Danish



I hope that it is enough information, but If it is still not

clear,

just
ask me.

I hope that you can help me!

Thank you

Nima (from Denmark, Computer Engineer Student)

"Echo S" <[email protected]> skrev i en meddelelse
Hello,

my powerpoint 2003 won't play .avi files (in the show).

I have done pretty much all the things described here
http://www.soniacoleman.com/Tutorials/PowerPoint/multimedia.htm

pretty much? What all have you done?

But the problem is, that sometimes it works, when I do some

of
the

things

Again, some of the things? Can you tell when it works and when it
doesn't
and which some things you've done those times? That might give

us

a
clue.

described in the link above, but when I restart at and just

run

the
show,
it
won't show the .avi movie..??

"Won't show" covers a lot of ground. What happens after you restart
and then
try to run the presentation -- what's the AVI doing? White box only?
Black
box only? Sound only? Something else?

One thought, though. If something like QuickTime or Real has hijacked
your
registry settings, I suppose it's possible that program is resetting
itself
when you reboot. Maybe you can turn off QT and/or Real in your startup
settings (via system information, assuming you're running

Window
XP)

and see
if that helps.

--
Echo [MS PPT MVP]
http://www.echosvoice.com
presenter, PPT Live '04
Oct 10-13, San Diego http://www.powerpointlive.com

 

[Guest]

Well, that's the $64,000 question.

Did you have him try the short path I suggested?

Has he tested the AVI files by going to Start/Run and typing in mplay32.exe ?

--
Echo [MS PPT MVP]
http://www.echosvoice.com
presenter, PPT Live '04
Oct 10-13, San Diego http://www.powerpointlive.com

I made him som .reg files that he could run to automatically to set the
System Registry, so that is not the problem. We also checked the video
drivers, and there are updated.

How can it be that the Powerpoint show and the corresponding .avi movies
works when we are using remote control, but when he restarts and runs the
show without the remote control, black boxes appears?

Very strange. I really hope that we can solve this problem.

- Nima

Okay. That says that the problems are definitely on the other computer. I am
wondering if the fact that you are changing his registry settings remotely
are causing them not to be saved except in your session. Can you write him
a quick note describing how to change the settings and have him do the
changes directly on his machine (or get him on the phone and step him
through it)? Another idea would be to get physical access to his machine to
make the changes.

I would also wonder if (even though it is a brand new machine), he needs to
update video drivers directly on his machine.

--
Kathryn Jacobs, Microsoft MVP PowerPoint and OneNote
Get PowerPoint answers at http://www.powerpointanswers.com
Cook anything outdoors with http://www.outdoorcook.com
Get OneNote answers at http://www.onenoteanswers.com

I believe life is meant to be lived. But:
if we live without making a difference, it makes no difference that we lived

Hello Kathy.

I have tested the powerpoint show and the corresponding movies files on my
own computer, and it worked perfectly. And the strange thing is, that I
havn't changed any settings in the System Registry.
I'm totally lost, can't figure out what the problem is.

Do you have any other suggestions?

Thank you
Nima






"Echo S" <[email protected]> skrev i en meddelelse
Good questions, Kathy. I was kind of thinking about that this afternoon,
but then I thought that would be odd for the controlling machine to use its
codecs/settings to play the stuff from the controlled machine.

So the upshot is that what you say makes perfect sense to me, I just don't
know if it really works that way, LOL! Then again, I haven't done much
remote assistance, so I'm not a good judge there. Good thought on the test
scenario, though.

--
Echo [MS PPT MVP]
http://www.echosvoice.com
presenter, PPT Live '04
Oct 10-13, San Diego http://www.powerpointlive.com



:

I wonder if the remote assistance works because it uses some of the
video
settings/drivers from Nima's machine to show the presentation, even
though
it is running on the other machine. (Does that make any sense?) I know
that
when I remote over to another machine here at home, the drivers on the
machine that I am at control what I see, not the drivers on the machine
I am
logging into.

One way to check that would be for Nima to have the presentation and
video
sent to her and see if they run right on her machine (I am betting they
will).

--
Kathryn Jacobs, Microsoft MVP PowerPoint and OneNote (who really needs
to
shorten her sig, but hasn't come up with the new versions yet....)
Get PowerPoint answers at http://www.powerpointanswers.com
Cook anything outdoors with http://www.outdoorcook.com
Get OneNote answers at http://www.onenoteanswers.com

I believe life is meant to be lived. But:
if we live without making a difference, it makes no difference that we
lived


Hi, Nima.

Thanks for posting your additional info here. I was hoping someone
else
might have ideas for you while I was at work today.

At any rate, I'm not sure why the file works whn you're using remote
assistance (control), but it won't work for the actual user.

The only thing I can think to try is what I suggested via email --
create
a shorter path.
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;[LN];841022
mplay32.exe
cannot handle long file paths, so I'd have the user create a folder on
his C
drive -- C:\Test -- put both the presentation and the AVI in that
folder,
delete the AVI from the presentation, and then reinsert it into the
presentation.

At the very least, this will be a good test to see if the file path
length
is the problem.

--
Echo [MS PPT MVP]
http://www.echosvoice.com
presenter, PPT Live '04
Oct 10-13, San Diego http://www.powerpointlive.com



:

Hello again.

Sorry, I can see that my problem description was not so clear.

First of all, my friend has a powerpoint show which contains some
.avi
movies.

The first time we played the powerpoint-show, the movies were

just

a
black box.

Then I found the site

http://www.soniacoleman.com/Tutorials/PowerPoint/multimedia.htm

Which deals with the problem. So by using the support in MSN
(messenger)
I controlled his computer and entered all the entries he didn't had in
the
System Registry.

And after that (still under support in messenger) I startet the show
and
suddenly it worked!

But the next day he called me and said that he was about to
introduce
the powerpoint show in a meeting, but the same problem occured! A black
box
for every movie!

So yesterday I'll tried to control his computer again.

The first thing I tried was to start "mplay32.exe" from the run menu
and
then i open the movie, to see if it would work there. And the movie DID
work! So (still in support mode from messenger) I startet the show and
suddenly the movies where running! (strange) I told him to restart his
computer and run the show again (but this time without me supporting/
controlling ) from messenger.

And it seem NOT to work when he restarted!

And it seems like, every time I do a support/controlling his
computer
from messenger, It works, but otherwise a Black box appears.

I uninstalled his mediaplayer from the Control Panel in windows xp
and
reinstall it! And i checked the System Registry (for missing entries)
and I
have just install the new DirectX from microsoft's website. But no luck
at
all!

He is using

Nimo Codec Pack 5.0

http://www.divx-digest.com/software/nimo_pack.html

The powerpoint shows works, because I have tested it on my own
computer,
and it runs perfect.

So what can be the problem? I have no clue what it can be.

He's computer is a new P4 , so the speed or memory is up-to-date!

The office he's is using is Office 2003 Danish



I hope that it is enough information, but If it is still not clear,
just
ask me.

I hope that you can help me!

Thank you

Nima (from Denmark, Computer Engineer Student)

"Echo S" <[email protected]> skrev i en meddelelse
Hello,

my powerpoint 2003 won't play .avi files (in the show).

I have done pretty much all the things described here
http://www.soniacoleman.com/Tutorials/PowerPoint/multimedia.htm

pretty much? What all have you done?

But the problem is, that sometimes it works, when I do some of
the
things

Again, some of the things? Can you tell when it works and when it
doesn't
and which some things you've done those times? That might give us
a
clue.

described in the link above, but when I restart at and just run
the
show,
it
won't show the .avi movie..??

"Won't show" covers a lot of ground. What happens after you
restart
and then
try to run the presentation -- what's the AVI doing? White box
only?
Black
box only? Sound only? Something else?

One thought, though. If something like QuickTime or Real has
hijacked
your
registry settings, I suppose it's possible that program is
resetting
itself
when you reboot. Maybe you can turn off QT and/or Real in your
startup
settings (via system information, assuming you're running Window
XP)
and see
if that helps.

--
Echo [MS PPT MVP]
http://www.echosvoice.com
presenter, PPT Live '04
Oct 10-13, San Diego http://www.powerpointlive.com

 

[Nima]

The movies and the show is in a folder on C:\ (the folder name is not a big
name)

By the way, the first time I wanted to test the AVI movie with mplay32.exe,
an error message appeared. I could choose to repair , and I did so. The
movies has been working with mplay32.exe ever since..

Well, that's the $64,000 question.

Did you have him try the short path I suggested?

Has he tested the AVI files by going to Start/Run and typing in mplay32.exe ?

--
Echo [MS PPT MVP]
http://www.echosvoice.com
presenter, PPT Live '04
Oct 10-13, San Diego http://www.powerpointlive.com

I made him som .reg files that he could run to automatically to set the
System Registry, so that is not the problem. We also checked the video
drivers, and there are updated.

How can it be that the Powerpoint show and the corresponding .avi movies
works when we are using remote control, but when he restarts and runs the
show without the remote control, black boxes appears?

Very strange. I really hope that we can solve this problem.

- Nima

Okay. That says that the problems are definitely on the other

computer. I
am

wondering if the fact that you are changing his registry settings remotely
are causing them not to be saved except in your session. Can you

write
him

a quick note describing how to change the settings and have him do the
changes directly on his machine (or get him on the phone and step him
through it)? Another idea would be to get physical access to his

machine
to

make the changes.

I would also wonder if (even though it is a brand new machine), he

needs
to

update video drivers directly on his machine.

--
Kathryn Jacobs, Microsoft MVP PowerPoint and OneNote
Get PowerPoint answers at http://www.powerpointanswers.com
Cook anything outdoors with http://www.outdoorcook.com
Get OneNote answers at http://www.onenoteanswers.com

I believe life is meant to be lived. But:
if we live without making a difference, it makes no difference that we lived


Hello Kathy.

I have tested the powerpoint show and the corresponding movies files

on
my

own computer, and it worked perfectly. And the strange thing is, that I
havn't changed any settings in the System Registry.
I'm totally lost, can't figure out what the problem is.

Do you have any other suggestions?

Thank you
Nima






"Echo S" <[email protected]> skrev i en meddelelse
Good questions, Kathy. I was kind of thinking about that this afternoon,
but then I thought that would be odd for the controlling machine to use
its
codecs/settings to play the stuff from the controlled machine.

So the upshot is that what you say makes perfect sense to me, I just
don't
know if it really works that way, LOL! Then again, I haven't done much
remote assistance, so I'm not a good judge there. Good thought on

the
test

scenario, though.

--
Echo [MS PPT MVP]
http://www.echosvoice.com
presenter, PPT Live '04
Oct 10-13, San Diego http://www.powerpointlive.com



:

I wonder if the remote assistance works because it uses some of the
video
settings/drivers from Nima's machine to show the presentation, even
though
it is running on the other machine. (Does that make any sense?)

I
know

that
when I remote over to another machine here at home, the drivers

on
the

machine that I am at control what I see, not the drivers on the
machine
I am
logging into.

One way to check that would be for Nima to have the presentation and
video
sent to her and see if they run right on her machine (I am betting
they
will).

--
Kathryn Jacobs, Microsoft MVP PowerPoint and OneNote (who really
needs
to
shorten her sig, but hasn't come up with the new versions yet....)
Get PowerPoint answers at http://www.powerpointanswers.com
Cook anything outdoors with http://www.outdoorcook.com
Get OneNote answers at http://www.onenoteanswers.com

I believe life is meant to be lived. But:
if we live without making a difference, it makes no difference

that
we

lived


Hi, Nima.

Thanks for posting your additional info here. I was hoping someone
else
might have ideas for you while I was at work today.

At any rate, I'm not sure why the file works whn you're using remote
assistance (control), but it won't work for the actual user.

The only thing I can think to try is what I suggested via email --
create
a shorter path.
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;[LN];841022
mplay32.exe
cannot handle long file paths, so I'd have the user create a

folder
on

his C
drive -- C:\Test -- put both the presentation and the AVI in that
folder,
delete the AVI from the presentation, and then reinsert it into the
presentation.

At the very least, this will be a good test to see if the file path
length
is the problem.

--
Echo [MS PPT MVP]
http://www.echosvoice.com
presenter, PPT Live '04
Oct 10-13, San Diego http://www.powerpointlive.com



:

Hello again.

Sorry, I can see that my problem description was not so clear.

First of all, my friend has a powerpoint show which contains some
.avi
movies.

The first time we played the powerpoint-show, the movies

were
just

a
black box.

Then I found the site

http://www.soniacoleman.com/Tutorials/PowerPoint/multimedia.htm

Which deals with the problem. So by using the support in MSN
(messenger)
I controlled his computer and entered all the entries he didn't

had
in

the
System Registry.

And after that (still under support in messenger) I startet the
show
and
suddenly it worked!

But the next day he called me and said that he was about to
introduce
the powerpoint show in a meeting, but the same problem occured! A
black
box
for every movie!

So yesterday I'll tried to control his computer again.

The first thing I tried was to start "mplay32.exe" from the run
menu
and
then i open the movie, to see if it would work there. And the movie
DID
work! So (still in support mode from messenger) I startet the

show
and

suddenly the movies where running! (strange) I told him to

restart
his

computer and run the show again (but this time without me supporting/
controlling ) from messenger.

And it seem NOT to work when he restarted!

And it seems like, every time I do a support/controlling his
computer
from messenger, It works, but otherwise a Black box appears.

I uninstalled his mediaplayer from the Control Panel in

windows
xp

and
reinstall it! And i checked the System Registry (for missing entries)
and I
have just install the new DirectX from microsoft's website. But no
luck
at
all!

He is using

Nimo Codec Pack 5.0

http://www.divx-digest.com/software/nimo_pack.html

The powerpoint shows works, because I have tested it on my own
computer,
and it runs perfect.

So what can be the problem? I have no clue what it can be.

He's computer is a new P4 , so the speed or memory is up-to-date!

The office he's is using is Office 2003 Danish



I hope that it is enough information, but If it is still not
clear,
just
ask me.

I hope that you can help me!

Thank you

Nima (from Denmark, Computer Engineer Student)

"Echo S" <[email protected]> skrev i en meddelelse
Hello,

my powerpoint 2003 won't play .avi files (in the show).

I have done pretty much all the things described here

http://www.soniacoleman.com/Tutorials/PowerPoint/multimedia.htm

pretty much? What all have you done?

But the problem is, that sometimes it works, when I do

some
of

the
things

Again, some of the things? Can you tell when it works and when
it
doesn't
and which some things you've done those times? That might give
us
a
clue.

described in the link above, but when I restart at and just
run
the
show,
it
won't show the .avi movie..??

"Won't show" covers a lot of ground. What happens after you
restart
and then
try to run the presentation -- what's the AVI doing? White box
only?
Black
box only? Sound only? Something else?

One thought, though. If something like QuickTime or Real has
hijacked
your
registry settings, I suppose it's possible that program is
resetting
itself
when you reboot. Maybe you can turn off QT and/or Real in your
startup
settings (via system information, assuming you're running Window
XP)
and see
if that helps.

--
Echo [MS PPT MVP]
http://www.echosvoice.com
presenter, PPT Live '04
Oct 10-13, San Diego http://www.powerpointlive.com

 

[Guest]

Ok, so let me recap.

AVIs play in mplay32.exe, but they won't play in PPT.
The file path length is short, but the AVIs still don't play in PPT.

mplay32.exe is usually the acid test -- that is, if the AVI plays there, it *should* play in PPT. If it doesn't, it's usually either a file path length issue, or it's an issue with hardware acceleration and/or video drivers.

So my next suggestion is to have the user experiment with changing his hardware acceleration. Have him try each "stop" on the HA slider. See http://www.rdpslides.com/pptfaq/FAQ00129.htm for step-by-step instructions.

Updating the video driver might not be a bad idea, either, but the hardware acceleration thing is the more likely culprit, I think.

--
Echo [MS PPT MVP]
http://www.echosvoice.com
presenter, PPT Live '04
Oct 10-13, San Diego http://www.powerpointlive.com

The movies and the show is in a folder on C:\ (the folder name is not a big
name)

By the way, the first time I wanted to test the AVI movie with mplay32.exe,
an error message appeared. I could choose to repair , and I did so. The
movies has been working with mplay32.exe ever since..

Well, that's the $64,000 question.

Did you have him try the short path I suggested?

Has he tested the AVI files by going to Start/Run and typing in mplay32.exe ?

--
Echo [MS PPT MVP]
http://www.echosvoice.com
presenter, PPT Live '04
Oct 10-13, San Diego http://www.powerpointlive.com

I made him som .reg files that he could run to automatically to set the
System Registry, so that is not the problem. We also checked the video
drivers, and there are updated.

How can it be that the Powerpoint show and the corresponding .avi movies
works when we are using remote control, but when he restarts and runs the
show without the remote control, black boxes appears?

Very strange. I really hope that we can solve this problem.

- Nima





"Kathy J" <[email protected]> skrev i en meddelelse
Okay. That says that the problems are definitely on the other computer. I
am
wondering if the fact that you are changing his registry settings remotely
are causing them not to be saved except in your session. Can you write
him
a quick note describing how to change the settings and have him do the
changes directly on his machine (or get him on the phone and step him
through it)? Another idea would be to get physical access to his machine
to
make the changes.

I would also wonder if (even though it is a brand new machine), he needs
to
update video drivers directly on his machine.

--
Kathryn Jacobs, Microsoft MVP PowerPoint and OneNote
Get PowerPoint answers at http://www.powerpointanswers.com
Cook anything outdoors with http://www.outdoorcook.com
Get OneNote answers at http://www.onenoteanswers.com

I believe life is meant to be lived. But:
if we live without making a difference, it makes no difference that we
lived


Hello Kathy.

I have tested the powerpoint show and the corresponding movies files on
my
own computer, and it worked perfectly. And the strange thing is, that I
havn't changed any settings in the System Registry.
I'm totally lost, can't figure out what the problem is.

Do you have any other suggestions?

Thank you
Nima






"Echo S" <[email protected]> skrev i en meddelelse
Good questions, Kathy. I was kind of thinking about that this
afternoon,
but then I thought that would be odd for the controlling machine to use
its
codecs/settings to play the stuff from the controlled machine.

So the upshot is that what you say makes perfect sense to me, I just
don't
know if it really works that way, LOL! Then again, I haven't done much
remote assistance, so I'm not a good judge there. Good thought on the
test
scenario, though.

--
Echo [MS PPT MVP]
http://www.echosvoice.com
presenter, PPT Live '04
Oct 10-13, San Diego http://www.powerpointlive.com



:

I wonder if the remote assistance works because it uses some of the
video
settings/drivers from Nima's machine to show the presentation, even
though
it is running on the other machine. (Does that make any sense?) I
know
that
when I remote over to another machine here at home, the drivers on
the
machine that I am at control what I see, not the drivers on the
machine
I am
logging into.

One way to check that would be for Nima to have the presentation and
video
sent to her and see if they run right on her machine (I am betting
they
will).

--
Kathryn Jacobs, Microsoft MVP PowerPoint and OneNote (who really
needs
to
shorten her sig, but hasn't come up with the new versions yet....)
Get PowerPoint answers at http://www.powerpointanswers.com
Cook anything outdoors with http://www.outdoorcook.com
Get OneNote answers at http://www.onenoteanswers.com

I believe life is meant to be lived. But:
if we live without making a difference, it makes no difference that
we
lived


Hi, Nima.

Thanks for posting your additional info here. I was hoping someone
else
might have ideas for you while I was at work today.

At any rate, I'm not sure why the file works whn you're using
remote
assistance (control), but it won't work for the actual user.

The only thing I can think to try is what I suggested via email --
create
a shorter path.
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;[LN];841022
mplay32.exe
cannot handle long file paths, so I'd have the user create a folder
on
his C
drive -- C:\Test -- put both the presentation and the AVI in that
folder,
delete the AVI from the presentation, and then reinsert it into the
presentation.

At the very least, this will be a good test to see if the file
path
length
is the problem.

--
Echo [MS PPT MVP]
http://www.echosvoice.com
presenter, PPT Live '04
Oct 10-13, San Diego http://www.powerpointlive.com



:

Hello again.

Sorry, I can see that my problem description was not so clear.

First of all, my friend has a powerpoint show which contains
some
.avi
movies.

The first time we played the powerpoint-show, the movies were
just
a
black box.

Then I found the site

http://www.soniacoleman.com/Tutorials/PowerPoint/multimedia.htm

Which deals with the problem. So by using the support in MSN
(messenger)
I controlled his computer and entered all the entries he didn't had
in
the
System Registry.

And after that (still under support in messenger) I startet the
show
and
suddenly it worked!

But the next day he called me and said that he was about to
introduce
the powerpoint show in a meeting, but the same problem occured! A
black
box
for every movie!

So yesterday I'll tried to control his computer again.

The first thing I tried was to start "mplay32.exe" from the run
menu
and
then i open the movie, to see if it would work there. And the movie
DID
work! So (still in support mode from messenger) I startet the show
and
suddenly the movies where running! (strange) I told him to restart
his
computer and run the show again (but this time without me
supporting/
controlling ) from messenger.

And it seem NOT to work when he restarted!

And it seems like, every time I do a support/controlling his
computer
from messenger, It works, but otherwise a Black box appears.

I uninstalled his mediaplayer from the Control Panel in windows
xp
and
reinstall it! And i checked the System Registry (for missing
entries)
and I
have just install the new DirectX from microsoft's website. But no
luck
at
all!

He is using

Nimo Codec Pack 5.0

http://www.divx-digest.com/software/nimo_pack.html

The powerpoint shows works, because I have tested it on my own
computer,
and it runs perfect.

So what can be the problem? I have no clue what it can be.

He's computer is a new P4 , so the speed or memory is
up-to-date!

The office he's is using is Office 2003 Danish



I hope that it is enough information, but If it is still not
clear,
just
ask me.

I hope that you can help me!

Thank you

Nima (from Denmark, Computer Engineer Student)

"Echo S" <[email protected]> skrev i en meddelelse
Hello,

my powerpoint 2003 won't play .avi files (in the show).

I have done pretty much all the things described here

http://www.soniacoleman.com/Tutorials/PowerPoint/multimedia.htm

pretty much? What all have you done?

But the problem is, that sometimes it works, when I do some
of
the
things

Again, some of the things? Can you tell when it works and when
it
doesn't
and which some things you've done those times? That might give
us
a
clue.

described in the link above, but when I restart at and just
run
the
show,
it
won't show the .avi movie..??

"Won't show" covers a lot of ground. What happens after you
restart
and then
try to run the presentation -- what's the AVI doing? White box
only?
Black
box only? Sound only? Something else?

One thought, though. If something like QuickTime or Real has
hijacked
your
registry settings, I suppose it's possible that program is
resetting
itself
when you reboot. Maybe you can turn off QT and/or Real in your
startup
settings (via system information, assuming you're running
Window
XP)
and see
if that helps.

--
Echo [MS PPT MVP]
http://www.echosvoice.com
presenter, PPT Live '04
Oct 10-13, San Diego http://www.powerpointlive.com

 

[Nima]

Hi..

I have just found out that my friend's other computer (besides the laptop)
also has the same problem. And my theory is that he has installed some
programs on both the computers which cause the problem. I made him test the
show on his daughters computer (an old IBM laptop) and it worked perfectly.

Now the question is, which programs it is? How can we figure out which
program causes the conflict?


- Nima

Ok, so let me recap.

AVIs play in mplay32.exe, but they won't play in PPT.
The file path length is short, but the AVIs still don't play in PPT.

mplay32.exe is usually the acid test -- that is, if the AVI plays there,

it *should* play in PPT. If it doesn't, it's usually either a file path
length issue, or it's an issue with hardware acceleration and/or video
drivers.

So my next suggestion is to have the user experiment with changing his

hardware acceleration. Have him try each "stop" on the HA slider. See
http://www.rdpslides.com/pptfaq/FAQ00129.htm for step-by-step instructions.

Updating the video driver might not be a bad idea, either, but the

hardware acceleration thing is the more likely culprit, I think.

--
Echo [MS PPT MVP]
http://www.echosvoice.com
presenter, PPT Live '04
Oct 10-13, San Diego http://www.powerpointlive.com

The movies and the show is in a folder on C:\ (the folder name is not a big
name)

By the way, the first time I wanted to test the AVI movie with mplay32.exe,
an error message appeared. I could choose to repair , and I did so. The
movies has been working with mplay32.exe ever since..

Well, that's the $64,000 question.

Did you have him try the short path I suggested?

Has he tested the AVI files by going to Start/Run and typing in mplay32.exe ?

--
Echo [MS PPT MVP]
http://www.echosvoice.com
presenter, PPT Live '04
Oct 10-13, San Diego http://www.powerpointlive.com



:

I made him som .reg files that he could run to automatically to set the
System Registry, so that is not the problem. We also checked the video
drivers, and there are updated.

How can it be that the Powerpoint show and the corresponding .avi movies
works when we are using remote control, but when he restarts and

runs
the

show without the remote control, black boxes appears?

Very strange. I really hope that we can solve this problem.

- Nima





"Kathy J" <[email protected]> skrev i en meddelelse
Okay. That says that the problems are definitely on the other computer. I
am
wondering if the fact that you are changing his registry settings remotely
are causing them not to be saved except in your session. Can you write
him
a quick note describing how to change the settings and have him do the
changes directly on his machine (or get him on the phone and step him
through it)? Another idea would be to get physical access to his machine
to
make the changes.

I would also wonder if (even though it is a brand new machine), he needs
to
update video drivers directly on his machine.

--
Kathryn Jacobs, Microsoft MVP PowerPoint and OneNote
Get PowerPoint answers at http://www.powerpointanswers.com
Cook anything outdoors with http://www.outdoorcook.com
Get OneNote answers at http://www.onenoteanswers.com

I believe life is meant to be lived. But:
if we live without making a difference, it makes no difference that we
lived


Hello Kathy.

I have tested the powerpoint show and the corresponding movies

files
on

my
own computer, and it worked perfectly. And the strange thing is, that I
havn't changed any settings in the System Registry.
I'm totally lost, can't figure out what the problem is.

Do you have any other suggestions?

Thank you
Nima






"Echo S" <[email protected]> skrev i en meddelelse
Good questions, Kathy. I was kind of thinking about that this
afternoon,
but then I thought that would be odd for the controlling machine

to
use

its
codecs/settings to play the stuff from the controlled machine.

So the upshot is that what you say makes perfect sense to me,

I
just

don't
know if it really works that way, LOL! Then again, I haven't

done
much

remote assistance, so I'm not a good judge there. Good thought

on
the

test
scenario, though.

--
Echo [MS PPT MVP]
http://www.echosvoice.com
presenter, PPT Live '04
Oct 10-13, San Diego http://www.powerpointlive.com



:

I wonder if the remote assistance works because it uses some

of
the

video
settings/drivers from Nima's machine to show the

presentation,
even

though
it is running on the other machine. (Does that make any

sense?)
I

know
that
when I remote over to another machine here at home, the

drivers
on

the
machine that I am at control what I see, not the drivers on the
machine
I am
logging into.

One way to check that would be for Nima to have the

presentation
and

video
sent to her and see if they run right on her machine (I am betting
they
will).

--
Kathryn Jacobs, Microsoft MVP PowerPoint and OneNote (who really
needs
to
shorten her sig, but hasn't come up with the new versions yet....)
Get PowerPoint answers at http://www.powerpointanswers.com
Cook anything outdoors with http://www.outdoorcook.com
Get OneNote answers at http://www.onenoteanswers.com

I believe life is meant to be lived. But:
if we live without making a difference, it makes no

difference
that

we
lived


Hi, Nima.

Thanks for posting your additional info here. I was hoping someone
else
might have ideas for you while I was at work today.

At any rate, I'm not sure why the file works whn you're using
remote
assistance (control), but it won't work for the actual user.

The only thing I can think to try is what I suggested via email --
create
a shorter path.
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;[LN];841022
mplay32.exe
cannot handle long file paths, so I'd have the user create a folder
on
his C
drive -- C:\Test -- put both the presentation and the AVI in that
folder,
delete the AVI from the presentation, and then reinsert it

into
the

presentation.

At the very least, this will be a good test to see if the file
path
length
is the problem.

--
Echo [MS PPT MVP]
http://www.echosvoice.com
presenter, PPT Live '04
Oct 10-13, San Diego http://www.powerpointlive.com



:

Hello again.

Sorry, I can see that my problem description was not so clear.

First of all, my friend has a powerpoint show which contains
some
.avi
movies.

The first time we played the powerpoint-show, the movies were
just
a
black box.

Then I found the site

http://www.soniacoleman.com/Tutorials/PowerPoint/multimedia.htm

Which deals with the problem. So by using the support in MSN
(messenger)
I controlled his computer and entered all the entries he

didn't
had

in
the
System Registry.

And after that (still under support in messenger) I

startet
the

show
and
suddenly it worked!

But the next day he called me and said that he was about to
introduce
the powerpoint show in a meeting, but the same problem

occured!
A

black
box
for every movie!

So yesterday I'll tried to control his computer again.

The first thing I tried was to start "mplay32.exe" from

the
run

menu
and
then i open the movie, to see if it would work there. And

the
movie

DID
work! So (still in support mode from messenger) I startet

the
show

and
suddenly the movies where running! (strange) I told him to restart
his
computer and run the show again (but this time without me
supporting/
controlling ) from messenger.

And it seem NOT to work when he restarted!

And it seems like, every time I do a support/controlling his
computer
from messenger, It works, but otherwise a Black box appears.

I uninstalled his mediaplayer from the Control Panel in windows
xp
and
reinstall it! And i checked the System Registry (for missing
entries)
and I
have just install the new DirectX from microsoft's website.

But
no

luck
at
all!

He is using

Nimo Codec Pack 5.0

http://www.divx-digest.com/software/nimo_pack.html

The powerpoint shows works, because I have tested it on

my
own

computer,
and it runs perfect.

So what can be the problem? I have no clue what it can be.

He's computer is a new P4 , so the speed or memory is
up-to-date!

The office he's is using is Office 2003 Danish



I hope that it is enough information, but If it is still not
clear,
just
ask me.

I hope that you can help me!

Thank you

Nima (from Denmark, Computer Engineer Student)

"Echo S" <[email protected]> skrev i en meddelelse
Hello,

my powerpoint 2003 won't play .avi files (in the show).

I have done pretty much all the things described here

http://www.soniacoleman.com/Tutorials/PowerPoint/multimedia.htm

pretty much? What all have you done?

But the problem is, that sometimes it works, when I

do
some

of
the
things

Again, some of the things? Can you tell when it works

and
when

it
doesn't
and which some things you've done those times? That

might
give

us
a
clue.

described in the link above, but when I restart at

and
just

run
the
show,
it
won't show the .avi movie..??

"Won't show" covers a lot of ground. What happens

after
you

restart
and then
try to run the presentation -- what's the AVI doing?

White
box

only?
Black
box only? Sound only? Something else?

One thought, though. If something like QuickTime or

Real
has

hijacked
your
registry settings, I suppose it's possible that program is
resetting
itself
when you reboot. Maybe you can turn off QT and/or Real

in
your

startup
settings (via system information, assuming you're running
Window
XP)
and see
if that helps.

--
Echo [MS PPT MVP]
http://www.echosvoice.com
presenter, PPT Live '04
Oct 10-13, San Diego http://www.powerpointlive.com

 

[Kathy J]

Hi Nima,
Let's start with some simple ones: Does he have RealPlayer installed? It is
known to mess with the multimedia settings. Does he have some other
multimedia program installed? If so, is it messing with the settings? What
else has he done to his computers that daughter hasn't done to hers?

I know there is one other thing we usually check, but it isn't coming to me
at the moment. I'll post back if I think of it - or maybe someone else will
come up with it.

Let us know what you find out....

--
Kathryn Jacobs, Microsoft MVP PowerPoint and OneNote
Get PowerPoint answers at http://www.powerpointanswers.com
Cook anything outdoors with http://www.outdoorcook.com
Get OneNote answers at http://www.onenoteanswers.com

I believe life is meant to be lived. But:
if we live without making a difference, it makes no difference that we lived

Hi..

I have just found out that my friend's other computer (besides the laptop)
also has the same problem. And my theory is that he has installed some
programs on both the computers which cause the problem. I made him test the
show on his daughters computer (an old IBM laptop) and it worked perfectly.

Now the question is, which programs it is? How can we figure out which
program causes the conflict?


- Nima

Ok, so let me recap.

AVIs play in mplay32.exe, but they won't play in PPT.
The file path length is short, but the AVIs still don't play in PPT.

mplay32.exe is usually the acid test -- that is, if the AVI plays there,

it *should* play in PPT. If it doesn't, it's usually either a file path
length issue, or it's an issue with hardware acceleration and/or video
drivers.

So my next suggestion is to have the user experiment with changing his

hardware acceleration. Have him try each "stop" on the HA slider. See
http://www.rdpslides.com/pptfaq/FAQ00129.htm for step-by-step instructions.

Updating the video driver might not be a bad idea, either, but the

hardware acceleration thing is the more likely culprit, I think.

--
Echo [MS PPT MVP]
http://www.echosvoice.com
presenter, PPT Live '04
Oct 10-13, San Diego http://www.powerpointlive.com

The movies and the show is in a folder on C:\ (the folder name is not

a

big

name)

By the way, the first time I wanted to test the AVI movie with mplay32.exe,
an error message appeared. I could choose to repair , and I did so. The
movies has been working with mplay32.exe ever since..



"Echo S" <[email protected]> skrev i en meddelelse
Well, that's the $64,000 question.

Did you have him try the short path I suggested?

Has he tested the AVI files by going to Start/Run and typing in
mplay32.exe ?

--
Echo [MS PPT MVP]
http://www.echosvoice.com
presenter, PPT Live '04
Oct 10-13, San Diego http://www.powerpointlive.com



:

I made him som .reg files that he could run to automatically to

set

the

do

the

step

him

machine

to

me,

I

just
don't
know if it really works that way, LOL! Then again, I haven't done
much
remote assistance, so I'm not a good judge there. Good thought on
the
test
scenario, though.

--
Echo [MS PPT MVP]
http://www.echosvoice.com
presenter, PPT Live '04
Oct 10-13, San Diego http://www.powerpointlive.com



:

I wonder if the remote assistance works because it uses

some

of

on

the

machine
I am
logging into.

One way to check that would be for Nima to have the presentation
and
video
sent to her and see if they run right on her machine (I am
betting
they
will).

--
Kathryn Jacobs, Microsoft MVP PowerPoint and OneNote (who
really
needs
to
shorten her sig, but hasn't come up with the new versions
yet....)
Get PowerPoint answers at http://www.powerpointanswers.com
Cook anything outdoors with http://www.outdoorcook.com
Get OneNote answers at http://www.onenoteanswers.com

I believe life is meant to be lived. But:
if we live without making a difference, it makes no difference
that
we
lived


Hi, Nima.

Thanks for posting your additional info here. I was hoping
someone
else
might have ideas for you while I was at work today.

At any rate, I'm not sure why the file works whn you're using
remote
assistance (control), but it won't work for the actual user.

The only thing I can think to try is what I suggested via
email --
create
a shorter path.
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;[LN];841022
mplay32.exe
cannot handle long file paths, so I'd have the user create a
folder
on
his C
drive -- C:\Test -- put both the presentation and the AVI in
that
folder,
delete the AVI from the presentation, and then reinsert it into
the
presentation.

At the very least, this will be a good test to see if

the

file

path
length
is the problem.

--
Echo [MS PPT MVP]
http://www.echosvoice.com
presenter, PPT Live '04
Oct 10-13, San Diego http://www.powerpointlive.com



:

Hello again.

Sorry, I can see that my problem description was not so
clear.

First of all, my friend has a powerpoint show which contains
some
.avi
movies.

The first time we played the powerpoint-show, the movies
were
just
a
black box.

Then I found the site


http://www.soniacoleman.com/Tutorials/PowerPoint/multimedia.htm

Which deals with the problem. So by using the support

in

MSN

about

to

from

the

support/controlling

his

website.

But

on

my

still

not

I

do

works

and

Real

in

your
startup
settings (via system information, assuming you're running
Window
XP)
and see
if that helps.

--
Echo [MS PPT MVP]
http://www.echosvoice.com
presenter, PPT Live '04
Oct 10-13, San Diego http://www.powerpointlive.com

 

[Guest]

Real and QuickTime are often culprits. But resetting the MCI registry settings usually helps with those.

Isn't there some DVD software that has caused problems in the past?
--
Echo [MS PPT MVP]
http://www.echosvoice.com
presenter, PPT Live '04
Oct 10-13, San Diego http://www.powerpointlive.com

 

[Kathy J]

Bingo! Nima, does your friend have either My DVD or Video Explosion
installed? Both of these are known to cause problems with video and
PowerPoint. Here is some information I put together for someone else on both
of these:

{Begin quote}
One or the other of these has probably changed something within your system
setup and that is affecting how things are running. Changes could include:
Kidnapping your file extensions

Changing your video playback settings

Changing the video settings in the registry

Adding, changing or removing codecs from your system which would then
inhibit how videos played

Changing you system.ini and win.ini settings

And on and on and on.

What's more, a little research found that if you are running My DVD 5.0, it
has some major bugs that affect how it works with PowerPoint. A fix is
available from Sonic. If you haven't updated the product lately, I suggest
doing so. A little more research found this Google link to a Groups entry
that says that Video Explosion wrote over some of the users codecs and
removing the software didn't put it back the way it should have. Link is:

http://groups.google.com/groups?q="[email protected]&rnum=3

Try that again. TinyURL version of the link is:

http://tinyurl.com/ysddr

And finally, research of Video Explosion's site shows this on their FAQ
page:

I have installed Video Explosion and now PowerPoint will not play MPEG
movies, what is the solution?
The problem occurs when the MPEG plug-in for Video Explosion is installed.
During installation, modifications are made to [mci extensions] portion of
the Win.ini file. The [mci extensions] section determines the driver that
the movie file format uses. The native media player in PowerPoint must use
the MPEG Video driver, which makes a call to the mciqtz.drv.
If this setting has changed, the problem occurs. A solution is posted on the
Microsoft Web site:
http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/Q212/4/09.ASP
(URL for that quote is:
http://www.novadevelopment.com/Support/Faq/vew.aspx#q7 )

Back to square one. Remember those links I sent you to Sonia's site and the
FAQ? It's time to go back to those tutorials and check to see if your
settings were hijacked. To make it easier on you, here is the link to the
tutorial on Sonia's site. Check about half way down the page and you will
see the correct settings for system.ini and win.ini - start by comparing
these to your laptop's settings. Then, scroll down a little and check out
the part about making sure your registry is set up to let the MCI player
handle your videos. (This information is similar to the Microsoft link
above, in case you are curious.)

http://www.soniacoleman.com/Tutorials/PowerPoint/multimedia.htm

(By the way, uninstalling those programs won't fix the problem. Video
software is well known for leaving pieces of itself behind. Most of the
developers assume that you have created files with their tools, so in their
minds you will need to still have the computer set up the way they needed
it.)

I would say to update My DVD and make the changes in Austin's article and
the Microsoft article, then try the mpeg again.

{end quote}

Does any of that help?
--
Kathryn Jacobs, Microsoft MVP PowerPoint and OneNote
Get PowerPoint answers at http://www.powerpointanswers.com
Cook anything outdoors with http://www.outdoorcook.com
Get OneNote answers at http://www.onenoteanswers.com

I believe life is meant to be lived. But:
if we live without making a difference, it makes no difference that we lived

Real and QuickTime are often culprits. But resetting the MCI registry

settings usually helps with those.

Isn't there some DVD software that has caused problems in the past?
--
Echo [MS PPT MVP]
http://www.echosvoice.com
presenter, PPT Live '04
Oct 10-13, San Diego http://www.powerpointlive.com

Hi Nima,
Let's start with some simple ones: Does he have RealPlayer installed? It is
known to mess with the multimedia settings. Does he have some other
multimedia program installed? If so, is it messing with the settings? What
else has he done to his computers that daughter hasn't done to hers?

I know there is one other thing we usually check, but it isn't coming to me
at the moment. I'll post back if I think of it - or maybe someone else will
come up with it.

Let us know what you find out....

--
Kathryn Jacobs, Microsoft MVP PowerPoint and OneNote
Get PowerPoint answers at http://www.powerpointanswers.com
Cook anything outdoors with http://www.outdoorcook.com
Get OneNote answers at http://www.onenoteanswers.com

I believe life is meant to be lived. But:
if we live without making a difference, it makes no difference that we lived


test
the

 

[Nima]

Hi Kathy and Echo..

I told my friend to uninstall/reinstall Windows XP and reinstall (only)
Office 2003 without doing anything else. Then he tried to run the show and
it worked!! (it didn't run smootly but it worked) The boxes were playing
instead of showing "black".

Then he went to windows update for updating his XP. And right after the
update, the same problem occured! The powerpoint show didn't work!

So then somebody told him to set the "screen acceleration" in Windows Media
Player a bit down (Windows Media Player settings)

So he did that and now it WORKS on both his computers

Echo -> http://www.rdpslides.com/pptfaq/FAQ00129.htm

I don't know if setting the hardware acceleration back in windows will have
the same effect as the acceleration in media player.

But I will thank you both many times, and I really appreciate your help. I
have really learned a bunch of your good answers..

Take care,
Nima (from Denmark)

Bingo! Nima, does your friend have either My DVD or Video Explosion
installed? Both of these are known to cause problems with video and
PowerPoint. Here is some information I put together for someone else on both
of these:

{Begin quote}
One or the other of these has probably changed something within your system
setup and that is affecting how things are running. Changes could include:
Kidnapping your file extensions

Changing your video playback settings

Changing the video settings in the registry

Adding, changing or removing codecs from your system which would then
inhibit how videos played

Changing you system.ini and win.ini settings

And on and on and on.

What's more, a little research found that if you are running My DVD 5.0, it
has some major bugs that affect how it works with PowerPoint. A fix is
available from Sonic. If you haven't updated the product lately, I suggest
doing so. A little more research found this Google link to a Groups entry
that says that Video Explosion wrote over some of the users codecs and
removing the software didn't put it back the way it should have. Link is:

http://groups.google.com/groups?q="[email protected]&rnum=3

Try that again. TinyURL version of the link is:

http://tinyurl.com/ysddr

And finally, research of Video Explosion's site shows this on their FAQ
page:

I have installed Video Explosion and now PowerPoint will not play MPEG
movies, what is the solution?
The problem occurs when the MPEG plug-in for Video Explosion is installed.
During installation, modifications are made to [mci extensions] portion of
the Win.ini file. The [mci extensions] section determines the driver that
the movie file format uses. The native media player in PowerPoint must use
the MPEG Video driver, which makes a call to the mciqtz.drv.
If this setting has changed, the problem occurs. A solution is posted on the
Microsoft Web site:
http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/Q212/4/09.ASP
(URL for that quote is:
http://www.novadevelopment.com/Support/Faq/vew.aspx#q7 )

Back to square one. Remember those links I sent you to Sonia's site and the
FAQ? It's time to go back to those tutorials and check to see if your
settings were hijacked. To make it easier on you, here is the link to the
tutorial on Sonia's site. Check about half way down the page and you will
see the correct settings for system.ini and win.ini - start by comparing
these to your laptop's settings. Then, scroll down a little and check out
the part about making sure your registry is set up to let the MCI player
handle your videos. (This information is similar to the Microsoft link
above, in case you are curious.)

http://www.soniacoleman.com/Tutorials/PowerPoint/multimedia.htm

(By the way, uninstalling those programs won't fix the problem. Video
software is well known for leaving pieces of itself behind. Most of the
developers assume that you have created files with their tools, so in their
minds you will need to still have the computer set up the way they needed
it.)

I would say to update My DVD and make the changes in Austin's article and
the Microsoft article, then try the mpeg again.

{end quote}

Does any of that help?
--
Kathryn Jacobs, Microsoft MVP PowerPoint and OneNote
Get PowerPoint answers at http://www.powerpointanswers.com
Cook anything outdoors with http://www.outdoorcook.com
Get OneNote answers at http://www.onenoteanswers.com

I believe life is meant to be lived. But:
if we live without making a difference, it makes no difference that we lived

Real and QuickTime are often culprits. But resetting the MCI registry

settings usually helps with those.

Isn't there some DVD software that has caused problems in the past?
--
Echo [MS PPT MVP]
http://www.echosvoice.com
presenter, PPT Live '04
Oct 10-13, San Diego http://www.powerpointlive.com

Hi Nima,
Let's start with some simple ones: Does he have RealPlayer installed?

It

is

to

me

 

[Kathy J]

Glad to hear he was able to get the movies working. Drop by again - we are
always here!

--
Kathryn Jacobs, Microsoft MVP PowerPoint and OneNote
Get PowerPoint answers at http://www.powerpointanswers.com
Cook anything outdoors with http://www.outdoorcook.com
Get OneNote answers at http://www.onenoteanswers.com

I believe life is meant to be lived. But:
if we live without making a difference, it makes no difference that we lived

Hi Kathy and Echo..

I told my friend to uninstall/reinstall Windows XP and reinstall (only)
Office 2003 without doing anything else. Then he tried to run the show and
it worked!! (it didn't run smootly but it worked) The boxes were playing
instead of showing "black".

Then he went to windows update for updating his XP. And right after the
update, the same problem occured! The powerpoint show didn't work!

So then somebody told him to set the "screen acceleration" in Windows Media
Player a bit down (Windows Media Player settings)

So he did that and now it WORKS on both his computers

Echo -> http://www.rdpslides.com/pptfaq/FAQ00129.htm

I don't know if setting the hardware acceleration back in windows will have
the same effect as the acceleration in media player.

But I will thank you both many times, and I really appreciate your help. I
have really learned a bunch of your good answers..

Take care,
Nima (from Denmark)

Bingo! Nima, does your friend have either My DVD or Video Explosion
installed? Both of these are known to cause problems with video and
PowerPoint. Here is some information I put together for someone else on both
of these:

{Begin quote}
One or the other of these has probably changed something within your system
setup and that is affecting how things are running. Changes could include:
Kidnapping your file extensions

Changing your video playback settings

Changing the video settings in the registry

Adding, changing or removing codecs from your system which would then
inhibit how videos played

Changing you system.ini and win.ini settings

And on and on and on.

What's more, a little research found that if you are running My DVD 5.0, it
has some major bugs that affect how it works with PowerPoint. A fix is
available from Sonic. If you haven't updated the product lately, I suggest
doing so. A little more research found this Google link to a Groups entry
that says that Video Explosion wrote over some of the users codecs and
removing the software didn't put it back the way it should have. Link is:

http://groups.google.com/groups?q="[email protected]&rnum=3

Try that again. TinyURL version of the link is:

http://tinyurl.com/ysddr

And finally, research of Video Explosion's site shows this on their FAQ
page:

I have installed Video Explosion and now PowerPoint will not play MPEG
movies, what is the solution?
The problem occurs when the MPEG plug-in for Video Explosion is installed.
During installation, modifications are made to [mci extensions] portion of
the Win.ini file. The [mci extensions] section determines the driver that
the movie file format uses. The native media player in PowerPoint must use
the MPEG Video driver, which makes a call to the mciqtz.drv.
If this setting has changed, the problem occurs. A solution is posted on the
Microsoft Web site:
http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/Q212/4/09.ASP
(URL for that quote is:
http://www.novadevelopment.com/Support/Faq/vew.aspx#q7 )

Back to square one. Remember those links I sent you to Sonia's site and the
FAQ? It's time to go back to those tutorials and check to see if your
settings were hijacked. To make it easier on you, here is the link to the
tutorial on Sonia's site. Check about half way down the page and you will
see the correct settings for system.ini and win.ini - start by comparing
these to your laptop's settings. Then, scroll down a little and check out
the part about making sure your registry is set up to let the MCI player
handle your videos. (This information is similar to the Microsoft link
above, in case you are curious.)

http://www.soniacoleman.com/Tutorials/PowerPoint/multimedia.htm

(By the way, uninstalling those programs won't fix the problem. Video
software is well known for leaving pieces of itself behind. Most of the
developers assume that you have created files with their tools, so in their
minds you will need to still have the computer set up the way they needed
it.)

I would say to update My DVD and make the changes in Austin's article and
the Microsoft article, then try the mpeg again.

{end quote}

Does any of that help?
--
Kathryn Jacobs, Microsoft MVP PowerPoint and OneNote
Get PowerPoint answers at http://www.powerpointanswers.com
Cook anything outdoors with http://www.outdoorcook.com
Get OneNote answers at http://www.onenoteanswers.com

I believe life is meant to be lived. But:
if we live without making a difference, it makes no difference that we lived

Real and QuickTime are often culprits. But resetting the MCI registry

settings usually helps with those.

Isn't there some DVD software that has caused problems in the past?
--
Echo [MS PPT MVP]
http://www.echosvoice.com
presenter, PPT Live '04
Oct 10-13, San Diego http://www.powerpointlive.com



:

Hi Nima,
Let's start with some simple ones: Does he have RealPlayer

installed?

It settings?
What

coming

to else
will we
lived