problem with audio file in Powerpoint

[sawilliams]

I'm running Office 10 in Windows 7 and I cannot either embed or link any audio file to a Powerpoint presentation. I have tried *.wav and *.mp3 and *.wma. Same results with each. Powerpoint just freezes and says "Powerpoint is inserting media". Nothing happens, application freezes and I have to CTRL-ALT-DEL to close. I have tried very short sound bites and longer ones. I am totally up to date with all my windows and Office updates. I'm flummoxed. It shouldn't be this difficult. Of course, I was just handed the task today for an 8am presentation tomorrow. Help would be appreciated.

 

[xlhelp]

It's likely that your Anti-virus is tying up the embed process. Try disabling it and and then add the media.

Also, Windows 7 has a uitility called Windows Defender. If disabling anti-virus does not work, find Windows defender, right click on it and Stop the process.

Best way to find the service would be to go to Start and search for service.msc

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[sawilliams]

Actually, after I posted, I found these very solutions and implemented both (uninstalled anti-virus and disabled Defender). Disabling Defender allowed the progress bar to show some progress but, still, it led to crashing of Powerpoint. Removal of anti-virus didn't help at all.

We have all brand new Lenovo laptops and I've tried this on several with the same results. Even trying to insert a *.pdf resulted in just a blank frame being inserted. Something is funky but I don't know what. And I tried different Powerpoint presentations just in case the original was corrupted in some way. That didn't help either.

I still need to solve it but for the presentation today, we had to go with 2 laptops, one to run the Powerpoint and the other to play the music. Yeah, it was lame...

 

[xlhelp]

Also...check to see if there is a process that is hogging the CPU. That may cause delays and hang ups.

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I thought I had retired...I was mistaken. I used to work for a large corporation; now I work for my wife.

 

[sawilliams]

Thanks, xlhelp, for the additional suggestion. I'm finding, however, that only Powerpoint is affected. This morning I attempted to insert audio into a new Powerpoint presentation, Powerpoint froze and then I checked my processes and there was nothing happening there of any note. All my other apps (Word, Outlook, etc.) are running fine. Just Powerpoint crashes.

If I run Powerpoint and no other app, it freezes if I try to insert audio.

 

[janthegeek]

I am having the exact same problem on a Lenovo T520 laptop. I have also tried everything mentioned in the above discussion w/o success. I am wondering if it is related to the 64 bit operating system. I am running Microsoft Office Professional 2010; the Powerpoint version is 14.0.6112.5000 (32 bit). I hope someone has other suggestions. Thanks.

 

[janthegeek]

It's not a matter of not knowing how to insert the audio file. I've done it many times in previous versions of PowerPoint. We're asking for help because inserting audio using our version of PowerPoint doesn't work. We are running Win 7 and have Lenovo computers as explained above.