Office 2003 PowerPoint (SP2) won't start on WinXP SP2 laptop

[fmaurais]

I was referred here from forums.techguy.com-- I hope someone can help me.

Brand new Dell Inspiron 6400 laptop, WinXP Pro SP2. I've installed (and
uninstalled/re-installed) Office 2003 Professional (and upgraded Office to
SP2 as well) several times, and every application seems to work, *except*
PowerPoint. Whenever PP runs, I get the "MS Office PowerPoint has
encountered a problem and needs to close" dialog. The same installation of
Office works just fine on the desktop WinXP machine sitting next to my laptop.

The error report generated looks like:

AppName: powerpnt.exe AppVer: 11.0.8110.0 AppStamp:4519c2a0
ModName: kernel32.dll ModVer: 5.1.2600.2945 ModStamp:44ab9a84
fDebug: 0 Offset: 00012a5b

I've scanned MS Knowledgebase, done Google searches on the problem, but most
related solutions involve upgrading Office 2003 to SP2-- but I've already
done that, and I still have the problem!?!

I see a previous related post talking about "Add-ins"-- how would I find
these and/or disable them? I don't see a utility for this. I guess I can
try running in Safe-Mode-- do I need to do this to disable the add-ins?
Where is the *.PCB file located?

When I start PP and monitor the Windows Task Manager, PP is listed in the
Applications and Processes tab.

Another suggestion I had was to uninstall, then "clear my registry" before
re-installing....what registry items specifically would I want to clear
before re-installing?

Any help is much appreciated...

Fran Maurais

 

[fmaurais]

One additional tidbit. As another post had mentioned Safe-Mode, I tried
running in Safe-Mode and starting PP-- I still get the same error. However,
I noticed something else which seems odd...

Before I started PP, I checked Windows Task Manager's applications and
process lists...nothing unusual, no Office apps were running.

After I failed to start PowerPoint, and all such windows were closed, I
checked the Task Manager, and it now shows "EXCEL.EXE" is listed in the
Process tab (?). Exce, the application, is not running-- there are no Excel
windows open.

Is there some reason (an MS Office Add-In perhaps?) that causes EXCEL to
start when PowerPoint is started? I'm hoping this is a clue to the
problem....?

 

[fmaurais]

The only other "new" process I see when PP fails to start properly is
something called "DW20.EXE"...I don't know if that's just the "PowerPoint has
encountered an error and needs to close" dialog window, or something else?

 

[fmaurais]

In my %temp% folder, I see a POWERPNT.log file that mentions something about

"Windows SharePoint Services"

in a different file in %temp%, I see an error message related to "SharePoint
Services"...not sure if this is relevent...

I tried removing all my printers (my default was a network printer) and
creating a generic default printer as my default, but still no luck.

 

[fmaurais]

Steve-- thanks for the help.

I have previously tried a "repair install" from Office setup, with no luck.

I did a search for *.PCB files on my hard drive, and it found none. I don't
know if that's bad or not...(given that PP has never properly started up on
my laptop).

When I said that PP was listed in Task Manager's process list, the PP
application's main window was still up (i.e. PP doesn't go away until I
dismiss the "PP has experienced an error and must close" dialog). But I
can't manipulate the PP application at all...

Using the "alternate solution" for listing add-ins from your FAQ, I see:

Add-In Type A 2000 A 2002 A 2003 C 2000 C 2002 C 2003 Path
DataAssistant PPA No No Yes No No Yes C:\Program Files\Common
Files\Microsoft Shared\OFFICE11\Data Assistant\DataAssistant.ppa
Microsoft Media Producer v1 Add In PPA No Yes Yes No Yes Yes C:\Program
Files\Microsoft Producer 2\Shared\prod2.ppa
Microsoft PowerPoint Presenter
Tools COM No No No No No No C:\PROGRA~1\MICROS~2\OFFICE11\MULTIMGR.DLL

Re: default printer, I didn't mean *the* Generic printer, I was just echoing
instructions I read from "pptools" and/or "pptfaq". The printer driver I
setup as my default is "HP LaserJet 6MP".

I guess I will try disabling "add-ins"...any other suggestions would be
greatly appreciated....thanks.

Fran Maurais

 

[fmaurais]

I dug through my Recycle Bin for the "sharepoint services" reference....based
on the file modification times, it appears like this message was associated
with MS Word, not PowerPoint....anyway, the message is:

"An error occurred accessing your Windows SharePoint Services site files.
Authors - if authoring against a Web server, please contact the Webmaster for
this server's Web site. WebMasters - please see the server's application
event log for more details."

I only see this message appear once in one file "wecerr.txt", so perhaps
it's not relevent, but just FYI.

 

[fmaurais]

Ok Steve. I found the affending add-in: "Data Assistant".

If I change Common Files\Microsoft Shared\OFFICE11\Data
Assistant\DataAssistant.ppa to "DataAssistant.ppb", and re-start PP, it works
with no error. Hurray!

If I change it back to a *.ppa, I get the error again ("Microsoft PP has
experienced an error and must close....") When I close PP after seeing this,
"POWERPNT.EXE" does disappear from the Task Manager Process List.....

However, as I noted in a previous post, it seems that "DataAssistant.ppa"
causes EXCEL.EXE to start whenever POWERPNT.EXE starts, *and*, after I get
the error and close PP, "EXCEL.EXE" does *not* disappear from the Process
List.

Can someone tell me how to rectify this? Should I just permanently disable
"DataAssistant"? Thanks.

 

[fmaurais]

I guess, (attempting to answer my own question), that MS' Knowledgebase says
exactly that (delete/remove "Data Assistant")....here's the link, FYI.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/918415/en-us

Steve-- that's very much for your help, both direct, and indirect (via your
web sites)...