100% cpu on "insert picture" in 2003

[steve]

I'm using XP SP2, and PPT 2003. Everything was fine, etc. etc. There
was a Windows update recently and I wonder if that has caused a
problem..

Windows XP family Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool - (KB890830)

Windows XP family Security Update for Windows XP (KB901214)
Windows XP family Security Update for JView Profiler (KB903235)

Maybe not, but the problem I am having is when trying to Insert Picture
into a document. I discovered this with a document I was working on,
but I've also tried it with a brand new blank document. It goes to 100%
CPU, and it's the powerpoint process itself - as I see in the Windows
Task Manager. It doesn't come back, it just hangs, so I have to kill
the process.

I did manage to insert some images, but some images, and some
DIRECTORIES with images would hang it up - even before I select an
image in the file browser, just simply looking for an image to "insert"
was causing the spike/hang.

FWIW, this spike/hang coincided with the appearance in the system tray
of the Ogg Vorbis Direct Show Filter that I use for subtitles in
playing AVIs, etc. When I quit the app, the systray icon would go away.
Realizing that was a symptom and not a cause, I decided ANYWAY to
uninstall the software and of course it made no difference.

I've rebooted. I've tried a virgin document. I disabled "fast save" -
nothing works.

Any ideas?

Thanks.

 

[steve]

Well, using %windir%\$NtUninstallKB<some KB number for update
here>$\spuninst\spuninst.exe

(%windir% is typically C:\Windows or C:\Winnt)

I uninstalled
Windows XP family Security Update for Windows XP (KB901214)
Windows XP family Security Update for JView Profiler (KB903235)
and rebooted and tried again.

Same problem, still. Working on a virgin document.

 

[Austin Myers]

I know it seems unrelated but try turning your graphics acceleration down.

Austin Myers
MS PowerPoint MVP Team

Solutions to Multimedia in PowerPoint www.pfcmedia.com

 

[steve]

How does one do that? I realize it'll vary by equipment. I'm not sure
what type of control or setting I'm even looking for!

 

[steve]

Sorry - replied too soon...
http://www.planaria-software.com/faq.htm offers some ideas:

Display Properties->Settings->Advanced->Troubleshoot, for me.

Unfortunately, it made no difference.

 

[steve]

i just did a "repair" and then uinstalled and reinstalled PowerPoint.
It didn't make a difference; it's wild, just when I scroll through the
Desktop in the insert picture browse widget, that's when it goes to
100% - just trying to list the files in the directory.

Very frustrating. Hope some more ideas are possible...

 

[Echo S]

Windows XP family Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool - (KB890830)

Is this the MS Antispyware beta? There was just a guy in
microsoft.public.office.misc with a similar problem -- all Office programs
would get the slows after he'd click a hyperlink in Access. Uninstalling the
software didn't fix the problem -- he actually had to go in and remove
registry keys. I wonder if your problme is related? Any registry keys still
pointing to the captioning application?

If I were in your situation, I'd check that and then next go to Start/Run
and typing msconfig. Disable everything in the startup and see if PPT works
better. If so, you can re-enable one at a time until you isolate the
problem.

Next I'd check PPT addins, but let's see what these other things do first.

 

[Austin Myers]

Ah, is the folder set to give you thumbnail views of all the photos? I've
had this happen when I had a lot of photo's in the folder.

Austin Myers
MS PowerPoint MVP Team

Solutions to Multimedia in PowerPoint www.pfcmedia.com

 

[steve]

No, in fact there are only 3 picture files in that folder (the desktop)
and NONE have previews. I wonder if THAT is the problem - it is trying
to generate a preview and can't?

 

[steve]

No, they are two different programs
http://www.microsoft.com/athome/security/spyware/software/default.mspx
is Antispyware Beta and
http://www.microsoft.com/security/malwareremove/default.mspx is the
Malicious Tool. MRT.EXE is an .exe in windows/system32 and it's not
"installed" so does that mean no registry? I dunno.

I'll go to the msconfig thing and see what happens.

 

[steve]

Disabling the startup items didn't make any difference.

There are three images files on my desktop. One is GIF, the other two
are small JPGs. I trashed the GIF and opened the JPGs in Photoshop and
did a Save As to "rebuild" them.

Based on http://www.annoyances.org/exec/forum/win2000/t1013872896 I did
this

I was having problems with my icons and it was suggested that I reset my display
resolution to a different setting, click apply....then reset it back to what it was
before....and it worked!!! They are all back the way they should be. It seems the
shelliconcache is recreated automatically when you change your color depth!!

I thought maybe the preview was problematic, which is NOT the icon, but
it made me think about it in a similar way.

I am wondering if it's an XP thing and NOT a PPT thing - in other
words, something about looking at those files in that directory is
weird.

For whatever reason I can now browse to OTHER folders and insert images
from there no problem. Just the not the desktop with these two quite
small JPGs. I deleted Thumbs.db from the desktop and that didn't work.

I created a "storage" (ie temp) folder on my desktop and began to move
various things into that folder so when I browsed to the desktop in the
Insert Picture dialog, I would be looking at less things. I wondered if
something else was screwing it up. I eventually put the two JPGs in
question into that directory, And this was interesting.

I opened up the task manager so I could watch when it would go to 100%
or near.

I opened up the Insert Picture browse window and it stayed nice and
calm at 1% usage. Until after a few seconds when the folder icon
updated to show the small icons of the images within that folder. As
soon as that happened, it went to near 100%.

And it's not happening elsewhere in the file structure right now.

What is it about those two JPGs (even after having done a Save As in
Photoshop) that is so messed up?

 

[Echo S]

Dunno what's weird with them, but you've done some great detective work.

Are you by chance using Norton Antivirus?

 

[steve]

Nope, I'm using McAfee, and I keep it disabled.

 

[Echo S]

Nope, I'm using McAfee, and I keep it disabled.

Hm.

NAV has this Office plug-in that causes all kinds of crazy slow downs and
other stuff. Even disabling NAV doesn't always turn off the Office plug-in
DLL that causes most of the problems. Wonder if McAfee has anything like
that?

Just thinking aloud.

 

[Bill Dilworth]

Just a 'nother idea...

Do any of the items of the desktop include strange names (unusual
characters, double extensions, or especially long names)?

Try placing all the icons from the desktop in a folder on the desktop.
Resolve for Desktop opening? Remove them from the folder one at a time and
see which is causing the problem.

Bill