Powerpoint started locking up during service

[preacherswife]

We are running PPT 2003 on my HP laptop and extending to 2 monitors to do our service. We've been doing this successfully for about 8 mos, but now, when we hit F5, the slide shows across the whole screen, (as in 1 per screen) instead of in view mode on the left side. After one song plays, it locks up. You can esc and re-open and it will play again, but that is really not workable during a service.

The program runs fine any other time. but wll no longer run properly connected to either 1 or 2 external monitors.

Anyone have any idea what has happened or how I can fix it?

Thanks!

Kristen

[[Admin] osborn4]

Check your windows display settings. Make sure you have "Extend my desktop" option checked.

There could also be Function keys that will effect that, if you are using a laptop.

[preacherswife]

Extend my desktop is on, but that would not make it lock, would it? Just not make it visible on the external monitors. It runs and plays just like normal except clicking on the slides does not make the blue highlight box around the slide change to the next one screen on the left of the monitor, but it does move the slide showing on the main screen for a few slides and then will lock up. Esc gets you out of it, and when you re-start the program it works again. The resolution is right, the slide images show on all the monitors.

[cmchamp]

In PPT, did you set your Presentation Preferences to Show Presentation on the external displays?

[preacherswife]

Here is what I do. I just set this all up here with the monitors so I can better describe the problem.

Connect 2 external monitors to laptop
Change settings in the control panel - use laptop as primary monitor, extend desk top to monitorm change resolution
Open PPT file, hit F5
Now, I have the 1st picture of the presentation on both monitors and my laptop, and the presenter view shows in the left column of the laptop screen.
Clicking my down arrow should move blue hightlight box around the 1st slide down to the 2nd slide and change the image on both the monitors and the laptop to the next slide.

It does not.

Nothing at all changes on the laptop, but the slide images DO change on the monitors. For a few slides. Then the whole thing locks up. ESC will get me out and when I re-open PT, we go through the same process.

[dovprst]

I'm having a hard time understanding the problem. Which version of Power Point is this? Sounds like XP;. Maybe the file is corrupted. Does it do the same thing wiuth another presentation?

[preacherswife]

Apparently, something was corrupted in the file I was trying to use. I built a new presentation, re-started PPT again and now it works. Go figure. Thank you all for your suggestions!