Powerpoint crashes when playing videos

Question

Hi,

I'm having the problem that Powerpoint crashes every time when playing embedded videos. I have pinpointed the problem being that the GPU spikes to 100% while the video is playing, at which point powerpoint closes automatically. After searching online, I have tried a few options. The best seems to be to "disable slide show hardware acceleration" in the options. It seems to help some. It does not crash every time. But it only "disables" in the slide show form. When playing videos in the editing view, it still crashes every time. Has anyone had this issue and does anyone have a suggested fix?

Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 5, AMD ryzen 7 4700 with AMD Radeon graphics, 16 GB RAM.

Answer 1

Hi,

I'm having the problem that Powerpoint crashes every time when playing embedded videos. I have pinpointed the problem being that the GPU spikes to 100% while the video is playing, at which point powerpoint closes automatically. After searching online, I have tried a few options. The best seems to be to "disable slide show hardware acceleration" in the options. It seems to help some. It does not crash every time. But it only "disables" in the slide show form. When playing videos in the editing view, it still crashes every time. Has anyone had this issue and does anyone have a suggested fix?

Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 5, AMD ryzen 7 4700 with AMD Radeon graphics, 16 GB RAM.

Hi J_UK_17,

First and foremost, thanks for reaching out to our Microsoft Community Forum and please accept our sincerest hope that all is well.

We understand that you're PowerPoint application crashes every time you play an embedded video.

So you had the right idea of going to the Advanced options of PowerPoint and putting a checkmark on the "Disable Slide Show hardware graphics acceleration" option. However as the name implies it's just for the slide show for anywhere outside the slide shows you need to also put a checkmark on the "Disable hardware graphics acceleration" option. Please see the phot below for reference.

Keep in mind though that if you still get crashes while playing videos in PowerPoint after the suggested steps above, you may want to contact Lenovo for help in updating the graphics process unit (GPU) or video card drivers of your computer since it's possible it might have some compatibility issues with Office.

We look forward to your response.

Sincerely,

Glenn Rue

Consumer M365 Forum Moderator

Microsoft Community

Answer 2

Hi Glenn -- thanks for your reply. I do not have both options. Is it possible that it is a version issue or is there a different way to enable that disable hardware graphics acceleration checkbox?

Answer 3

Hi Glenn -- thanks for your reply. I do not have both options. Is it possible that it is a version issue or is there a different way to enable that disable hardware graphics acceleration checkbox?

Hi J_UK_17,

That's interesting. To tell you the truth that screenshot I provided above is for 2016 PowerPoint running on a Windows 10 PC.

So at this point, I'd like to ask:

1. What version of PowerPoint are you using? I specifically need the Product name and Version number as mentioned in the following guide: About Office: What version of Office am I using?
2. What version of Windows are you using? I specifically need the edition and version of Windows your device is running using this guide and the photo below: Which version of Windows operating system am I running?

3. Have you tried to repair the Office installation and see if that resolves the issue? To repair the Office installation please follow the "Repair Office from the Control Panel" steps from our Repair an Office application guide.

Also, it might be a good idea to contact Lenovo and have them check if you have the latest drivers for your computer's graphics process unit (GPU) or video card which is what the "Disable Slide Show hardware graphics acceleration" and "Disable hardware graphics acceleration" options usually interact with.

Sincerely,

Glenn Rue

Consumer M365 Forum Moderator

Microsoft Community

Answer 4

Hi Glenn,

I'm running Office 365 on Windows 10 home. I think we have found a solution...maybe it will help others. In the advanced power settings, the multimedia video playback performance bias should be used, not power saving bias. It seems this has fixed the problem...at least for now. Hopefully this was the issue.

Thanks for your replies.

Answer 5

Hi Glenn,

I'm running Office 365 on Windows 10 home. I think we have found a solution...maybe it will help others. In the advanced power settings, the multimedia video playback performance bias should be used, not power saving bias. It seems this has fixed the problem...at least for now. Hopefully this was the issue.

Thanks for your replies.

You're welcome, J_UK_17. And thanks for the getting back to us with this solution.

I’ll go ahead then and close this thread of yours as answered. If we may be of further help with any of your Microsoft products, please do not hesitate to start a new thread here in the community because it’s always our goal to help you get the most out of our products.

We do value your feedback, so please click Yes or No to help us improve the support experience. Also, voting responses “HELPFUL” and marking it as “ANSWER” will also be beneficial to more Community members reading here.

Thanks again for choosing Microsoft! We’re here when you need us.

Respectfully,

Glenn