PowerPoint 2013 crashes with kernelbase.dll error (Windows 7)

Question

We own 8 HP ProBook 4530s laptops with Windows 7. We have Office 13 installed. We have a PowerPoint crash issue with all of them that we cannot resolve. They crash during PowerPoint presentations with a kernelbase.dll error. I have tried every solution I can find on the web to no avail. here is what I have tried:

1. turned off the bluetooth add-in and still crashes
2. run powerpoint after starting windows in clear boot and still crashes
3. ensured display/graphics drivers are correct and up to date and it still crashes
4. reformatted the computers and installed windows and office without any other software and it still crashes
5. run in PowerPoint safe mode and it does not crash

Any ideas?

Answer 1

Hello Brent,

Since PowerPoint works as expected in application safe, you may try the following steps and verify the status.

Open PowerPoint, Click on File, Options, Add-ins, and Click on ‘GO’ beside Manage – COM Add-ins and uncheck all the add-ins and click OK

I hope the above information helps. Let us know if you need further assistance.

Thank you.

Answer 2

Hello Brent,

Thank you for your reply.

The best option to narrow down the issue would be the trial and error method which is to download one update and then start the application and check if it works fine.

I hope the above information helps. Let us know if you need further assistance.

Thank you.

Answer 3

I did some more experimenting with the following scenarios on different computers amongst the 8 we own:

1. On one I uninstalled office 2013 and installed Office 2010. A PowerPoint presentation has ran without crashing for the last 21 hrs.
2. on another I have run a presentation on PowerPoint 2013 in Safe Mode. It has not crashed for 22 hours. I have now tried this successfully on two of the computers.
3. Interestingly on a thrid computer I installed Windows 7 and did not run Windows Update. I then installed Office 2013.  I have had a PowerPoint presentation running for the past 14 hours without a crash. This makes the updates to Windows suspect in causing the crashes.  Being there are a few hundred updates, any recommends on narrowing down which one could be causing the problem?

Answer 4

That is one of the things we already have done. All add-ins including the blueooth add-in are turned off. We still have the issue.