Hello All,

I'm having difficulty accessing an embedded Excel
spreadsheet from a PowerPoint document, and I can't insert
an embedded Excel spreadsheet into a new PowerPoint
presentation. I can't seem to find an answer to this
problem anywhere. I'm using Office XP SP3 on a Windows
2000 SP4 system with all the latest patches installed (for
both Win2K and Office XP), and no, I don't have Norton
AntiVirus or SystemWorks installed.

From an existing PPT document with an embedded Excel
spreadsheet:
If I right-click on the spreadsheet -- select "Linked
Worksheet Object" -- and attempt to click either "Open"
or "Edit", I receive the following error-
"Microsoft PowerPoint can't start the application required
to open this object.
An error occurred and this feature is no longer
functioning properly. Would you like to repair this
feature now?" "Yes" or "No" are my options to continue.

If I select "Yes", another dialog box opens that
says: "Installing: Application Server" with a progress bar
and a cancel button. Eventually, this process fails with
the error-
"The server application, source file, or item can't be
found, or returned with an unkown error. You may need to
reinstall the server application." This error also
occurrs if I select the "No" button.

If I select "Update Link" from the right-click context
menu, I receive the error-
"The linked file was unavailable and can't be updated."
with an "OK" button to continue.

From either an existing PPT document with embedded Excel
spreadsheets, or from a new blank PPT document, if I
select the "Insert" menu -- then "Object" -- "Create
from file" -- "Browse" -- (select any XL file here) --
check the "Link" box -- and click the "OK" button, I
receive the same error as above-
"The server application, source file, or item can't be
found, or returned with an unkown error. You may need to
reinstall the server application."

I don't have any Norton products installed.
I've tried saving the file in an older format (97-2002,
95) and then modifying the file.
I've tried both repairing and reinstalling Office.
I've tried re-registering MS Graph, as well as MS Excel
and MS PowerPoint (the last two were just for kicks) using
the Office path\program name /regserver syntax.
I've tried using a path with less than 64 total characters.
I don't have a folder in either the root or Program Files
folders named either "Microsoft" or "Program" (and as I
mentioned before, I'm not running Win NT 4.0).
I'm not linking to an Org chart, just trying to link to an
Excel spreadsheet.

At this point, I'm thinking the problem lies in the fact
that the PPT file with the original problem was created in
either Office 97 or Office 95. I can replicate the same
problem using the same file across 4 machines.

Machine 1 (original, mentioned above):
Win2K Pro SP4, Office XP SP3 (upgraded from Office 97)
with all patches from windowsupdate and officeupdate
installed. This problem is replicated using either the
original problem PPT file, or attempting to insert an
Excel spreadsheet into a blank PPT file. I had also
attempted installing the PowerPoint Viewer, to see if by
chance this would re-register some missing components.
Didn't work.

Machine 2
Win2K Server SP4, Office XP SP3 (clean install) with all
patches from windowsupdate and officeupdate installed.
This problem is replicated using either the original
problem PPT file, or attempting to insert an Excel
spreadsheet into a blank PPT file.

Machine 3
Win2K Pro SP4, Office 97 SR2, appears to be missing most
OS updates after SP4. This problem is replicated using
either the original problem PPT file, but I can insert an
Excel 97 spreadsheet into a blank PPT 97 file. I had also
attempted installing the PowerPoint Viewer, to see if by
chance this would re-register some missing components to
re-enable the original problem file. Didn't work.

Machine 4
A near-duplicate of Machine 3, except I didn't attempt
installing the PowerPoint Viewer on this system. Same
results as Machine 3.

I've thoroughly searched Google for help with this... but
to no avail. Hope someone can help...

Thanks in advance,
-Jeremy