You Cannot Stop or Cancel the "The Source Application Is Busy and Can't Respond Immediately" Error Message (813725)


The information in this article applies to:

  • Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2003
For a Microsoft PowerPoint 2002 version of this article, see 285434.

SYMPTOMS

When you try to open an embedded object in a PowerPoint presentation, you may receive the following error message:
The source application is busy and can't respond immediately
If you then click Cancel, you continue to receive the error message.

CAUSE

This problem occurs if the object is already open for editing and the program has a modal window open. Modal windows are dialog boxes or error messages that must be closed before you can do anything else with the program. Clicking Cancel does not stop PowerPoint from trying to activate the embedded object.

WORKAROUND

To work around this problem:
  1. Click Cancel.
  2. On the task bar, click the program that has the object open, or press ALT+TAB repeatedly until you select the program that has the object open.
  3. Close any open dialog boxes or error messages for this program.

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in the Microsoft products that are listed at the beginning of this article.
Modification Type:MinorLast Reviewed:9/27/2006
Keywords:kberrmsg kbprb KB813725
©2004 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.