Cannot display the page in Help and Support

[Guest]

Computer novice needs help in simplistic plain language.

I recently tried to use the XP Pro support and help section only to
repeatedly get the message

"Cannot display the page
The page you are trying to view has an incorrect address and cannot be
displayed. Please try another page."

This error message appears anytime I attempt to use the Search, Pick a help
topic, and Ask for assistance choices.

The sections entitled "Pick a task and Did you know" function properly.

I am currently running XP Pro with SP2 installed and I believe I am current
on all windows updates.

I am also running adaware spy software, All-in-One Secretmaker utility as
well as Norton Antivirus with current definitions.

I recently installed cable modem and a wireless router in my home and I
currently have 2 wireless pcs sharing the internet connection.

Part of my problem is I don't know when the help and support center in XP
stopped functioning, e.g. when SP2 was installed months and months ago or
just recently when the wireless network was installed because I didn't have a
need for the help section for some time. Hence I don't have any idea as to
whether some change I have made caused the problem.

P.S. ---Since I consider myself a novice user I am usually quite nervous
about making registry modifications.---in fear of making things
worse-----------If that is part of what I must do to correct the problem,
please be explicit ---step by step---of what I should do.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Vijai

 

[Guest]

I checked the registry values and they are set to 0 as it was indicated
they should be in an earlier post regarding a similiar issue and described in
the document referenced by Ramesh at

http://www.winxptutor.com/helpctrscripting.htm

still need help

thanks,
Vijai

 

[Wesley Vogel]

Clicking "Related Topics" and other hyperlinks cause "Cannot display the
page" error in Help and Support Center
http://www.winxptutor.com/helpctrscripting.htm

Troubleshooting problems with Help and Support Center
http://windowsxp.mvps.org/helpctr.htm

--
Hope this helps. Let us know.

Wes
MS-MVP Windows Shell/User

In

 

[Ramesh, MS-MVP]

Vijai,

Which link (exactly) in Help Center causes this error. Give an example.

 

[Guest]

Any entry into the search box. All of the links in "Pick a help topic"
beginning with what's new in windows XP down through Security and
adminstration through accessibility through performance and maintenance
through sending your feedback to microsoft and into the next section Ask for
assistance including both remote assistance and XP newsgroups.


I've tried examining the registry values as mentioned before in
http://www.winxptutor.com/helpctrscripting.htm

and I also followed the instructions listed regarding
http://windowsxp.mvps.org/helpctr.htm
based on wesley's recommendation before----by the way, thanks for trying.

for example---
regsvr32 hhctrl.ocx

then I tried
Install this patch, which provides you an updated version of HHctrl.ocx and
which eliminates the actual vulnerability:

811630 HTML Help Update to Limit Functionality When It Is Invoked with the
window.showHelp( ) Method

Finally,
I also tried

Reinstalling Help and Support Center in Windows XP

Unfortunately none of these things has worked so far and in actuality it may
be worse, as i have now have had a few system crashes and some stability
issues.

for example i got an error message----not sure if it is related or not
"Run-time error '91': Object variable or With block varible not set"

However I remain open to any suggestions as to how I might resolve this issue.

Thank you all for the time and effort.

Vijai

 

[Ramesh, MS-MVP]

Vijai,

Q811630 is applicable for pre-XP SP2 systems, AFAIK. Do you have SP2
installed, by chance?

Try this from Start/Run:

helpctr.exe -regserver
regsvr32 itss.dll
regsvr32 hhctrl.ocx

If not, the usual Help Center reinstallation method might help:

Locate the PCHealth.inf in your Windows\Inf folder. Right-click and choose
"Install"

 

[Guest]

Yes I do have sp2 installed according to the system page.

I tried the

helpctr.exe -regserver

regsvr32 itss.dll
regsvr32 hhctrl.ocx

with no success

So then I tried
Locate the PCHealth.inf in your Windows\Inf folder. Right-click and choose

"Install"

when I searched for this file I found the following three entries:

C:\WINDOWS\$NTServicePackUninstall$
C:\WINDOWS\inf
C:\WINDOWS\ServicePackFiles\i386

I followed your instructions and rightclick install.
Thre result was:

The file 'dataspec.xml' on Windows XP Professional Service Pack 2 CD is
needed.

However the problem is Service Pack 2 is not on my CD as it was installed by
automatic update.

What next?

by the way, thanks again.

Vijai

 

[Teri Sauriol]

I have the opposite error of everything working in the Help and Support
Center except the "Did you know" section. It shows as connecting/updating
at first and then replies with prompting the network wizard to be ran. The
network wizard was ran with no changes to the error and the network
connections all work just fine. For some reason, Did you know doesn't know
it has an established network connection. (Cable modem and Dlink router all
working great) Norton's Firewall 2002 and Norton's AV 2005.

1. Tried the pchealth.inf reinstall - no change
2. enabled "permit all" for the Help Centre in Firewall - no change
3. Deleted the newsver.xml and rebooted - no change

Microsoft currentlly trying to come up with suggestions.
Any takers here?

Teris

 

[Ramesh, MS-MVP]

Vijai,

Again, Q811630 may not be applicable to SP2. I'd try a System Restore
rollback in order to Undo the hotfix. Then try the DLL registration
procedure again.

For the PCHealth.inf, you don;t need to search the hard disk, as I already
said it's in your Windows\Inf folder. Right-click and choose Install. Point
to this folder for updated system files. ( dataspec.xml ?)

C:\WINDOWS\ServicePackFiles\i386

 

[Ramesh, MS-MVP]

Teri,

Here is my experience with the "Did you know?" section in Help Center:

I've observed this always happens with broadband connection. When I
connected to internet using dial-up, Help and Support could connect to the
internet and download the news block XML files (2 XML files will be
downloaded, and then merged based one some criteria) and the "Did you know?"
updated correctly. "Did you know?" actually reflects what;s in the XML file.

When using broadband (ADSL), I changed the value "EnableAutodial" to 1 in
this key:

[HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings]

This works sometimes, but not consistently.

 

[Teri Sauriol]

Hi Ramesh,

Yes I caught your suggestion in another post prior to this posting and tried
that without any success.

It is a interesting that this is happening on a clean new install. I have 2
other xp pro pcs running on the same lan with the same default settings and
they have no issues.

thx
Teri

Teri,

Here is my experience with the "Did you know?" section in Help Center:

I've observed this always happens with broadband connection. When I
connected to internet using dial-up, Help and Support could connect to the
internet and download the news block XML files (2 XML files will be
downloaded, and then merged based one some criteria) and the "Did you
know?" updated correctly. "Did you know?" actually reflects what;s in the
XML file.

When using broadband (ADSL), I changed the value "EnableAutodial" to 1 in
this key:

[HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings]

This works sometimes, but not consistently.

--
Ramesh, Microsoft MVP
Windows XP Shell/User
http://windowsxp.mvps.org

I have the opposite error of everything working in the Help and Support
Center except the "Did you know" section. It shows as connecting/updating
at first and then replies with prompting the network wizard to be ran.
The network wizard was ran with no changes to the error and the network
connections all work just fine. For some reason, Did you know doesn't
know it has an established network connection. (Cable modem and Dlink
router all working great) Norton's Firewall 2002 and Norton's AV 2005.

1. Tried the pchealth.inf reinstall - no change
2. enabled "permit all" for the Help Centre in Firewall - no change
3. Deleted the newsver.xml and rebooted - no change

Microsoft currentlly trying to come up with suggestions.
Any takers here?

Teris