can't access help and support after SP2

[Guest]

I installed Sp2 and I can no longer access help and support from the start
button. I have gone into data execution protection and allowed help and
support and the help center. Still doesn't work. Any ideas?

 

[Bert Kinney]

Hi,

Reinstalling Help and Support should fix it.
Go to C:\Windows\inf\pchealth.inf.
Right click and choose install.

Note:The C:\Windows\Inf folder is a hidden folder.
To view hidden files follow these steps:
Open Control Panel - Folder Options - View tab, select "Show hidden files and folders" and
uncheck "Hide extensions for known file types", click OK.

If the Files Needed dialog box appears, click Browse, and point to
C:\Windows\ServicePackFiles\i386 folder on the hard drive.

 

[Guest]

Sounded like a good idea but it didn't fix the problem.

Still comes up and says that help can't run do to the fact that a system
service is not running.

If I uninstall SP2 help and support then works.

Thanks for the try. Alan

 

[Bert Kinney]

Hi Alan,

See if this helps.
Resolve the Help and Support Service startup failures
http://windowsxp.mvps.org/helpsvcfix.htm

 

[Ramesh, MS-MVP]

Alan,

To resolve the problem, Start the Help and Support Center service and set it
to Automatic. Follow these steps:

Click Start, Run and type Services.msc
Double-click Help and Support
Set the Startup type to Automatic
Start the Service

If the Help and Support service is missing in the Services.msc listing, this
may be due to accidental deletion of a registry key.

http://windowsxp.mvps.org/reg/helpsvc.zip

Download helpsvc.zip file and unzip the contents. Extract helpsvc.reg to the
Desktop and double-click to merge the contents to the registry. This
restores the Help and Support service entry. Restart Windows, and try to
start the Help and Support service. This time if you get a different error
such as the ones below, then follow the link given by Bert.
(http://windowsxp.mvps.org/helpsvcfix.htm)

[error] Could not start the Help and Support service on Local Computer.
Error 2: The system cannot find the file specified. [/error]

[error] Could not start the Help and Support service on Local Computer.
Error 1803: The executable program that this service is configured to run in
does not implement the service [/error]

 

[Mark L. Ferguson]

You can find a script to fix the registry entries

Restore Help and Support Service:
http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/regs_edits/helpnsupport.reg

 

[Guest]

That did the trick! Thank you very much!
I checked the registry before merging the entries and found that the entries
in question were truly missing. I merged the downloaded file, checked the
registry again and restarted the computer. Help and Support now work! I
checked the running services and found help and support to be running with
the proper settings.

Makes one wonder how installing SP2 would wipe out those regestry enteries.
Thanks again! Alan

 

[Ramesh, MS-MVP]

You're welcome Alan.