Help and Support Center Problem

[Ted Zieglar]

I've read about this problem on the internet, and now it's affecting me: The
right hand pane of my SP 2 Help and Support Center displays in Times New
Roman, links don't work and portions of text are replaced by XOX.

I've tried System File Checker, replacing hh.dat and reinstalling H & S, but
no improvement. In fact, reinstalling added a new problem: Now H & S doesn't
think I'm connected to the internet. (I am, with a cable modem.) I checked
my firewall (Zone Alarm) and gave H & S a free pass to the internet, but
still no fix.

I would be grateful if someone could suggest a possible solution that I've
overlooked.

 

[Rich Barry]

Ted, check at Kelly's http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_abc.htm
Select H and scroll to Help and Support not working.

 

[Ted Zieglar]

Thanks, Rich. The instructions on Kelly's web site for reinstalling H & S
are the same ones that appear in Ramesh's web site, which is what I used to
reinstall H & S.

By further trawling the newsgroups I found a few more possible solutions to
try, beyond the three that I mentioned in my original post. People have
found success with several techniques, including the ones I already tried.
I'll post back with what ultimately worked - and didn't - for me.

 

[Ted Zieglar]

Well hello again. I have solved my problem and, as promised, will describe
what worked and what didn't. Keep in mind that just because something did
not work for me doesn't mean that it won't work for someone else.

My problem in brief: In the Help and Support Center, the Help viewer (that's
the right hand pane) had these symptoms: 1) the font changed to Times New
Roman, 2) links no longer worked, 3) the H & S graphics did not appear and
4) certain lines and phrases were replaced by XOX.

Here's what did not fix the problem:

1. Re-installing Help and Support
(see http://windowsxp.mvps.org/rebuildhelp.htm)
This actually made things worse, since now H & S thinks I'm not connected to
the internet.

2. Re-installing Help and Support - alternate method, using pchealth.inf
(see http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_h.htm)

3. Re-enabling the HTML Help ActiveX control (hhctrl.ocx).
(see http://windowsxp.mvps.org/helpctrindex.htm)
The control was not disabled in the first place.

4. Re-registering the HTML Help ActiveX control (hhctrl.ocx).
Source (same as above): http://windowsxp.mvps.org/helpctrindex.htm

5. See if the Active Scripting option is disabled for the My Computer Zone.
(see http://www.winxptutor.com/helpctrscripting.htm)
Active Scripting was already enabled for the My Computer Zone.

6. Delete hh.dat and re-create (by accessing any .chm file.)

And here is what finally solved my problem:

Move TIF somewhere else; let XP log you out; log back in; move TIF back to
where it was originally; let XP log you out; and log back in. Voila! Why
this works I have no idea. It just works.

I'm still left with the minor annoyance that H & S doesn't think I'm
connected to the internet. The home page says "When you are connected to the
Internet, this area will display links to timely help and support
information...etc." That's no big deal, really, because I can still connect
to the MSKB and Windows Update through H & S. In fact there are two MSKB
articles that describe this problem, but both refer to DSL connections and I
have cable.

For now, I'm happy I have the Help and Support Center back. Thanks for
reading. Hopefully this will help someone else.

Ted Zieglar

 

[Mark L. Ferguson]

From behind a proxy server or firewall, allow access to http://sa.windows.com

 

[Ted Zieglar]

Not sure what you meant by that. For one thing, my firewall (Zone Alarm
Security Suite) works on the basis of which programs (or components thereof)
are allowed access to the internet. Once internet access is allowed there's
no need to specify a particular web site.

Perhaps you meant that I should add that site to my Trusted Zone? That
didn't make any difference.

I don't know whether this makes any difference either, but that web site is
"Under Construction." It seems to be connected with IIS.

Ted Zieglar