Help and Support won't open

[WiLLerZ]

Hi all,
I'm running Windows XP Home Edition (SP2 I think - I'm not currently
at my home computer) and I'm having issues with Windows Help - it
won't open. Basically, when I either click on it or press F1 when I'm
on the desktop, I get an hourglass icon briefly, and then nothing
happens. Helps for other applications work fine, it's just the Help
and Support option listed in the start menu that doesn't work.
I've only just noticed this as I'm trying to remotely help my Mum (who
lives in another state) with some issues she's having. I taught her
how to invite me to remotely assist her, but it's not working. Since
this is run through Help, I'm guessing that this is the reason it's
not working for me (I guess it could also be her firewall
configurations, but I was going to check that after I got my Help
working).
I've tried restarting my computer, but that doesn't do anything. A
quick search on the problem didn't seem to reveal anything. I made
sure I had downloaded all the critical updates, but still had no joy.
Anyone have any ideas? It seems really weird.

 

[Guest]

Hi WiLLerZ,

Try d/loading and running Doug Knox's fixwinxphelp.vbs to repair Help and
Support:
http://dougknox.com/xp/scripts_desc/fixwinxphelp.htm



Regards,

 

[Bert Kinney]

Hi,

Take a look at these suggestions.

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

Regards,
Bert Kinney MS-MVP Shell/User
http://bertk.mvps.org
Member: http://dts-l.org

 

[WiLLerZ]

Hi,

Take a look at these suggestions.

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

Regards,
Bert Kinney MS-MVP Shell/Userhttp://bertk.mvps.org
Member:http://dts-l.org




- Show quoted text -

Thanks for the tips. I tried some of the suggestions listed (the ones
that seemed appropriate). I went into Services.msc to change the
start up to automatic. It already was, so I clicked on the button to
start the service and came up with an error which said the following:
"Could not start the Help and Support service on Local Computer.
Error 126: The specified module could not be found."
Any ideas? This has me completely baffled.

 

[Bert Kinney]

I would suggest step 9 then.

Reinstalling Help and Support Center in Windows XP
http://windowsxp.mvps.org/rebuildhelp.htm

Regards,
Bert Kinney MS-MVP Shell/User
http://bertk.mvps.org
Member: http://dts-l.org

 

[WiLLerZ]

I would suggest step 9 then.

Reinstalling Help and Support Center in Windows XPhttp://windowsxp.mvps.org/rebuildhelp.htm

Regards,
Bert Kinney MS-MVP Shell/Userhttp://bertk.mvps.org
Member:http://dts-l.org





- Show quoted text -

Interesting - I can't remember where exactly I found it, but going
into the registry and changing a certain parameter to an expandable
string did the trick. I know I haven't included any detail, but for
anyone interested, I just googled windows xp help and support "error
126" and there was a solution. Thanks for the tips.

 

[Bert Kinney]

Thanks for the feedback.


Regards,
Bert Kinney MS-MVP Shell/User
http://bertk.mvps.org
Member: http://dts-l.org