help centre needs reinstall

[Guest]

Hello all - running XP home with SP2. When I click "Start > Help and
support centre", nothing happens on screen at all. I can navigate to the
relevant HK path and bring the helpctr.exe file on screen in the list of
files but clicking that again leads to nothing happening. I have downloaded
and applied the reg fix that was linked in windowsxp.mvps to no effect. I
am trying to follow the instructions in Windowsxp.mvps under article title
"Reinstalling Help and Support Centre in Windows XP" and am failing on line
"rd packagestore /s /q". Entering that gives the response "The system
cannot find the file specified" In the printout of that article, I was
unsure about the spacing of the " /s /q" and so tried all options with / out
spaces - none got past "cannot find the file specified".

All help gratefully received - but I feel a REPAIR XP coming on...!

 

[Guest]

There is a lot of information about your issue here:
http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/top10faqs.htm

 

[Ramesh, MS-MVP]

Hi Charlie,

See if these commands help, from Start, Run dialog:

helpctr -regserver
regsvr32 itss
regsvr32 hhctrl.ocx
regsvr32 jscript

 

[Guest]

Hello Jose, Hello Ramesh :

I've certainly read the KellysKorner site and am following their many -
and useful - instructions. It shows the package store routine that I
mentioned before that I'm stuck with. I also worked the reg edit keyts
options, and that has moved me slightly forward - ratehr than no apparent
action at all, I now get an error message "Windows cannot fin helpctr.exe..."
I also tried the reinstall Help and support option, looking for the
pchealth.inf file to reinstall. I unhid the hiden files and there are no INF
files in the folder, only PNF files.

Trying the lines you showed, Ramesh, the fiorst had no apparent effect, but
the three remaining all brought up the message "DllRegisterServer in....
succeeded"

If you ahve any further ideas, that'd be great - if not, then I intend to
try a REPAIR XP at the weekend !

 

[Ramesh, MS-MVP]

Charlie,

See if you're able to launch Help using this full path in Start/Run:

%Systemroot%\pchealth\helpctr\binaries\HelpCtr.exe

If it launches correctly, then all is fine, but only a minor modification
required.

 

[Guest]

Hello Ramesh - thanks for that - I'm afraid that it was unsuccessful.

 

[Ramesh, MS-MVP]

Charlie,

Try this fix:
http://www.dougknox.com/xp/utils/fix_windows_xp_help.htm

If not try rebuilding help using this method:
http://windowsxp.mvps.org/rebuildhelp.htm

If you get an error message when using this command, verify the directory
from where you're running the command. If all is correct, ignore the error
and proceed to next step.

"rd packagestore /s /q".

 

[Guest]

THANKS Ramesh - I'll have a shot at that tonight.

I'm the living proof that " a little knowledge is a dangerous thing", I'm
afraid - what do you mean "If you get an error message when using this
command, verify the directory from where you're running the command. If all
is correct, ignore the error
and proceed to next step, "rd packagestore /s /q".

Can you clarify for me which command - do you mean the command line

cd /d %windir%\pchealth\helpctr

from Rebecca's article ? If so, thats OK - I enter "cd /d C:\Windows..."
and that brings up the next cmd line. Entering "rd packagestore/s/q" is
where it fails, as the response to thta is "The system cannot find the file
specified"

Thanks for persevereing with me - I tell my son in his homework that the
right thing is often the hard thing and now I know why he ignores me !!

 

[Ramesh, MS-MVP]

Charlie,

It should be "rd packagestore /s /q" (*note the blank spaces between the
arguments*). If that does not help, you may then skip that line and follow
the rest of the steps. Also, note that if you have a system from Compaq/Dell
etc, the OEM customizations in Help Center may be lost when using these set
of commands. It'll just look like the Help Center shown in a retail XP
build.

 

[Guest]

Hello Ramesh - getting a little further forward. I entered, & then skipped,
the non-responding cmd line "rd packagestore..." After typing cmd line "net
start helpsvc", I got the message "help and suppport service is starting"
followed very quickly by "help and suppport service could not be started. A
system error has occured. System Error 126 has occured. The specified
module could not be found"

Still in Kellys Korner, I downloaded the reg fixes shown in the Top Ten FAQ
article and ran the cmd lines again. Still no success and still getting the
"Windows could not find the file helpctr.exe..." I can find it, using the
usual "start | search" route.

Running the cmd "SFC /scannow" results in just a quick flash of the cmd
screen which then dissappears. I presume that means it cannot actually scan
now ?

I did wonder if I was stuck with a repair of XP, but that too failed !
Message that it could not proceed, as the windows installed on the machine
was newer than the installation CD-ROM , presumably because the CDROM is only
XP SP1, whilst I now have SP2 on the machine. Do I need to reinstall SP2 ?
I'm concerned that doing so will reinstate SP2 to the state on the SP2 disc,
whilst I have been updating the machine regularly and so will lose all thsoe
many Mb of updates ?

Time for a late-night Bailey's on the rocks...

thanks for your support still !

 

[Ramesh, MS-MVP]

Charlie,

See if this file is present in the hard disk. If not, extract a copy from
ServicePackfiles\i386 folder present under %Windir% folder.

%WINDIR%\PCHealth\HelpCtr\Binaries\pchsvc.dll

Click Start/Run and type CMD and press Enter
Type "SFC /Scannow" without quotes and press Enter

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

Hello Ramesh - getting a little further forward. I entered, & then
skipped,
the non-responding cmd line "rd packagestore..." After typing cmd line
"net
start helpsvc", I got the message "help and suppport service is starting"
followed very quickly by "help and suppport service could not be started.
A
system error has occured. System Error 126 has occured. The specified
module could not be found"

Still in Kellys Korner, I downloaded the reg fixes shown in the Top Ten
FAQ
article and ran the cmd lines again. Still no success and still getting
the
"Windows could not find the file helpctr.exe..." I can find it, using the
usual "start | search" route.

Running the cmd "SFC /scannow" results in just a quick flash of the cmd
screen which then dissappears. I presume that means it cannot actually
scan
now ?

I did wonder if I was stuck with a repair of XP, but that too failed !
Message that it could not proceed, as the windows installed on the machine
was newer than the installation CD-ROM , presumably because the CDROM is
only
XP SP1, whilst I now have SP2 on the machine. Do I need to reinstall SP2
?
I'm concerned that doing so will reinstate SP2 to the state on the SP2
disc,
whilst I have been updating the machine regularly and so will lose all
thsoe
many Mb of updates ?

Time for a late-night Bailey's on the rocks...

thanks for your support still !

 

[Guest]

Hello Ramesh - The pchsvc.dll file is presetn , in C:\windows\pchealth...
and "CMD | SFC /scannow" brings up the error message "windows file
protection could not initiate a scan of prtected system files. The specific
error code is 0x000006ba. [The RPC server is unavailable]"

thanks

Charlie

 

[Ramesh, MS-MVP]

Hi Charlie,

For the SFC issue, I came across this KB but it's written for Windows 2000.
Not too sure if that applies to Windows XP.
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;296241. Apart from
that, the only option that I can think of is a Repair installation of XP.
I'd create a XP SP2 slipstreamed bootable CD, and run a repair from that.

Slipstreaming procedure explained here:
http://www.theeldergeek.com/slipstreamed_xpsp2_cd.htm

Repair installation guide:
http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/XPrepairinstall.htm

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

Hello Ramesh - The pchsvc.dll file is presetn , in C:\windows\pchealth...
and "CMD | SFC /scannow" brings up the error message "windows file
protection could not initiate a scan of prtected system files. The
specific
error code is 0x000006ba. [The RPC server is unavailable]"

thanks

Charlie

 

[Guest]

Hello Ramesh - Sorry for the non-reply, been away a while and also busy with
the end of fin year at work.

the slipstreaming and repair articles look jolly scary - big bold font and
lots of warnings about stuff...! I think I'm going to pass on them - I am
not confident I can do all that, especially since I have tried that backup
before and it went belly-up as well.


I think thta I'll bottle it altogether and simply crash the XP and then
reinstall - I kinow I'm Ok with that ! thanks for all your patience & help
here - it has been valuable and I hope thta others have been able to pick up
from it as well.

Charlie S

 

[Ramesh, MS-MVP]

Hi Charlie,

Thanks for following-up.

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

Hello Ramesh - Sorry for the non-reply, been away a while and also busy
with
the end of fin year at work.

the slipstreaming and repair articles look jolly scary - big bold font and
lots of warnings about stuff...! I think I'm going to pass on them - I
am
not confident I can do all that, especially since I have tried that backup
before and it went belly-up as well.


I think thta I'll bottle it altogether and simply crash the XP and then
reinstall - I kinow I'm Ok with that ! thanks for all your patience &
help
here - it has been valuable and I hope thta others have been able to pick
up
from it as well.

Charlie S

 

[Guest]

hELLO Ramesh - thanks for all your time and support. In the end, I did
indeed reinstall XP and then SP2 as seperate exercises, and all is presently
fine !

Charlie