No Help Index

[Knack]

When in the Help and Support Center window, if I click on Index, a popup box
comes up:
Cannot locate "D:\\Windows\\PCHealth\\HelpCtr\\ndices\\merged.hhk".

But my WinXP Pro(SP2) is installed in the partition C: not D:
And what's going on with those double backslashes?

The file merged.hhk is present via
C:\Windows\PCHealth\HelpCtr\ndices\merged.hhk".

So I did a search of the registry for D: and this comes up in
HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Setup
valuename: BootDir
data: D:\

Now I know that's not right. So I've edited the registry twice to change
that data entry from D to C. But when the the system reboots I find that the
registry has automatically reverted back to the incorrect state (with the D
appearing instead of C) for that particular data string.

Possible clue:
Before I ever ran PartitionMagic 8, it began reporting (and still does as
soon as it opens):
"PowerQuest PartitionMagic has detected an error 111 on the partition
starting at sector 5352480 on disk 1. The contents of the extended partition
are in the wrong order. PartionMagic can fix this problem by reordering the
EPBR entries correctly. Would you like partitionmagic to fix this error?"

I always choose No because I'm afraid Yes will result in either an
unbootable disaster or spoilage of all the application setups. Note that for
disaster recovery purposes WinNT4W was originally installed (on C before
WinXP Pro was installed. WinXP Pro is the normal OS used for running all
apps. By default most apps install via C:, so to avoid bad app setups I
changed the drive letter assignments, giving WinXP Pro the letter C: and
WinNT4W the letter D:. In other words, when WinXP was originally installed,
it was put on D:. It's been running nicely on C: for 2 years now except for
having no Help Index. I really would like to have that feature functional
and I suspect the problem is somehow related to the drive letter
reasignment.

 

[Wesley Vogel]

Error "Cannot locate merged.hhk" when clicking the Help and Support Center
Index
http://windowsxp.mvps.org/merged.htm

Help and Support Center Index is blank with a red X mark
And, "Related Topics" link does not work
http://windowsxp.mvps.org/helpctrindex.htm

My Help and Support Index thinks that Windows is in the WINNT folder. I
have a WINDOWS folder. ;-)

--
Hope this helps. Let us know.

Wes
MS-MVP Windows Shell/User

In

 

[Knack]

Thanks for trying to help, but in order to do the instructions of the first
URL that you provided I need a copy of the file <merged.hhk> from another
WinXP Pro(SP2) system; which I don't have.

That URL contained a link to another page that provided instructions for
rebuilding Help & Support Center. I had never seen such instructions before.
So I did that, but alas the problem still remains.

About a year ago I had tried the various Kelly's Korner instructions for
Help Index problems and they didn't fix it either.

Wesley, on your system that reference to WINNT seems to indicate that you
have a dual boot on that computer; of either WinNT or Win2000 in addition
to WinXP. Is that true?

 

[ANONYMOUS]

If nothing works for you then how about repair install? If that also
work then I can guarantee you that clean install will!!!!! <big g>

What you need is a little bit of patience with Microsoft products. They
are being designed to be as robust as possible but will require few more
upgrades before reaching there!

hth

 

[Wesley Vogel]

Wesley, on your system that reference to WINNT seems to indicate that you

have a dual boot on that computer; of either WinNT or Win2000 in addition
to WinXP. Is that true?

Nope.

There has never been a WINNT folder on this machine. It originally came
with Windows 98, I upgraded to XP Home and then did a clean install of XP
Pro.

--
Hope this helps. Let us know.

Wes
MS-MVP Windows Shell/User

In

 

[Knack]

What our troubled systems have in common is that neither came with WinXP Pro
on them. Both of us installed WinXP Pro not as upgrades, but as fresh
installations.

My system ran fine as WinXP Home. Then after I applied SP1 I began
encountering the problem. So then after I reformatted the computer's HDD,
and installed WinNT4W(SP5) on the first partition, I then installed a WinXP
Pro + SP1 "rolled up" together. I immediately observed th same damn Help
Index problem with that new setup. Applying SP2 to it did not correct it.

Which SP is your WinXP Pro? Did your WinXP Pro go in with a "rolled up" SP,
or did you apply the SP afterward? If you applied the SP afterward, did you
recall seeing the problem before the SP went in?

 

[Knack]

Repair install.... duhh, that really never occurred to me! Funny how we can
sometimes miss the "simple" and obvious. Thanx. Frankly though I'm only
cautiously optimistic after the rebuild of Help & Support Center has already
failed to fix the problem.

Before I try that I need to do some research as to what gets lost during a
repair install.

And because WinXP is installed on the 2nd partition from the "front" of the
HDD, I imagine that my custom lettering of the partitions may become changed
such that the repair install might redesignate the WinXP partition as D:
instead of the way I have it as C:. That may or may not be a big deal.

 

[ANONYMOUS]

WINNT Folder came into use since Windows NT 4.0 (it might have been in
Winnt 3.51 but I skipped that generation!).

XP has started using Windows as its main default folder which contains
1000s of files and other folders. God knows how many!

 

[ANONYMOUS]

For details of repair install I suggest visit Michael's website. He has
taken the trouble to grab screen shots which helps a lot when you have
infront of you while installing. Try this link:

http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/XPrepairinstall.htm

hth

 

[Wesley Vogel]

Both Home and Pro SP1a.

X1AHCCP_EN Windows XP Home (SP1a) Upgrade.
X1APFPP_EN Windows XP Professional (SP1a) Retail English.

I had SP2 installed, on Pro, for a while, but I uninstalled it.

I never noticed the Help and Support Index problem until after I uninstalled
SP2.

I must say, that as much as I use Help and Support, I do not use Index. I
only discovered the problem after reading one of Ramesh's articles on it. I
was curious so I clicked on Index to see what mine did.

FWIW...

%windir%\PCHealth\HelpCtr\System\panels\subpanels\Index.htm *IS* the left
hand pane in Help and Support Center\Index.

%windir%\PCHealth\HelpCtr\System\blurbs\Index.htm *IS* the right hand
pane in Help and Support Center\Index.

You can paste both into Start | Run, they will open in Internet Explorer.

--
Hope this helps. Let us know.

Wes
MS-MVP Windows Shell/User

In