System Information will not open

[Conan Kelly]

Hello all,

System Information (Start>All Programs>Accessories>System Tools>System Information) will not open on my laptop at home (Dell Insiron
8200 Windows XP Pro (all current updates installed)). When ever I try to open System Information, the Help & Support Center opens.
If I navigate H & S C to the link that should open System Information (Tools>Advanced System Information>View detailed system
information (Msinfo32.exe)) and click it, another instance of H & S C opens up.

Is anyone else having this problem?
....
....
....
Just now I did some experimenting on my work machine (Dell Demension 8200 Win XP Pro SP2 (probably not all current updates
installed)). It looks like H & S C and System Information are running under 2 different instances of the same process
(helpctr.exe).

Anyone know what is going on? Is there another, round-about way to get System Information to open? Is there a way to navigate H &
S C to get to System Information?

Thanks for any help anyone can provide,

Conan Kelly

 

[Conan Kelly]

Wesley,

That worked beautifully. Thanks for all the help.

Conan

The index.dat file may be missing from >>
C:\WINDOWS\PCHealth\HelpCtr\OfflineCache
or
%windir%\PCHealth\HelpCtr\OfflineCache if Windows is not on C:\

First. Set Hidden files and folders to display.

Start | Settings | Control Panel | Folder Options | View tab
Check:
Display the contents of system folders
Show hidden files and folders
UNCheck:
Hide protected operating system files
Click Apply | Click OK

[[Hidden files and folders will appear dimmed to indicate they are not
typical items.]]

Second. Paste this in the Start | Run box...

%windir%\PCHealth\HelpCtr\OfflineCache

Click OK.

Look for a file called index.dat. Is one there?

If not, save the attached zip file and unzip it to ...

%windir%\PCHealth\HelpCtr\OfflineCache

The zip file contains the appropriate index.dat file.

Move index.zip to
%windir%\PCHealth\HelpCtr\OfflineCache
that way the next time you delete the index.dat you
can unzip index.zip again.

If you do not trust this, get the index.dat from a friends machine.

According to Ramesh Srinivasan, Microsoft MVP [Windows XP Shell/User]...

Rebuilding the help center re-creates the index.dat.

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

--
Hope this helps. Let us know.

Wes
MS-MVP Windows Shell/User

In

Hello all,

System Information (Start>All Programs>Accessories>System Tools>System
Information) will not open on my laptop at home (Dell Insiron 8200
Windows XP Pro (all current updates installed)). When ever I try to open
System Information, the Help & Support Center opens. If I navigate H & S
C to the link that should open System Information (Tools>Advanced System
Information>View detailed system information (Msinfo32.exe)) and click
it, another instance of H & S C opens up.

Is anyone else having this problem?
...
...
...
Just now I did some experimenting on my work machine (Dell Demension 8200
Win XP Pro SP2 (probably not all current updates installed)). It looks
like H & S C and System Information are running under 2 different
instances of the same process (helpctr.exe).

Anyone know what is going on? Is there another, round-about way to get
System Information to open? Is there a way to navigate H & S C to get to
System Information?

Thanks for any help anyone can provide,

Conan Kelly

 

[Wesley Vogel]

Keep having fun, Conan. ;-)

--
Hope this helps. Let us know.

Wes
MS-MVP Windows Shell/User

In

Wesley,

That worked beautifully. Thanks for all the help.

Conan

The index.dat file may be missing from >>
C:\WINDOWS\PCHealth\HelpCtr\OfflineCache
or
%windir%\PCHealth\HelpCtr\OfflineCache if Windows is not on C:\

First. Set Hidden files and folders to display.

Start | Settings | Control Panel | Folder Options | View tab
Check:
Display the contents of system folders
Show hidden files and folders
UNCheck:
Hide protected operating system files
Click Apply | Click OK

[[Hidden files and folders will appear dimmed to indicate they are not
typical items.]]

Second. Paste this in the Start | Run box...

%windir%\PCHealth\HelpCtr\OfflineCache

Click OK.

Look for a file called index.dat. Is one there?

If not, save the attached zip file and unzip it to ...

%windir%\PCHealth\HelpCtr\OfflineCache

The zip file contains the appropriate index.dat file.

Move index.zip to
%windir%\PCHealth\HelpCtr\OfflineCache
that way the next time you delete the index.dat you
can unzip index.zip again.

If you do not trust this, get the index.dat from a friends machine.

According to Ramesh Srinivasan, Microsoft MVP [Windows XP Shell/User]...

Rebuilding the help center re-creates the index.dat.

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

--
Hope this helps. Let us know.

Wes
MS-MVP Windows Shell/User

In

Hello all,

System Information (Start>All Programs>Accessories>System Tools>System
Information) will not open on my laptop at home (Dell Insiron 8200
Windows XP Pro (all current updates installed)). When ever I try to
open System Information, the Help & Support Center opens. If I navigate
H & S C to the link that should open System Information (Tools>Advanced
System Information>View detailed system information (Msinfo32.exe)) and
click it, another instance of H & S C opens up.

Is anyone else having this problem?
...
...
...
Just now I did some experimenting on my work machine (Dell Demension
8200 Win XP Pro SP2 (probably not all current updates installed)). It
looks like H & S C and System Information are running under 2 different
instances of the same process (helpctr.exe).

Anyone know what is going on? Is there another, round-about way to get
System Information to open? Is there a way to navigate H & S C to get
to System Information?

Thanks for any help anyone can provide,

Conan Kelly