WindowsXP Pro Service P2 - Lost Help Files

[Bryan Wilson]

I have been using my Sony VAIO with Service Pack 2 for over a year now
and have all of a sudden lost my help files. Clicking on the help and
support icon does nothing and when I try to access help in Excel, Word
etc, even though the help topics are there when the dialogue boxes open
they are completely blank.

I have been told to do a repair from the Windows XP disk, but
unfortunately the Sony VAIO comes with pre-installed software and the
restore disks do not have the facility to reinstall or repair windows,
only the option to restore bck to original state.

I have tried a system restore but that didn't work. Doing a clean boot
didn't work either and gong into services management indicates that
help is started.

Would borrowing a window XP pro disk from someone else and trying to do
a repair work or would the product key be different?
If anyone has any ideas out there I would be pleased to hear them.

Bryan
not

 

[Guest]

Seems help/support is the first thing that goes when the user account
is corrupted.Try setting up new account,open xp in new account,try help/
support.

 

[Guest]

I have exactly the same problem! Hitting Help and Support does nothing.
Clicking on Help in IE Cotents and Index does nothing. In Word, if I click

 

[Guest]

I created a new user, and logged on as him. Still got the same symptoms. I
have an IBM Thinkpad T41. It came with a recovery disk but no actual windows
disks. The Recovery disk will only reinstall all of windows (a task I want
to avoid). If someone could tell me how Help and Support works, then I could
look for the offending library. BTW: Remote Support does not work either
even when started directly from the command line. So, there must be a dll
that is common to all of these things (IE Help, Remote Support, and Help and
Support). Someone tell me what that is..and I will fix it!

 

[Guest]

I found the answer elsewhere in this forum. This worked:

the following fix from http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/top10faqs.htm

YOU MUST DO THIS FIRST!
=======================
Go to Start/Run/Regedit and navigate to this key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session
Manager\Environment. In the right pane, verify that the windir value is
REG_EXPAND_SZ and not a REG_SZ type. If not, change it.

I actually renamed the original ‘windir’ as ‘windirOLD’. I then made a new
key as windir by right-clicking in the (right) value panel and using
new->Expandable String Value..
Then press F5 and exit regedit and re-boot.

This may be all that is required (for some people). If this does not work
follow on.


STOP HELP SERVICE (If necessary)
==================
After rebooting, make sure that the Help and Support Service is NOT running.
Go to Start/Run and type in: services.msc. From there scroll down to Help and
Support and make sure the service is set to Automatic and is set to ‘Stop’.


RE-INSTALL ‘Help and Support’ FROM PCHEALTH.INF FILE (using Win XP CD )
=================================
Go to C:\Windows\inf\pchealth.inf. Right click and choose install. Have your
CD handy.

INote: The folder is hidden by default. Go to Start/Run and type in: control
folders. View: Show hidden files and folders and uncheck Hide extensions for
known file types. If the Install option is NOT available then use Start->cmd.
Then type the following -:
“C:\WINDOWS\System32\rundll32.exe setupapi,InstallHinfSection DefaultInstall
132 PCHEALTH.INF†without the quotes.

If required set the target to CDROM drive e.g. e:\i386

REBOOT THE COMPUTER
=======================

START HELP SERVICE (If necessary)
==================
After rebooting, make sure that the Help and Support Service is now running.
Go to Start/Run and type in: services.msc. From there scroll down to Help and
Support and make sure the service is set to Automatic and is set to ‘Start’.

OPTIONAL STEPS (May be required)
===============
Click Start, click Run, type "cmd" (without the quotation marks),
and then click OK to open a command prompt. Type "net stop helpsvc" (without
the quotation marks), and then press ENTER.

Type "cd /d c:\windows\pchealth\helpctr\binaries" (without the quotation
marks), and then press ENTER.

Type "start /w helpsvc /svchost netsvcs /regserver /install" (without the
quotation marks), and then press ENTER.
Type "start /w helpsvc /register" (without the quotation marks), and then
press ENTER.
Type “helpctr –regserver†(without the quotation marks), and then press ENTER.
Type “ regsvr32 itss (without the quotation marks), and then press ENTER.
Type “ regsvr32 hhctrl.ocx (without the quotation marks), and then press
ENTER.
Type “ regsvr32 jscript (without the quotation marks), and then press ENTER.

I hope this helps.
WittzyGeek

 

[coal_brona]

Greetings,

You can really try Active@ undelete tool. It worked for me when I
erased my files and heeded to recover them. This restoration tool is
really powerful.

http://www.active-undelete.com/

 

[Bryan Wilson]

Hi guys,

Thanks for the response re problem with help files, sorry for lat
reply, have been out of office and up-country. Have tried all th
suggested remedies but still no luck. Looks like the only way out no
is to do a recovery with the supplied VAIO disks.

Thanks for help anyway and if anyone has any further suggestions I wil
put off recovery for a day or two. Who needs help files anyway?

Cheers

Brya