Cannot open Help and Support in XP

[Guest Tony R]

Apologies to you all but I have posted this question twice before and still

have no idea how to correct it - it seems it should be easy to fix.

If I click Start and then Help an Support, the mouse pinter briefly becomes

an hourglas and then nothing happens. Task Manager says there is nothing

running. Other MS software does not display Help either e.g. Office 2000

excel, Word etc. Other programs with Help files that are not on my hard drive

or are not links out to the internet generate error messages such as the

installation is corrupt or cannot find Help file. After adding a registry

entry that I was told about on this newsgroup, the o/s now gives Cannot find

HelpCtr.exe. The file is there and is the ame version as the o/s and is

approx 750KB in size. I have cleaned the registry with a highly recommended

registry cleaner but still no change. I added a new user with full rights on

the PC but no change there either. I would like to replace HelpCtr.exe but my

PC only has a Certificate of Authenticity stuck to it - I have no CDs. Can

someone tell me how to fix this problem or else how to get a HelpCtr.exe or

CAB file that will allow me to try to replace the present file? Any help

would be appreciated.

Thank you

Tony

[Guest Elmo]

Re: Cannot open Help and Support in XP

 

Tony R wrote:

> Apologies to you all but I have posted this question twice before and still

> have no idea how to correct it - it seems it should be easy to fix.

> If I click Start and then Help an Support, the mouse pinter briefly becomes

> an hourglass and then nothing happens. Task Manager says there is nothing

> running. Other MS software does not display Help either e.g. Office 2000

> excel, Word etc. Other programs with Help files that are not on my hard drive

> or are not links out to the internet generate error messages such as the

> installation is corrupt or cannot find Help file. After adding a registry

> entry that I was told about on this newsgroup, the o/s now gives "Cannot find

> HelpCtr.exe". The file is there and is the same version as the o/s and is

> approx 750KB in size. I have cleaned the registry with a highly recommended

> registry cleaner but still no change. I added a new user with full rights on

> the PC but no change there either. I would like to replace HelpCtr.exe but my

> PC only has a Certificate of Authenticity stuck to it - I have no CDs. Can

> someone tell me how to fix this problem or else how to get a HelpCtr.exe or

> CAB file that will allow me to try to replace the present file? Any help

> would be appreciated.

> Thank you

> Tony

 

You stated: "The file is there and is the same version as the o/s and

is approx 750KB in size".

 

The file is where? Mine is in the folder

C:\WINDOWS\pchealth\helpctr\binaries and is also compressed in the

folder C:\WINDOWS\system32\dllcache

 

If you run SFC, it should replace the file, if damaged, with the version

in the dllcache subfolder. You might try running SFC just in case other

files, associated with that process, are damaged.

 

Click Start, Run, type SFC /SCANNOW, click OK. If any files are damaged

or missing, they'll be replaced. You may need to reboot afterwards so

damaged files will be replaced.

 

There are more helpful suggestion on Help Center here:

 

http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_tweaks.htm

Line 141. Help, CHM, HH Checker/Fixer

Line 235. Restore Help and Support Service

Line 376. (r-h column) Reset Default Settings of HTML Help Control

 

...and here. There are many on this page:

http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_h.htm

 

--

Joe =o)

[Guest Tony R]

Re: Cannot open Help and Support in XP

 

Thanks for the post Elmo. I ran the MJ disgnostic which seems like a neat

little tool but I must run it on another XP machine to see if the results are

comparable. I was unable to tell if the features it could not find should be

on my PC or not. E.G. HH Workshop not found, File not found C:\Program

Files\itcc.dll and also hha.dll. I don't seem to have HelpCtr.dll if that is

the correct name of the .dll file I should be looking for. I tried running

the SFC /SCANNOW from the Run command but it prompted me for CDs and I never

got CDs with this PC. Is there anywhere I can get the necessary files legally

- yhe PC does have a Certificate of Authenticity stuck to it and the little

app the MS runs on your machine to valdate your XP install comes back saying

I have a legit copy of XP.

Thanks for your tips but I'm still not there yet!!

Tony

 

"Elmo" wrote:

> Tony R wrote:

> > Apologies to you all but I have posted this question twice before and still

> > have no idea how to correct it - it seems it should be easy to fix.

> > If I click Start and then Help an Support, the mouse pinter briefly becomes

> > an hourglass and then nothing happens. Task Manager says there is nothing

> > running. Other MS software does not display Help either e.g. Office 2000

> > excel, Word etc. Other programs with Help files that are not on my hard drive

> > or are not links out to the internet generate error messages such as the

> > installation is corrupt or cannot find Help file. After adding a registry

> > entry that I was told about on this newsgroup, the o/s now gives "Cannot find

> > HelpCtr.exe". The file is there and is the same version as the o/s and is

> > approx 750KB in size. I have cleaned the registry with a highly recommended

> > registry cleaner but still no change. I added a new user with full rights on

> > the PC but no change there either. I would like to replace HelpCtr.exe but my

> > PC only has a Certificate of Authenticity stuck to it - I have no CDs. Can

> > someone tell me how to fix this problem or else how to get a HelpCtr.exe or

> > CAB file that will allow me to try to replace the present file? Any help

> > would be appreciated.

> > Thank you

> > Tony

>

> You stated: "The file is there and is the same version as the o/s and

> is approx 750KB in size".

>

> The file is where? Mine is in the folder

> C:\WINDOWS\pchealth\helpctr\binaries and is also compressed in the

> folder C:\WINDOWS\system32\dllcache

>

> If you run SFC, it should replace the file, if damaged, with the version

> in the dllcache subfolder. You might try running SFC just in case other

> files, associated with that process, are damaged.

>

> Click Start, Run, type SFC /SCANNOW, click OK. If any files are damaged

> or missing, they'll be replaced. You may need to reboot afterwards so

> damaged files will be replaced.

>

> There are more helpful suggestion on Help Center here:

>

> http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_tweaks.htm

> Line 141. Help, CHM, HH Checker/Fixer

> Line 235. Restore Help and Support Service

> Line 376. (r-h column) Reset Default Settings of HTML Help Control

>

> ...and here. There are many on this page:

> http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_h.htm

>

> --

> Joe =o)

>

[Guest Elmo]

Re: Cannot open Help and Support in XP

 

Tony R wrote:

> Thanks for the post Elmo. I ran the MJ diagnostic which seems like a neat

> little tool but I must run it on another XP machine to see if the results are

> comparable. I was unable to tell if the features it could not find should be

> on my PC or not. E.G. HH Workshop not found, File not found C:\Program

> Files\itcc.dll and also hha.dll. I don't seem to have HelpCtr.dll if that is

> the correct name of the .dll file I should be looking for. I tried running

> the SFC /SCANNOW from the Run command but it prompted me for CDs and I never

> got CDs with this PC. Is there anywhere I can get the necessary files legally?

 

OEM installs, which store the install information on a hidden partition,

usually store the Windows files in the C:\i386 folder. You can change

where XP expects to find the XP CD by editing the

registry to read:

 

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \SOFTWARE \Microsoft \Windows NT \CurrentVersion]

Sourcepath=C:\I386

> The PC does have a Certificate of Authenticity stuck to it and the little

> app the MS runs on your machine to validate your XP install comes back saying

> I have a legit copy of XP.

> Thanks for your tips but I'm still not there yet!!

> Tony

>

> "Elmo" wrote:

>

>> Tony R wrote:

>>> Apologies to you all but I have posted this question twice before and still

>>> have no idea how to correct it - it seems it should be easy to fix.

>>> If I click Start and then Help an Support, the mouse pinter briefly becomes

>>> an hourglass and then nothing happens. Task Manager says there is nothing

>>> running. Other MS software does not display Help either e.g. Office 2000

>>> excel, Word etc. Other programs with Help files that are not on my hard drive

>>> or are not links out to the internet generate error messages such as the

>>> installation is corrupt or cannot find Help file. After adding a registry

>>> entry that I was told about on this newsgroup, the o/s now gives "Cannot find

>>> HelpCtr.exe". The file is there and is the same version as the o/s and is

>>> approx 750KB in size. I have cleaned the registry with a highly recommended

>>> registry cleaner but still no change. I added a new user with full rights on

>>> the PC but no change there either. I would like to replace HelpCtr.exe but my

>>> PC only has a Certificate of Authenticity stuck to it - I have no CDs. Can

>>> someone tell me how to fix this problem or else how to get a HelpCtr.exe or

>>> CAB file that will allow me to try to replace the present file? Any help

>>> would be appreciated.

>>> Thank you

>>> Tony

>> You stated: "The file is there and is the same version as the o/s and

>> is approx 750KB in size".

>>

>> The file is where? Mine is in the folder

>> C:\WINDOWS\pchealth\helpctr\binaries and is also compressed in the

>> folder C:\WINDOWS\system32\dllcache

>>

>> If you run SFC, it should replace the file, if damaged, with the version

>> in the dllcache subfolder. You might try running SFC just in case other

>> files, associated with that process, are damaged.

>>

>> Click Start, Run, type SFC /SCANNOW, click OK. If any files are damaged

>> or missing, they'll be replaced. You may need to reboot afterwards so

>> damaged files will be replaced.

>>

>> There are more helpful suggestion on Help Center here:

>>

>> http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_tweaks.htm

>> Line 141. Help, CHM, HH Checker/Fixer

>> Line 235. Restore Help and Support Service

>> Line 376. (r-h column) Reset Default Settings of HTML Help Control

>>

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \SOFTWARE \Microsoft \Windows\CurrentVersion \Setup]

Sourcepath=C:\

>> ...and here. There are many on this page:

>> http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_h.htm

 

--

Joe =o)