The only alteration made to the computer would be any automatic updates in
Windows, Norton Works or Webroot Spysweeper. I don't know how long the help
hasn't worked since I rarely use it.
I started your instructions in #2 and 2a worked fine, got a message "Help
and Support Service was stopped successfully."
However, the response to 2b, 2c, 2d, & 2e were "The system cannot find the
file specified."
I looked for the files and found them all in C:/WINDOWS/PCHEALTH/HELPCTR,
but don't know how to adjust the entries so it does what you are instructing.
As far as I know, all were entered exactly as you instructed. I stopped after
that as I didn't know if it was important to perform each step in exact order.
Would appreciate any further instructions you can give me. Thanks.
"Mark L. Ferguson" wrote:
> 1. It is important to note if you have recently made alterations
> to your computer before this problem occurred, or if the Help and
> Support Center ever worked correctly. If you have recently made
> alterations to your computer before this problem occurred, try
> to undo the changes you made or uninstall the hardware or software
> that could have caused the issue. After you do so, test to determine
> if the issue is resolved, and if it is, skip the remaining steps. If
> the issue is not resolved, continue to the next step.
> 2. Remove the .cab files from the Packagestore folder, and then
> rebuild the original Help and Support Center:
> a. 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.
> b. Type "cd /d <windir>\pchealth\helpctr" (without the quotation marks),
> where <windir> is the Windows folder, and then press ENTER.
> c. Type "rd packagestore /s /q" (without the quotation marks), and then
> press ENTER.
> d. Type "cd binaries" (without the quotation marks), and then press ENTER.
> e. Type "start /w helpsvc /svchost netsvcs /regserver /install"
> (without the quotation marks), and then press ENTER.
> f. If any of the following processes are running, stop them:
> helpsvc.exe
> helphost.exe
> helpctr.exe
> To stop a process, right-click the taskbar, and then click Task Manager.
> Click the Processes tab, click the process you want to stop, and then click
> End Process.
> g. At the command prompt, type "net start helpsvc" (without the quotation
> marks), and then press ENTER.
> 3. If the Help and Support Center has not been customized by an OEM, skip
> to the next step. If the Help and Support Center has been customized by an
> OEM, completely refresh the Help and Support Center:
> a. 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.
> b. Type "cd /d <windir>\pchealth\helpctr" (without the quotation marks),
> where <windir> is the Windows folder, and then press ENTER.
> c. Type "rd packagestore /s /q" (without the quotation marks), and then
> press ENTER.
> d. Type "rd installedskus /s /q" (without the quotation marks), and then
> press ENTER.
> e. Type "cd binaries" (without the quotation marks), and then press ENTER.
> f. Type "start /w helpsvc /svchost netsvcs /regserver /install"
> (without the quotation marks), and then press ENTER.
> g. Type "start /w helpsvc /register" (without the quotation marks), and
> then press ENTER.
> h. If any of the following processes are running, stop them:
> helpsvc.exe
> helphost.exe
> helpctr.exe
> To stop a process, right-click the taskbar, and then click Task Manager.
> Click the
> Processes tab, click the process you want to stop, and then click End Process.
> i. At the command prompt, type "net start helpsvc" (without the quotation
> marks),
> and then press ENTER.
> NOTE: The preceding procedure should not negatively affect an OEM-customized
> Help
> and Support Center. However, it does remove any other .cab files from the
> Packstorage
> folder, such as the Windows XP support tools (which adds their table of
> contents into
> the Help and Support Center).
> 4. If the preceding steps do not resolve the issue, use the Windows XP
> CD-ROM to start
> your computer, and then run a repair (in-place upgrade) installation.
>
> --
> Was this post helpful to you? Then click the "Yes" button, below.
> Voting helps others who use the web interface.
> Mark L. Ferguson
>
>
>
> "raggmopp" wrote:
>
> > When I click on the Windows help, I get an error window. I notice that in
> > C:/Windows the two folders, winhelp.exe and winhlp32.exe, have a yellow ? in
> > front of them. Is there a way to repair these files? Thanks.