yellow question marks on all help menus

when i try to open any help menu windows or in a program i just get a yellow
question mark and the message Internet Explorer was unable to link to the Web page you requested. The page might be temporarily unavailable.

please help
thanks.

 

paul sf--Are you able to connect to the internet for purposes other than accessing Help? If yes, what happens when you click on an active link on a webpage? I am trying to understand whether your problem is specific to Help windows.

I have not seen this problem, but I wonder if there are really two separate problems indicated by the two quotes above.
Could you tell us a few of the programs that have the help problem? What about IE or Windows Help?
Many programs do not require access to the internet to reach the help window. The help menu is rather included in the program itself and is on your hard drive already.
But if Help, indeed, requires online access, in general, the problem connecting to the internet could be due to IE not being the default browser. Click IE Tools|Internet Options|Programs tab|check the box "IE should check to see if it the default browser ". Click Apply|OK. Reboot. You will be asked if you want IE to be the default browser. Click Yes. Does that help?
P.S. I have assumed that you are left clicking on Help. Or are you right clicking?

 

have been into all help options on line and in programmes that are on my computer there are subtitles in contents and index when i click on the appropriate subtitle the page is blank

windows help menu is working but ie is not

i have checked ie box in internet options and the box default browser was not ticked so have followed instrusctions but did not get message if you want ie to be the default browser

connect the internet is ok accessing an active link on the internet with no problems all programmes have the same problem ie nero burning rom in contents and index there is no information under the sub titles listed on or off the internet and also have recently installed creative but again no information in the help menu under the subtitles

finally when trying to access any help menu i left click then left click again to get blank page if right click sub title "print" appears

thanks

paul sf

 

Download and run MJ's Help Diagnostics tool. Maybe it can straighten things out for you.

 

paul sf--

Let us know if Zander's fix worked, but if not, after following my suggestions, did you shut off IE and reopen or, even better, reboot?

Forgive me, but I cannot understand, especially the first sentence. Are there some commas or periods missing?

 

when i connect to the internet it is ok, accessing an active link on the internet with with no problems, all programmes have the same problem ie nero burning rom in contents and index there is no information under the sub titles listed on or off the internet and also have recently installed creative but again no information in the help menu under the subtitles

finally when trying to access any help menu i left click then left click again to get blank page if right click sub title "print" appears.

Zander's fix did not work turned ie off and retried then tried to reboot but nothing happened. Beneath is the report that i got back can you make heads or tails of it?



Report EXE: C:\Documents and Settings\PAUL\My Documents\Unzipped\MJsDiag[1]\MJsDiag.exe
Report Run Date: 15/02/2006 19:37:11
Report EXE Version: 2.3.29.0
Download URL: http://helpware.net/downloads/
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Operating System: Windows NT 5.1.2600
SysLocale.DefaultLCID: 0x0809 (2057)
SysLocale.PriLangID: 0x0009 (9)
SysLocale.SubLangID: 0x0002 (2)
DecimalSeparator: .
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
HH Installed: YES
HH Version: 5.2.3790.2453
HH Friendly Version: > 1.4a
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
H2 Installed: NO
H2 Version:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
IE Installed: YES
IE Version: 6.0.2900.2805
IE Friendly Version: Internet Explorer 6 (Windows XP SP2)


NT Administrator

NT Admin Check: Current user has full administor privileges: YES


HTML Help Run-time Components

File Registered OK: C:\WINDOWS\system32\hhctrl.ocx (Version: 5.2.3790.2453)
File Registered OK: C:\WINDOWS\system32\itss.dll (Version: 5.2.3790.2453)
File Registered OK: C:\WINDOWS\system32\itircl.dll (Version: 5.2.3790.2453)

File Found: C:\WINDOWS\system32\hhctrl.ocx
Version = 5.2.3790.2453
Registry Info: {adb880a6-d8ff-11cf-9377-00aa003b7a11}
ClassName = HHCtrl Object
InProcServer32 = C:\WINDOWS\system32\hhctrl.ocx
ProgID = Internet.HHCtrl.1
DLL is Found and Registered OK = YES

File Found: C:\WINDOWS\system32\itss.dll
Version = 5.2.3790.2453
Registry Info: {5D02926A-212E-11D0-9DF9-00A0C922E6EC}
ClassName = Microsoft InfoTech IStorage System
InProcServer32 = C:\WINDOWS\system32\itss.dll
ProgID = MSITFS1.0
DLL is Found and Registered OK = YES

File Found: C:\WINDOWS\system32\itircl.dll
Version = 5.2.3790.2453
Registry Info: {4662DAA5-D393-11D0-9A56-00C04FB68BF7}
ClassName =
InProcServer32 = C:\WINDOWS\system32\itircl.dll
ProgID = ITIR.WordWheelBuild.4
DLL is Found and Registered OK = YES


For HH Version Info See: http://helpware.net/htmlhelp/hh_info.htm


HTML Help 1.x Registry Settings

Description: If present this Key can disable HH Shortcuts and HH WinHelp commands on the local PC
Reference: KB 810687, KB 323180

Key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\System\
Value: HelpQualifiedRootDir (String Value) =
-> Report: Policy is not enabled. HH Shortcuts are not restricted on local machine.

Description: This key can be used to enable Hhctrl.ocx ActiveX Visual controls on servers
Reference: KB 892675

Key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\HTMLHelp\1.x\HHRestrictions
Value: UrlAllowList (String Value) =
Value: MaxAllowedZone (String Value) =
-> Report: Settings reported for information only.

Description: This key allows MS programs such as iexplore.exe to open ITS file that do not have a .CHM file extension
Reference: KB 873343

Key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\HTMLHelp\1.x\HelpRestrictions\AllowedExtensions
-> Report: No special file extensions have been enabled on this PC.

Description: This key can be used to allow access to remote ITS files
Reference: Win 2003 SP1, KB 896054

Key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\HTMLHelp\1.x\ItssRestrictions
Value: UrlAllowList (String Value) =
Value: MaxAllowedZone (String Value) =
Value: NestedProtocolList (String Value) =
-> Report: Settings reported for information only.

For HH Registry Info See: http://helpware.net/htmlhelp/hh_info.htm#hh14


HTML Help 1.x Workshop Components

*** HH Workshop not found or not installed correctly. Try reinstalling.


KeyHelp OCX by Keyworks.net - KeyHelp.ocx

This is for information only. KeyHelp is a 3rd party DLL.
*** KeyHelp.ocx is not registered or not installed!
*** You can register your KeyHelp.ocx using the "Register a DLL" button.
*** KeyHelp.ocx could be installed anywhere on your PC by normally resides in the Windows System folder.

For More Info See: http://keyworks.net/


RoboHelp DLL by eHelp/Macromedia - HHActiveX.dll

This is for information only. HHActiveX is a 3rd party DLL.
*** HHActiveX.dll is not registered or not installed!
*** You can register your HHActiveX.dll using the "Register a DLL" button.
*** HHActiveX.dll could be installed anywhere on your PC.

For More Info See: http://www.macromedia.com/


MS Help 2 Run-time Components

*** MS Help 2 NOT installed on this PC


thanks again.

 

paul sf--I am just guessing that report is one from MJsDiag.exe, with which I have no experience.
The top half seems to say certain Help-related files are OK. And there seem to be some suggestions to fix Help problems in the Sections starting with "HTML Help 1.x Registry Settings ".
You may also find some help here
http://www.talkaboutsoftware.com/group/microsoft.public.vstudio.helpauthoring/messages/2303.html
http://www.officefrustration.com/printthread.php?t=53878
and possibly here (although it was written for Win98)
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;312456
Other things you might try are
1) System Restore to a date prior to the problem
2) Start|Run|type sfc /scannow|OK. Have your WinXP CD ready
3) Use ie.inf.
Instructions for 2 and 3 here
http://www.theeldergeek.com/repair_ie6.htm
4) http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/d...tmlhelp/html/hwMicrosofthtmlhelpdownloads.asp
5) http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=811630

 

HELP Problem solved.

Downloaded Htmlhelp.exe from MSDN HELP. PROBLEM SOLVED.

MANY THANKS.

 

paul sf--Thanks for posting back with the fix. Glad to hear things are working again. Sorry I put the reference so far down the list.