Help and Support Center Online Search of Knowledge Base

My Help and Support Center suddenly stopped receiving responses from
Microsoft Knowledge Base. It lists "0 results" for knowledge base while the
other searches continue to respond as before. I have checked the search
option settings and they are unchanged and I do have a connection to the
internet.

Has anyone else experienced this and, if so, what is the fix?

This problem coincided with the upgrade to XP SP2 , but it has happened to
me once before. I was only able to fix the problem with a reinstall of
Windows (this problem was not the reason for the reinstall). I have been
unable to find any info on this problem in the knowledge base or elsewhere.

oh my GOD!!! You've hit a sore spot with me. I'm a MAJOR tweaker (uhhhh..
..computer tweaker) and my system runs SMOOOOOTH. There is ONE thing that
drives me up a wall, and that's this issue with the Help and Support Center
not connecting to the internet to do search the Knowledge Base OR the stupid
"DO you know"...

NO! I DON'T FRICKIN' KNOW!!! CAUSE IT WON'T CONNECT!!

::whew:: There, I feel better. Wanna start a support group for this??

My prob is only on my computer, none of the other 8 that I support. My
computer had some sorta OEM help center from vprMatrix (bestbuy system, great
stuff!) that never connected, so I reinstalled the help center, tried REG
tweaks, tried different internet connection options, tried EVERYTHING listed
on all Winblows message boards, including this one (julie tweaks, reg edits,
vbr fixes... you name it).

NOTHING. Frickin' nothing. I felt like know one in the WORLD had this
problem 'cept for me. Now, I thank you for making me at LEAST feel like I'm
not alone. Ha!

"jmike" wrote:

My Help and Support Center suddenly stopped receiving responses from
Microsoft Knowledge Base. It lists "0 results" for knowledge base while the
other searches continue to respond as before. I have checked the search
option settings and they are unchanged and I do have a connection to the
internet.

Has anyone else experienced this and, if so, what is the fix?

This problem coincided with the upgrade to XP SP2 , but it has happened to
me once before. I was only able to fix the problem with a reinstall of
Windows (this problem was not the reason for the reinstall). I have been
unable to find any info on this problem in the knowledge base or elsewhere.

imtigger,

Yes! I agree!

Very frustrating! Right?! I find this issue particularly frustrating because
getting information from the Knowledge Base is central to what Help and
Support Center is all about. And there seems to be no logical reason for the
results of KB queries to not be returned (but this is probably an illogical
assumption) I've tried to resolve this issue with "solutions" that should
have worked (short of formatting and reinstalling, which I do not want to do
for this...the juice is just not worth the sqeeze), but didn't.

And there is at least one other person having this problem; I read a posting
a while back from someone with the identical problem. So that means there has
to be even more people who are also having this problem, whether they know it
or not. But that knowledge is not particularly helpfulIf if no solution is
available. If Microsoft monitors these postings, no one has responded yet,
although there are, admittedly, bigger problems out there. And, I guess, it
is not MS's problem that a few of us (me) are being a little anal (oh well)
over what might be considered to be a relatively minor problem.

On the other hand, many of us who dabble in this area (computers), do tend
to be somewhat anal, and "the devil IS in the details" and details are what
computers deal with. Details! That is why this forum exists. So where is the
answer?! Why is this problem so difficult? (End of my rant.)

I am still thinking that a setting or file change must be causing this
problem. Something was changed, somewhere, when XP SP 2 was installed. But
where? There are some files in hlpctr that were not there before SP2. I have
compared my current directories with backups from before SP2. But I have not
compared the contents of same-name files from before and after SP2, nor have
I examined the contents of new files. And, I am not a programmer so, unless a
change is obvious, I probably would miss it, anyway.

I have tried reconfiguring Windows Firewall, ZoneAlarm, Group Policy, Local
Policy, Data Execution Prevention, Help Center Search configuration, my
internet connection, added IIS components, etc. all with no results. I tried,
unsuccessfully, to configure the Search Companion (details in part of Tech
Net article listed below) to have any effect on Help and Support Center.

Part of Microsoft Tech Net article "Using Windows XP Professional with
Service Pack 2 in a Managed Environment: Help and Support Center: The
Headlines and Online Search Features" deals directly with Online Searches and
http port 80, but I have been unsuccessfull in getting any Knowledge Base
responses after tweaking any of these settings. The search still comes back
with "0 results" which, I think, is indicating the request is going out, but
Knowledge Base is not returning any repsonses.

Nor did it help to "restore" hlpctr settings from before SP2.

I've decided that I've spent enough time on this issue for a while. I guess
I'll just wait and watch for the solution to show up. Inevitibly, and
hopefully soon, someone out there with the skills and incentive to resolve
this, will turn up.

But in the meantime, this will continue to drive ME crazy, too!

Microsoft, are you there?! Help!



"imtigger" wrote:

oh my GOD!!! You've hit a sore spot with me. I'm a MAJOR tweaker (uhhhh..
.computer tweaker) and my system runs SMOOOOOTH. There is ONE thing that
drives me up a wall, and that's this issue with the Help and Support Center
not connecting to the internet to do search the Knowledge Base OR the stupid
"DO you know"...

NO! I DON'T FRICKIN' KNOW!!! CAUSE IT WON'T CONNECT!!

::whew:: There, I feel better. Wanna start a support group for this??

My prob is only on my computer, none of the other 8 that I support. My
computer had some sorta OEM help center from vprMatrix (bestbuy system, great
stuff!) that never connected, so I reinstalled the help center, tried REG
tweaks, tried different internet connection options, tried EVERYTHING listed
on all Winblows message boards, including this one (julie tweaks, reg edits,
vbr fixes... you name it).

NOTHING. Frickin' nothing. I felt like know one in the WORLD had this
problem 'cept for me. Now, I thank you for making me at LEAST feel like I'm
not alone. Ha!

"jmike" wrote:

My Help and Support Center suddenly stopped receiving responses from
Microsoft Knowledge Base. It lists "0 results" for knowledge base while the
other searches continue to respond as before. I have checked the search
option settings and they are unchanged and I do have a connection to the
internet.

Has anyone else experienced this and, if so, what is the fix?

This problem coincided with the upgrade to XP SP2 , but it has happened to
me once before. I was only able to fix the problem with a reinstall of
Windows (this problem was not the reason for the reinstall). I have been
unable to find any info on this problem in the knowledge base or elsewhere.

That's sooo funny, and frustrating of course. You say that it's taken up
enough time and you'll get back to it... it been bugging me for about a
Year and a 1/2 now!

Believe me, I gave up. I hacked into the night. I removed the entire help
system from WinXP, removed every reference to PCHEALTH and the support center
from my computer, registry included. I reinstalled, I copied files from my
wife's computer, which works FINE (of course she has NO idea what it's for, I
would love to use it all the time however) thinking a file was currupt. I
uninstalled, reinstalled, reconfigured etc... etc... etc...
Zzzzzzzzzzzz.......... then I just gave it up.

Yesterday, just before SP2 was to install, I started snooping around the
message boards and BAM! came across this thread which completely opened the
old wound for me. Yesterday I started alllll over again just COMBING the
board for SOMETHING that would help. Anything! However, I found nothing.
Cept your message of course.

Sucks to be us!

If you EVER fix it, let me know. Here's my addy:
imtigger(at)pacbell(dot)net. I'll do you the same favor if I can find you.


Good luck my long lost brother-in-arm! Don't give in!! Don't wipe your
drive and re-install just yet! We'll fix the damn thing.. I promise!!

Dan B

"jmike" wrote:

imtigger,

Yes! I agree!

Very frustrating! Right?! I find this issue particularly frustrating because
getting information from the Knowledge Base is central to what Help and
Support Center is all about. And there seems to be no logical reason for the
results of KB queries to not be returned (but this is probably an illogical
assumption) I've tried to resolve this issue with "solutions" that should
have worked (short of formatting and reinstalling, which I do not want to do
for this...the juice is just not worth the sqeeze), but didn't.

And there is at least one other person having this problem; I read a posting
a while back from someone with the identical problem. So that means there has
to be even more people who are also having this problem, whether they know it
or not. But that knowledge is not particularly helpfulIf if no solution is
available. If Microsoft monitors these postings, no one has responded yet,
although there are, admittedly, bigger problems out there. And, I guess, it
is not MS's problem that a few of us (me) are being a little anal (oh well)
over what might be considered to be a relatively minor problem.

On the other hand, many of us who dabble in this area (computers), do tend
to be somewhat anal, and "the devil IS in the details" and details are what
computers deal with. Details! That is why this forum exists. So where is the
answer?! Why is this problem so difficult? (End of my rant.)

I am still thinking that a setting or file change must be causing this
problem. Something was changed, somewhere, when XP SP 2 was installed. But
where? There are some files in hlpctr that were not there before SP2. I have
compared my current directories with backups from before SP2. But I have not
compared the contents of same-name files from before and after SP2, nor have
I examined the contents of new files. And, I am not a programmer so, unless a
change is obvious, I probably would miss it, anyway.

I have tried reconfiguring Windows Firewall, ZoneAlarm, Group Policy, Local
Policy, Data Execution Prevention, Help Center Search configuration, my
internet connection, added IIS components, etc. all with no results. I tried,
unsuccessfully, to configure the Search Companion (details in part of Tech
Net article listed below) to have any effect on Help and Support Center.

Part of Microsoft Tech Net article "Using Windows XP Professional with
Service Pack 2 in a Managed Environment: Help and Support Center: The
Headlines and Online Search Features" deals directly with Online Searches and
http port 80, but I have been unsuccessfull in getting any Knowledge Base
responses after tweaking any of these settings. The search still comes back
with "0 results" which, I think, is indicating the request is going out, but
Knowledge Base is not returning any repsonses.

Nor did it help to "restore" hlpctr settings from before SP2.

I've decided that I've spent enough time on this issue for a while. I guess
I'll just wait and watch for the solution to show up. Inevitibly, and
hopefully soon, someone out there with the skills and incentive to resolve
this, will turn up.

But in the meantime, this will continue to drive ME crazy, too!

Microsoft, are you there?! Help!



"imtigger" wrote:

oh my GOD!!! You've hit a sore spot with me. I'm a MAJOR tweaker (uhhhh..
.computer tweaker) and my system runs SMOOOOOTH. There is ONE thing that
drives me up a wall, and that's this issue with the Help and Support Center
not connecting to the internet to do search the Knowledge Base OR the stupid
"DO you know"...

NO! I DON'T FRICKIN' KNOW!!! CAUSE IT WON'T CONNECT!!

::whew:: There, I feel better. Wanna start a support group for this??

My prob is only on my computer, none of the other 8 that I support. My
computer had some sorta OEM help center from vprMatrix (bestbuy system, great
stuff!) that never connected, so I reinstalled the help center, tried REG
tweaks, tried different internet connection options, tried EVERYTHING listed
on all Winblows message boards, including this one (julie tweaks, reg edits,
vbr fixes... you name it).

NOTHING. Frickin' nothing. I felt like know one in the WORLD had this
problem 'cept for me. Now, I thank you for making me at LEAST feel like I'm
not alone. Ha!

"jmike" wrote:

My Help and Support Center suddenly stopped receiving responses from
Microsoft Knowledge Base. It lists "0 results" for knowledge base while the
other searches continue to respond as before. I have checked the search
option settings and they are unchanged and I do have a connection to the
internet.

Has anyone else experienced this and, if so, what is the fix?

This problem coincided with the upgrade to XP SP2 , but it has happened to
me once before. I was only able to fix the problem with a reinstall of
Windows (this problem was not the reason for the reinstall). I have been
unable to find any info on this problem in the knowledge base or elsewhere.

do you have GetRight installed? It is known to interfere w/ KB searchs
from within H&S.

Go into Getright's options and UNCHECK "IE6 click monitoring".

KB search should start to work again.

see this for mo

http://www.getright.com/xp_help.html

=====

another issue: in ZA (v4.5) you should always add the ip addresses
0.0.0.0 and 127.0.0.1 to the Trusted Zone. This cures issues w/ in-box
COM invocations that fail (such as choosing "search" from the upper left
corner icon of a folder window in explorer.)

No... do not have it installed.

Thanks for the note tho', appreciate it. I noticed this is one of the
suggestions on this board. What is getright anyway? Just curious.

Thanks!

DB


" wrote:

do you have GetRight installed? It is known to interfere w/ KB searchs
from within H&S.

Go into Getright's options and UNCHECK "IE6 click monitoring".

KB search should start to work again.

see this for mo

http://www.getright.com/xp_help.html

=====

another issue: in ZA (v4.5) you should always add the ip addresses
0.0.0.0 and 127.0.0.1 to the Trusted Zone. This cures issues w/ in-box
COM invocations that fail (such as choosing "search" from the upper left
corner icon of a folder window in explorer.)

Oh, never mind.... went to your link and saw that Getright is a DL Manager.

I use DL Accelerator for all my downloading needs. Hmmmmm.... I wonder if
that programs causes trouble.

Hey jmike!! You gots Download Accelorator on your machine?? Hey! ... you
there? Where'd you go!?

Dan B

" wrote:

do you have GetRight installed? It is known to interfere w/ KB searchs
from within H&S.

Go into Getright's options and UNCHECK "IE6 click monitoring".

KB search should start to work again.

see this for mo

http://www.getright.com/xp_help.html

=====

another issue: in ZA (v4.5) you should always add the ip addresses
0.0.0.0 and 127.0.0.1 to the Trusted Zone. This cures issues w/ in-box
COM invocations that fail (such as choosing "search" from the upper left
corner icon of a folder window in explorer.)

Hello,

Yes, I use DAP also. I don't know if it is causing this specific problem
with the KB searches (I doubt it), but it is causing some other minor
problems of its own.

Rant warning! ...But, hey, that's computers, right? What would we do without
those constant little nagging problems, if everything ran right just for, oh
say a minute or two? But, nah, that won't happen. Just perusing this forum,
not to mention the umpteen others out there, gives an indication of the PC's
impact on our lives. It looks like nobody's machine is working properly.
These programs and OS's are too complex, and we are not able to fix them!
Especially after installing and uninstalling numerous apps over and over. And
we perpetuate this gordian knot by accepting software full of flaws and not
properly written. Like XP and XP SP2. Endless miles of code, hopelessly
complex and interrelated with other similarly written programs. Yeah, I
know, I like it, too...It's fun.

Moving on...I do not use Getright. I spent a little time (most of the night)
last night going through Services to see if I could find anything there which
might be influencing Help and Control Center. Came up empty, but I did manage
to create some new problems in the process (changing things to see what
happens). Got them fixed though. I hope.

So, that leaves me back at square one. AARRRGGGHHHHHH!!!!!





"imtigger" wrote:

Oh, never mind.... went to your link and saw that Getright is a DL Manager.

I use DL Accelerator for all my downloading needs. Hmmmmm.... I wonder if
that programs causes trouble.

Hey *****!! You gots Download Accelorator on your machine?? Hey! ... you
there? Where'd you go!?

Dan B

" wrote:

do you have GetRight installed? It is known to interfere w/ KB searchs
from within H&S.

Go into Getright's options and UNCHECK "IE6 click monitoring".

KB search should start to work again.

see this for mo

http://www.getright.com/xp_help.html

=====

another issue: in ZA (v4.5) you should always add the ip addresses
0.0.0.0 and 127.0.0.1 to the Trusted Zone. This cures issues w/ in-box
COM invocations that fail (such as choosing "search" from the upper left
corner icon of a folder window in explorer.)

Hello,

Yes, I use DAP also. I don't know if it is causing this specific problem
with the KB searches (I doubt it), but it is causing some other minor
problems of its own.

Rant warning! ...But, hey, that's computers, right? What would we do without
those constant little nagging problems, if everything ran right just for, oh
say a minute or two? But, nah, that won't happen. Just perusing this forum,
not to mention the umpteen others out there, gives an indication of the PC's
impact on our lives. It looks like nobody's machine is working properly.
These programs and OS's are too complex, and we are not able to fix them!
Especially after installing and uninstalling numerous apps over and over. And
we perpetuate this gordian knot by accepting software full of flaws and not
properly written. Like XP and XP SP2. Endless miles of code, hopelessly
complex and interrelated with other similarly written programs. Yeah, I
know, I like it, too...It's fun.

Moving on...I do not use Getright. I spent a little time (most of the night)
last night going through Services to see if I could find anything there which
might be influencing Help and Control Center. Came up empty, but I did manage
to create some new problems in the process (changing things to see what
happens). Got them fixed though. I hope.

So, that leaves me back at square one. AARRRGGGHHHHHH!!!!!



"imtigger" wrote:

Oh, never mind.... went to your link and saw that Getright is a DL Manager.

I use DL Accelerator for all my downloading needs. Hmmmmm.... I wonder if
that programs causes trouble.

Hey jmike!! You gots Download Accelorator on your machine?? Hey! ... you
there? Where'd you go!?

Dan B

" wrote:

do you have GetRight installed? It is known to interfere w/ KB searchs
from within H&S.

Go into Getright's options and UNCHECK "IE6 click monitoring".

KB search should start to work again.

see this for mo

http://www.getright.com/xp_help.html

=====

another issue: in ZA (v4.5) you should always add the ip addresses
0.0.0.0 and 127.0.0.1 to the Trusted Zone. This cures issues w/ in-box
COM invocations that fail (such as choosing "search" from the upper left
corner icon of a folder window in explorer.)

No, I don't use Getright. I tried the settings you mentioned in ZoneAlarm
(I'm using v5.1). Thay appeared to have no effect on Help and Support Center,
though. Thanks for responding! I will gladly try (almost) any suggestion to
resolve this issue.


" wrote:

do you have GetRight installed? It is known to interfere w/ KB searchs
from within H&S.

Go into Getright's options and UNCHECK "IE6 click monitoring".

KB search should start to work again.

see this for mo

http://www.getright.com/xp_help.html

=====

another issue: in ZA (v4.5) you should always add the ip addresses
0.0.0.0 and 127.0.0.1 to the Trusted Zone. This cures issues w/ in-box
COM invocations that fail (such as choosing "search" from the upper left
corner icon of a folder window in explorer.)

Don't give up my friend!!! We can do it!!

I'll get this thing taken care of, no worries. I'm gonna start tearing
apart the 40 Million+ lines of code that make up WinXP and I'm gonna FIX
every last problem with it, then I'll upload it to you... Look for it in
your e-mail.



Dan B
"That's it... I'm going back to DOS 5.0, at least there was no chance of a
blue-screen cause that error routine wasn't invented yet!"

"jmike" wrote:

No, I don't use Getright. I tried the settings you mentioned in ZoneAlarm
(I'm using v5.1). Thay appeared to have no effect on Help and Support Center,
though. Thanks for responding! I will gladly try (almost) any suggestion to
resolve this issue.


" wrote:

do you have GetRight installed? It is known to interfere w/ KB searchs
from within H&S.

Go into Getright's options and UNCHECK "IE6 click monitoring".

KB search should start to work again.

see this for mo

http://www.getright.com/xp_help.html

=====

another issue: in ZA (v4.5) you should always add the ip addresses
0.0.0.0 and 127.0.0.1 to the Trusted Zone. This cures issues w/ in-box
COM invocations that fail (such as choosing "search" from the upper left
corner icon of a folder window in explorer.)

take a look at the LSPs installed on your system, they may be interfering.
Google for LSP Fix, or if you have SP2 just use the new IE properties
"programs | add-ins" option area to see which non-standard add-ins you
have.

the ZA fix (0.0.0.0 and 127.0.0.1 in trusted zone) fixes the "search from
a folder's system menu" issue, not the KB search issue in H&S.

Good luck, I had that H&S KB search issue for months before discovering it
was GetRight, which I never suspected at all.

"jmike" wrote:

My Help and Support Center suddenly stopped receiving responses from
Microsoft Knowledge Base. It lists "0 results" for knowledge base while the
other searches continue to respond as before.

After having this problem for who knows how long, I finally found what was
causing it for *me*. I had Netscape browser installed with "Smart Download".
When I uninstalled SmartDowload the problem went away (all of five minutes
ago after many many, hours of looking for solutions). !!!! Happy me!!!

My suggestion to anyone with this problem is to look at any software you
have installed which might put itself in the way of a remote connection.

az,

Ok, sounds reasonable. Could you be a little more specific. I mean, how does
it put itself in the way of the remote connection? Is my download program the
culprit? I notice that Getright and "Smart Download" from Netscape have been
responsible for causing the error. Is that what you are referring to? (In the
way of the remote connection)? I was using DAP when the problems occurred on
my machine. I don't have it installed now, though, and I don't currently have
the problem. Not sure if I want to tempt fate, just finished a long-winded
reinstall of my system. Its running fine now.

Thanks for the response.



"az" wrote:

"jmike" wrote:

My Help and Support Center suddenly stopped receiving responses from
Microsoft Knowledge Base. It lists "0 results" for knowledge base while the
other searches continue to respond as before.

After having this problem for who knows how long, I finally found what was
causing it for *me*. I had Netscape browser installed with "Smart Download".
When I uninstalled SmartDowload the problem went away (all of five minutes
ago after many many, hours of looking for solutions). !!!! Happy me!!!

My suggestion to anyone with this problem is to look at any software you
have installed which might put itself in the way of a remote connection.

I'm not a windows expert, by any means, but I am an experienced computer
programmer and admin, so the following is my understanding of what was
happening.

The Netscape SmartDownload manager tries to help you out with Web downloads
by remembering where the file was coming from, and allowing you to restart a
download half way through when, for example, your internet connection dies.
It tries to do this for all download from any browser. Invented in the days
of dodgy modem connections to the internet.

In order to do that, it has to somehow intercept all attempts to download
files from any browser. How it does this, I don't know. But what I surmise
is that it was also intercepting the attempts to download data from the
knowledge base, but that whatver it was doing was not compatible with Help
and Support Center.

I'm sure there are other programs which do this too -- I guess the DAP you
mention is one of them, and Getright is another.

I've seen Getright mentioned ias a potential cause of this problem, but
never knew what it was. The articles in this topic got me thinking and
prompted me to try uninstalling SmartDownload, and it worked for me.

Anything which gets involved in the process of downloading files from the
Internet has to somehow interfere with or hijack the procedure the browser
itself is using. Help And Support Center is just another browser, and will
use much the same procedures as IE, so anything which interferes with
external downloads might be the culprit if Help and Support can't get to
external resources on the knowledge base.

My best guess is that if you install this DAP, your problem will return, but
that uninstalling it will make the problem go away again. I doubt you'd have
to re-install Windows, but don't rely on that, it's only my best guess!

"jmike" wrote:

az,

Ok, sounds reasonable. Could you be a little more specific. I mean, how does
it put itself in the way of the remote connection? Is my download program the
culprit? I notice that Getright and "Smart Download" from Netscape have been
responsible for causing the error. Is that what you are referring to? (In the
way of the remote connection)? I was using DAP when the problems occurred on
my machine. I don't have it installed now, though, and I don't currently have
the problem. Not sure if I want to tempt fate, just finished a long-winded
reinstall of my system. Its running fine now.

Thanks for the response.



"az" wrote:

"jmike" wrote:

My Help and Support Center suddenly stopped receiving responses from
Microsoft Knowledge Base. It lists "0 results" for knowledge base while the
other searches continue to respond as before.

After having this problem for who knows how long, I finally found what was
causing it for *me*. I had Netscape browser installed with "Smart Download".
When I uninstalled SmartDowload the problem went away (all of five minutes
ago after many many, hours of looking for solutions). !!!! Happy me!!!

My suggestion to anyone with this problem is to look at any software you
have installed which might put itself in the way of a remote connection.