Can't acess System Restore

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Michael Hyatt - 16 Dec 2004 04:35 GMT

I've tried all the buttons(ie;msconfig; programs/ accessories/ system tools/
system restore; even as far as to enter windows/system/restore and double
click rstrui. I disabled/rebooted,enabled/rebooted, and tried s.r. again.
Same result in all cases; nothing, no display screen, and nothing showing in
the ctrl-alt-delete(close program box).
Any suggestions would be much appreciated. Thank-you Michael Hyatt.

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Mike M - 16 Dec 2004 14:43 GMT

You do realise that having disabled/rebooted,enabled/rebooted system
restore you will now have no system restore checkpoints.

Check that you still have a *StateMgr entry in MSConfig | Startup and that
it is checked, If this is OK then check that stmgr.exe is running. You
can check this using either a process monitor such as WinTop or TaskInfo
or by using MSInfo32 (Start | Help & Support | System Information) and
checking for stmgr.exe in the section Software
Environment | Running Tasks.

Signature

Mike Maltby MS-MVP
mike.maltby@gmail.com

> I've tried all the buttons(ie;msconfig; programs/ accessories/ system
> tools/ system restore; even as far as to enter windows/system/restore
> and double click rstrui. I disabled/rebooted,enabled/rebooted, and
> tried s.r. again. Same result in all cases; nothing, no display
> screen, and nothing showing in the ctrl-alt-delete(close program box).
> Any suggestions would be much appreciated. Thank-you Michael Hyatt.

Reply to this Message

Michael Hyatt - 16 Dec 2004 16:23 GMT

No restore point is okay I was trying to create one after removing 1,274
tracker/spyware entries(from safe mode(spybot)) and Grisoft AVG
antivirus(trojan and viruses.
*StateMgr is checked in msconfig. Using "MSI WMinfo/operating
system/process/"STMGR.EXE is listed as being active, although it does not
show in the "Close program box".
Oops! looks like a second problem: Start/help= Windows cannot find
'helpctr.exe'. So File Search = helpctr.exe. Double click helpctr.exe=
Required dll file HCAPPRES.DLL not found. Is the problem related or can we
solve one and work on the other problem afterwards.
The "MSI WMinfo" is a Micro Star International software program and I'm not
sure how accurate it is in comparison to MSInfo 32; so unless we can fix the
help files now, where can I get WinTop or TaskInfo applications to be sure
stmgr.exe is running. Or can we continue on the assumption "MSI" is accurate.
Mike, Thanks for the speedy reply. Michael Hyatt

> You do realise that having disabled/rebooted,enabled/rebooted system
> restore you will now have no system restore checkpoints.
[quoted text clipped - 12 lines]
> > screen, and nothing showing in the ctrl-alt-delete(close program box).
> > Any suggestions would be much appreciated. Thank-you Michael Hyatt.

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Mike M - 16 Dec 2004 16:50 GMT

Michael,

Forget about the Win Me's Manager or "Close Program Box" since this isn't
designed to show running services and the like. The only way to see what
is actually running at any moment in time is, as I mentioned earlier, to
use a proper task monitor such as WinTop, TaskInfo or System Information |
Software Environment | Running Tasks.

If you have for some reason "lost" the contents of your
windows\pchealth\helpctr\binaries folder then you are going to have
problems, not just with system restore but also as you have now found with
Help & Support and also System Information (MSInfo32.exe). If these files
are still present then what did you do when clearing your system of
unwanted malware? Have you perhaps used a registry "cleaner" and damaged
some or all of the entries needed to run system restore?

Suitable process viewers or task monitors include the old but still
functional WinTop (part of the
equally old Win95 Powertools available from
http://www.microsoft.com/windows95/downloads/contents/WUToys/W95KernelToy/Default.asp)
through TaskInfo 2003 (www.iarsn.com), unfortunately no longer free, to
SysInternals Process Explorer 8.6 (www.sysinternals.com where you will
also find many other useful tools and utilities).

Signature

Mike Maltby MS-MVP
mike.maltby@gmail.com

> No restore point is okay I was trying to create one after removing
> 1,274 tracker/spyware entries(from safe mode(spybot)) and Grisoft AVG
[quoted text clipped - 12 lines]
> the assumption "MSI" is accurate. Mike, Thanks for the
> speedy reply. Michael Hyatt

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Michael Hyatt - 16 Dec 2004 17:35 GMT

Wintop reads exactly the same as micro-star(accurate) STMGR.EXE is running
5`10% of cpu every couple of minutes. The only cleaning was from
msconfig/start-up/and clicking the clean button. Spybot and avg anti-virus
are the only other programs(to my knowledge) that have been run. Binaries, no
such folder on the computer. Is there anyway to re-install the help etc
files. Michael Hyatt

> Michael,
>
[quoted text clipped - 36 lines]
> > the assumption "MSI" is accurate. Mike, Thanks for the
> > speedy reply. Michael Hyatt

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Mike M - 16 Dec 2004 17:58 GMT

Are you saying that the entire Windows\PCHealth\HelpCtr\Binaries folder is
missing? If so what about the rest of the Windows\PCHealth folder which
should contain three folders, HelpCtr, Support and UploadLB? The
Windows\PCHealth\HelpCtr folder should then contain nine further folders
one of which is Binaries.

If all that is missing is the contents of the
Windows\PCHealth\HelpCtr\Binaries, Noel Paton has details on his site
(http://www.btinternet.com/~winnoel/HSfails.htm) as to how to replace
these files.

Signature

Mike Maltby MS-MVP
mike.maltby@gmail.com

> Wintop reads exactly the same as micro-star(accurate) STMGR.EXE is
> running 5`10% of cpu every couple of minutes. The only cleaning was
> from msconfig/start-up/and clicking the clean button. Spybot and avg
> anti-virus are the only other programs(to my knowledge) that have
> been run. Binaries, no such folder on the computer. Is there anyway
> to re-install the help etc files. Michael Hyatt

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Michael Hyatt - 17 Dec 2004 01:19 GMT

There are two folders with two items in each, 1. support(PCHSCHD &
PCHSESETUP) 2.Helpctr (Temp(empty)& Vendors(CN=microsoft)& Helpctr
application.
I have just completed step one(helpctr -regserver). There are six items in
the binaries. Help center does not work yet.
System Restore however does. Tested with created desktop folder,deleted and
SR brought it back. Congratulations, excellent work, still # 1 mvp, Mike.
I'll check out the rest of the fixes for the helpctr and get back to you.
Thanks Michael Hyatt

> Are you saying that the entire Windows\PCHealth\HelpCtr\Binaries folder is
> missing? If so what about the rest of the Windows\PCHealth folder which
[quoted text clipped - 13 lines]
> > been run. Binaries, no such folder on the computer. Is there anyway
> > to re-install the help etc files. Michael Hyatt

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Mike M - 17 Dec 2004 01:54 GMT

Michael,

Well done for what you have achieved so far. Any clue or idea as to what
might have caused the problem in the first place? At least you've managed
to get system restore back up and running which, IMO, is the more
important of the problems solved. Who needs help & support any way?
<vbg> It never seems to have the answer you're looking for (or not here
at least). :-)

Folder contents:
PCHealth\Support
Here it has atrace.dll, msvcp60.dll, pchschd.exe and pchsetup.exe plus an
empty Temp folder.

PCHealth\HelpCtr has several folders Batch (empty), Binaries (6 files),
Config (containing pss.cab and 3 xml files), Database , DatColl (this
contains the CollectedData_*.xml files created by winmgmnt which is
launched by the PCHschd.exe from the Task Scheduler. these files are INO
of no value). Install (contains 2 js javascript files), System (which
contains a large number of htm, js and css files used by Help & Support),
Temp (empty) and Vendors.

Best of luck in your efforts to get your problem fixed.

Cheers,

Mike M

> There are two folders with two items in each, 1. support(PCHSCHD &
> PCHSESETUP) 2.Helpctr (Temp(empty)& Vendors(CN=microsoft)& Helpctr
[quoted text clipped - 5 lines]
> work, still # 1 mvp, Mike. I'll check out the rest of the fixes for
> the helpctr and get back to you. Thanks Michael Hyatt

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Michael Hyatt - 18 Dec 2004 03:19 GMT

I tried all the other fixes for help and still nothing.
I have managed to restore/re-integrate the help files by cheating(my
neighbour will be so pleased that I didn't have to format and reinstall
WinMe).
THE CHEAT; I installed a formatted drive (D); installed WinMe; booted up
from D; Copy/pasted Pc health from D to C; booted up from C; Ran helpctr
-regserver again; formatted D; removed D.
System Restore tested Okay, Help files test Okay.
Once again great work Mike, Thanks. Michael Hyatt

> Michael,
>
[quoted text clipped - 33 lines]
> > work, still # 1 mvp, Mike. I'll check out the rest of the fixes for
> > the helpctr and get back to you. Thanks Michael Hyatt

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Jack E Martinelli - 21 Dec 2004 14:53 GMT

Nice work, Michael.

If I understand you correctly, you created a second copy of WinME, and
copied the contents of the ...\Windows\PCHEALTH folder to the original
installation. Subsequently, Help & Support worked fine in the original OS.
If so, this suggests to me that one or more of the original H&S files was
corrupted.

Kudos to you and Mike.

Signature

Jack E. Martinelli 2002-05 MS MVP for Shell/User / DTS
Help us help you: http://www.dts-L.org/goodpost.htm

http://www.microsoft.com/athome/security/protect/default.aspx
Your cooperation is very appreciated.
------

> I tried all the other fixes for help and still nothing.
> I have managed to restore/re-integrate the help files by cheating(my
[quoted text clipped - 43 lines]
> > > work, still # 1 mvp, Mike. I'll check out the rest of the fixes for
> > > the helpctr and get back to you. Thanks Michael Hyatt

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