Help&Support Center stopped giving results from the MS Knowledge Base 2

[Rahosi]

I did try to search for an answer to this problem. Basically it is a waste of time to search using the Keywords "Help and Support" "Knowledge Base" since they appear in most threads.

My computer / H&SC used to work fine. Still does on other networked computers, all linked to the internet through a 4 port ADSL Router. Have checked using QFECHECK & SFC.

No matter what I search for MKB under H&SC gives 0results.
No problem directly accessing the MS KB.

 

[Rahosi]

I've discovered another problem with H&SC after an ISP outage this morning and running Network Diagnostics.

It gets to 99% Formatting Results and it hangs (Task Manager says still Running, 0% CPU.)

[Temporarily running without ZApro or McAfee as part of the fault analysis.]

 

[bcastner]

Do an IPCONFIG /All

You want the chipset manufacturer of your NIC. Go to the chipset manufacturer's WEB site and download their drivers, whether WHQL certified or not.

Clean reboot, and see if you can convince Microsoft Help that you have an active connection.

I would also appreciate, if you would, a listing here of your IPCONFIG /All results. I am curious in particular about your Node ID setting.

Bill

 

[linney]

Rahosi,

Have you solved this yet? Please send us any feedback as it will help others too, thankyou.

 

[Rahosi]

Sorry - been away.
Hope the following is sufficient.

Network card is a
Intel Pro/100+ Management Adapter
PCI Slot 2 (PCI bus 0, device 15, function 0)

Driver is Intel Corp 7.026.0 built by WinDKK 04/03/2003
Microsoft Windows Hardware Compatibility Publisher
(new drivers were recently installed!!)


My ISP is PIPEX and the DNS Servers are correct.

ipconfig /all (I have replaced some digits with XXXXX)

Windows IP Configuration

Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : XXXXX
Primary Dns Suffix . . . . . . . :
Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Unknown
IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No

Ethernet adapter XXXXX Local Area Connection:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Intel(R) PRO/100+ Management Adapter

Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-D0-B7-XX-XX-XX
Dhcp Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No
IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.7.2
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : fe80::2d0:XXXX:XXXX:57e9%4
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.7.1
DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 158.43.240.4
158.43.240.3
fec0:0:0:ffff::1%1
fec0:0:0:ffff::2%1
fec0:0:0:ffff::3%1

Tunnel adapter Teredo Tunneling Pseudo-Interface:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Teredo Tunneling Pseudo-Interface
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-00-F7-D5-C1-43-XX-XX
Dhcp Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No
IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 3ffe:831f:cf2e:e420:0:f7d5:c143:XXXX

IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : fe80::5445:5245:XXXX%5
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : ::
NetBIOS over Tcpip. . . . . . . . : Disabled

Tunnel adapter Automatic Tunneling Pseudo-Interface:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Automatic Tunneling Pseudo-Interface

Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : C0-A8-XX-XX
Dhcp Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No
IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : fe80::5efe:192.168.7.2%2
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . :
DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : fec0:0:0:ffff::1%1
fec0:0:0:ffff::2%1
fec0:0:0:ffff::3%1
NetBIOS over Tcpip. . . . . . . . : Disabled

 

[bcastner]

A new approach. I have noted some odd problems with sites that require activex controls; some odd problems with Windows Update and Windows Catalogue were there is no download result, and some other oddities that seem to be related to changes made in the Environmental variables of XP, especially the PATH statement, and very especially if the path no longer includes a reference to WBEM.

right-click My Computer, Properties, Advanced, Environmental Variables, and in the bottom box highlight and hit Edit on the PATH variable. See if it begins exactly like this: (it may have more)

%SystemRoot%\system32;%SystemRoot%;%SystemRoot%\System32\Wbem;


If it does not look exactly like this, edit it so that it does. I think you need to reboot after this edit for the change to take effect.

It seems as if the last part: %SystemRoot%\System32\Wbem; gets removed by some cleaning programs and uninstall routines.

 

[Rahosi]

Hi bcastner
Thanks for your persistence in this matter.

100% identical
the full line is
%SystemRoot%\system32;%SystemRoot%;%SystemRoot%\System32\Wbem;C:\Program Files\Support Tools

 

[bcastner]

I spent some time in Google groups and you are not alone on this issue.

My understanding at the moment is that it is not a fixable issue. There are various programs that can corrupt the .xml files used to control this process. Apparantly there are Windows Media issues that are related in a nature to this problem.

The only thing I saw that I had not heard of before was a problem with Get Right. If you have this installed, go to options in the programs and tell it not to capture IE clicks.

 

[Rahosi]

Hi bcastner
who ever said persistance pays was right.
GetRight was the guilty party.
H&SC is now restored to it's former health!
Thank you so much for your dedication.

Rahosi

 

[bcastner]

Hot damn.

 

[linney]

Great detective work Bill. Another victory for you and Tek-Tips.