Index Tab in Help does not work, freezes LabView 8.2, 8.5

[ttyme]

I have Windows XP MME installed with LabView 8.2.  At first the NI HELP did not work. The hourglass pause would show and just vanish without anything returned. No lockup, just remains at the Getting Started Window..  I ran two patches suggested by NI at the windows start>run command.  Now the NI Help window opens.  But when I try to find something under the SEARCH tab, nothing is found.  At that time I try to select the INDEX tab, and after a breif pause, a windows pop box is displayed indicating that an error has occurred and that a report is to be be sent to Microsoft.  Then after I let it do its stuff, and close that box, I find that LabVIEW has frozen also and needs to be exited, of cours another Microsoft error box pops up and wants to send another report.   I was instructed by a NI rep to uninstall and perform a fresh reinstall.  Still the same result.  I was able to obtain LV 8.5.  I fully removed LV 8.2, and installed LV 8.5.  The exact same thing happens.   It appears to me a MS system problem, but where and how do I go about to fix this? 

HELP HELP HELP.  I'm a L:V student and need this corrected ASAP!

Sincerely;

Pete

[Nitin_T]

Hi Pete,

Thank you for contacting National Instruments. LabVIEW help files are stored as compressed HTML (chm) files. I would suggest the following steps to start debugging the problem.

1) Try opening any other .chm files in Windows. Go to Drive:\Windows\Help\ and open a file with .chm (Compressed HTML) extension. See if this works as these are the help files which come along with Windows. If these work, go to Drive:\Program Files\National Instruments\LabVIEW 8.5\help and try opening the files with the .chm extensions and navigate through it.

2) If the above files don't open up, then it's because they are not associated with the "Microsoft HTML Help Exe" You may want to right click on these files and Select "Open With" option. Then select the Microsoft® HTML Help Exe as the program that will be used to open these files. The Help executable is actually hh.exe available under the Windows folder.

I hope this helps! Let me know if there is anything else I can help with or clarify. Have a great day!

[ttyme]

attn: Nitin T:

I tried what you suggested.  Yes the .chm files open in Windows/help, and they open in NI/LabView8.5/Help.

Reminder, the problem lies in the INDEX tab and the SEARCH tab not working.  Under the Contents tab, all the files can be found and will open and can be accessed that route. 

Pete

[Nitin_T]

Hi Pete,

It looks like you may have a corrupted Active X component (hhctrl.ocx) which is required for .chm files. I would suggest trying all the steps in the following KnowledgeBase. Let us know if this works out or not.

[ttyme]

Update to this problem.

I have tried the suggestions, without any fix.  More information has come about since then.  I have just loaded QuickBooks software.  It also will cause the same error when I try to do a search in its HELP files. 

This finding points to problems rooted in the windows software.  Anybody got a sure source to help fix this?

HELP.

[Nitin_T]

Hi ttyme,

The above mentioned KnowledgeBase is the best source to fix the issue. I would suggest posting on this Microsoft forum specially since this seems to be a specific OS issue.