RoboHelp HTML won't start

[JonYork]

So I've installed RoboHelp 7 on a Windows XP SP2 box with sufficient resources.
RH 7 Word loads.
RH7 HTML loads.
i reboot the PC; RH7 Word loads. RH7 HTML does nothing, no matter which way I try to start it up.

On a 2nd XP box, with a new install of XP SP2, everything works fine.

Unsurprisingly, I do not want to rebuild the first XP box, which is used by our web developer, simply to get RH7 HTML to work - I'd rather find out what is blocking the HTML start-up.

there are no clues in Eventvwr and I cannot see any way of finding out what part of the start-up process may be failing.

anyone comes across similar problems or have any pointers about where/how to discover what the sticking point is?

thanks
John

[Peter Grainge]

Welcome to the forum.

Whose logon did you use at the time of installation and whose logon are you using after the reboot?

[JonYork]

i've tried all sorts of combinations:
install as administrator, run as administrator ...
install as administrator, run as power-user
install as administrator, run as user
install as power-user, run as power-user ... and so on

end result is always the same: on this one PC, RH7 HTML refuses to start.

it will be something simple, i'm sure. what is most frustrating is there appears to be no way of logging the start-up process ...

john

[Peter Grainge]

Firewall? AV software?

See if this link helps.

http://kb.adobe.com/selfservice/viewContent.do?externalId=kb402652&sliceId=1

[JonYork]

well the firewall and AV settings are identical on both the working and non-working PCs.

i've worked through the document you mention and also http://kb.adobe.com/selfservice/viewContent.do?externalId=kb402654&sliceId=1

RH7 installs fine; it is only after a reboot that it refuses to start.

[Peter Grainge]

I'm sorry but as you indicate, this seems to be machine specific.

[JonYork]

is there any way of starting RH7 HTML from a command line, which might show why it doesn't want to initialise?

[Peter Grainge]

Not with parameters that I am aware of, which is what I think you are seeking.

The only other thing I can think of, at entirely your risk, is customising the services that initiate at start up to track one that is causing this.

RH writes to the boot sector during installation. Given this is a developers machine, I wonder if they have a setup that would affect that.

[Peter Grainge]

I suppose you have tried uninstalling and reinstalling?

[JonYork]

I have tried *several* uninstall & re-installs.

one thing i've not tried is removing ALL the Adobe products (Acrobat etc) and then cleaning out all the registry entries manually ...

[CharlieBook]

Hi John, I was wondering if you ever resolved this problem. If so, please tell me how because I am experiencing exactly the same problem.

Thanks, Charlton.

[JonYork]

Hi Charlton
i got Rh to work by ruthlessly removing ALL the Adobe products on the PC, using Add/Remove programs.
then deleted the Adobe folder
then removed ALL trace of Adobe entries in the Registry.
shut the PC down completlely.

only then would RH install correctly.

about par for the course with Adobe products. I hate them.

John

[Kathy4]

I cannot get RH HTML 7 to run. This happened after trying to import a very old RH project (2002) into 7. I have reinstalled RH and rebooted and it still does not run. What do I need to do?
Also, when I try running RH Word 7 and opening your sample project, I get an error message saying I need to run a more recent copy of Robohelp. We have Microsoft Office 2003 installed on our PCs.
Please advise, thanks.

[Peter Grainge]

Welcome to the forum Kathy

Did you uninstall the old version of RH before installing RH7?

If not, uninstall both and then install just RH7,

Let us know if that works.

[Kathy4]

I have just gotten back to this.
Friday I uninstalled RH 2002, RH Office and RH 7.
I reinstalled RH 7 but it still would not run;
Next, I ran a repair on the install option, rebooted. It still did not run.
(Btw, I don't have the MS .NetFramework 2.0 on my PC.)
I then decided to remove the Adobe Tech Comm Suite entirely.
An automatic reboot took place upon completion.

I reinstalled the Adobe Tech Comm Suite and reestablished all of our DITA implementations.
I checked RH 7 and it ran, however, I did not try opening a project -- it was the end of the day.

Today, I accidentally started the RH for Word application.
Then I tried running the RH HTML version and it won't start !!!
I no longer have the old RH 2002 on my PC. I need RH 7 to run, what should I do??? What could possibly be wrong?

Thank you.

[Peter Grainge]

Do you have admin rights attached to your logon? Either you must have those rights or an admin with those rights must intstall.

What happens when you try to run it? Error messages?

[Kathy4]

I do have admin rights on my PC.
I just got RH 7 HTML started by selecting the Run option from the shortcut menu.
I selected my user ID from the list and entered my Windows password, and it started.

When I double-click the desktop icon, the hourglass appears very briefly and then nothing happens.
Thank you.

[Peter Grainge]

Locate the RoboHTML.exe in Program Files. Right click and create a desktop shortcut.

What I don't follow is "selecting Run from the shortcut menu.
I selected my user ID from the list and entered my Windows password"

You are already logged into your PC so why enter again. You are talking about the Start Menu, yes?

[Kathy4]

No, not the Start button.
I have a desktop shortcut for RH 7 HTML. I've been right-clicking the icon to get the shortcut menu and choosing Run As... Then I select my user ID from the drop-down list and enter my Windows password. (2nd bullet on the dialog box). It makes no sense but this is how I can get it to start. What does this indicate?

Thus far, I have not been able to open an old project. I am trying to start a new project and then import some topics.

What is the xpj file? I used to open the mpj file to work on a project.

Thanks!

[Peter Grainge]

OK, let us know how you got on with the new shortcut. As long as you installed with admin rights, you should not need to use Run As.

The file structure changed and XPJ is now the file that opens projects.

[Peter Grainge]

Charlton

Based on what John is reporting, did you install with admin rights attached to your logon? If not, RH will not work. You must have admin rights during the install or get an IT admin to install.

Second, are you on Vista? If you are, try right clicking the icon and selecting Run As Administrator.

If you do decide to follow the same route as John, you could try www.revouninstaller.com. I have not used it but I mentioned it in another thread and two people reported good results. If in any doubt, get IT to assist you.

[CharlieBook]

Thanks for replying so quickly. The logon has full administrator rights and IT has absolutely no idea why this is happening. I have the Adobe Creative Suite (Photoshop, Illustrator and InDesign) installed on my computer as well as Adobe Captivate. I obviously don't want to take John's course of action, but right now I don't see any alternative. It's a shame that Adobe hasn't made any effort to provide a fix for this problem, even though it only affects a small percentage of users. I stick with RH because all of the alternatives that I have tried (Flare, AuthorIT and WebWorks) made a complete mess of converting my Word documents.

Charlton.

[Peter Grainge]

To the best of my recollection, you three are the only people who have hit this issue so it's tricky identifying the cause.

I have a feeling Kathy's problem was with her profile. You could uninstall RH, ask IT to keep your existing profile and give you a new one as well. Install RH with that and see if it works. If it does, that does indicate a profile problem. The new profile will not have all your other app settings so you will either need IT to do some mixing and matching if they can or you can uninstall RH, go back to your old profile and then try http://www.revouninstaller.com to clean things up.

Not sure how that app works. You might need to install RH again under your old profile and, unless it then works, uninstall it using revouninstaller.

Sorry but I don't know what else to suggest. When you do fix it, it would help if you would post back how.

[Kathy4]

I'm responding to the posts on this topic today.

Not much has changed since my post on 3/10. I use my desktop shortcut for RH 7 HTML and right-click the icon to get the shortcut menu, choosing Run As... I select the 2nd bullet on the dialog, and next select my user ID from the drop-down list and enter my Windows password. This is the only way RH7 will run for me. I intend to ask my LAN department about network issues but have not had time yet.

Leading up to this, I uninstalled the entire Adobe Tech Comm suite (which I believes cleans out the registry) and reinstalled the software suite. I use Windows XP. One other person in my group has RH 7 installed, does not use it, but can run it without any issues. It may be something peculiar with my PC.

[Kathy4]

I'm responding to the posts on this topic today.

Not much has changed since my post on 3/10. I use my desktop shortcut for RH 7 HTML and right-click the icon to get the shortcut menu, choosing Run As... I select the 2nd bullet on the dialog, and next select my user ID from the drop-down list and enter my Windows password. This is the only way RH7 will run for me. I intend to ask my LAN department about network issues but have not had time yet.

Leading up to this, I uninstalled the entire Adobe Tech Comm suite (which I believes cleans out the registry) and reinstalled the software suite. I use Windows XP. One other person in my group has RH 7 installed, does not use it, but can run it without any issues. It may be something peculiar with my PC.