ACC97: Pressing F1 for Help May Cause an IPF in WINHLP32 (176558)


The information in this article applies to:

  • Microsoft Access 97, when used with:
    • the operating system: Microsoft Windows 95
    • the operating system: Microsoft Windows 98
This article was previously published under Q176558
Moderate: Requires basic macro, coding, and interoperability skills.

SYMPTOMS

If you select a Help topic by pressing F1, you may receive the following error message:
This program has performed an illegal operation and will be shut down.

If the problem persists, contact the program vendor.
When you click Details, you receive the following message:
Winhlp32 caused an invalid page fault in Kernel32.dll at 015f:004099ba.
NOTE: The actual dll file this occurrs in or the memory address may vary.

CAUSE

You may experience this problem if you have multiple keyboard layouts installed on your computer.

RESOLUTION

To work around this problem, do one of the following:
  • Open the Help topic by clicking Contents And Index on the Help menu, and then selecting the topic from the Help Topics Index list.

    -or-
  • Disable the multiple keyboard layouts.

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem in Microsoft Access 97. This problem no longer occurs in Microsoft Access 2000.

MORE INFORMATION

Steps to Reproduce Problem

WARNING: Following these steps will cause a general protection fault on your computer. Make sure you save and close any open work on your computer before following these steps.
  1. On the Start menu, point to Settings, and then click Control Panel.
  2. Double-click the Keyboard icon.
  3. In the Keyboard Properties box, click the Language tab.
  4. In the Add Language box, click Add. Add the language that has the focus (Afrikaans) by clicking OK.
  5. Start Microsoft Access 97 and open the sample database Northwind.mdb.
  6. Open the Customers form in Design view.
  7. Double-click on the Company Name text box to bring up the Properties dialog box.
  8. In the Properties dialog box, set the focus to the Input Mask property row. Press F1.

    Note that part of the first line of the Help topic is blank.
  9. Close the Help Topic window. Note that you receive an invalid page fault with the following message: 
           WINHLP32 caused an IPF in KERNEL32.DLL or Winhlp32.exe.
    NOTE: This happens with various languages selected in the Keyboard settings.

REFERENCES

For more information about other issues involving WINHLP32, please see the following articles in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

172435 Err Msg: Winhlp32 Caused an Invalid Page Fault in Module...

148117 Winhlp32 Causes Invalid Page Fault Running Help

162398 OFF97: First Aid 97 Causes invalid Page fault
Modification Type:MajorLast Reviewed:11/14/2003
Keywords:kbbug KB176558
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