Search pane blank grey

[Leozack]

So I spent most of this morning trying and failing to fix a PC running XP where the search pane is blank - plain grey - and nothing I have looked up online and tried has worked. I've tried these :
Tried registering dlls
regsvr32 wshom.ocx
regsvr32 jscript.dll
regsvr32 urlmon.dll
regsvr32 vbscript.dll
regsvr32 /i %windir%\srchasst\srchui.dll

Tried installing search assistant
%systemroot%\inf\Srchasst.inf

Tried regedits
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\CabinetState]
"Use Search Asst1"=-
"Use Search Asst"="no"

Checked reg entries
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{EFA24E64-B078-11d0-89E4-00C04FC9E26E}\InProcServer32

Tried sfc /scannow
Tried malwarebytes antimalware
Tried clearing temp files etc

Still no search pane - anyone any ideas short of rebuilding? :/

_________________________________
Leozack

MakeUniverse($infinity,1,42);

 

[Leozack]

Guess noone else has any ideas either! Rebuild time I suppose :| What a weird and annoying glitch ...

_________________________________
Leozack

MakeUniverse($infinity,1,42);

 

[goombawaho]

I saw this once (not exactly the same isse as what you have) but this "fix" fixed it and you've already done that, so NO I don't know what else you can do.

When you try to view any one of the following dialog boxes, the dialog box may appear to be empty or partly empty:
* Search Companion
* User Accounts
* Windows Update
* Help and Support
* System Restore

Solutions:

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=831430

http://windowsxp.mvps.org/srblank.htm

"Living tomorrow is everyone's sorrow.
Modern man's daydreams have turned into nightmares.