Ack! Can't open "Mac Help" at all!

[sjcaguy]

Hello all. I'm having a vexing problem. I can't open the plain-old "Mac Help" from the help window. The help windows will pop up in other apps-- iTunes works fine, for example.

But from the desktop, I can't open "Mac Help". If i go up to the menu and click on it, it opens up what looks like a blank "help" box and then closes it very quickly. Basically, the help viewer for standard mac help (from the help menu in finder) quits right away.

Please help me!

 

[sjcaguy]

more info: i checked the console and noticed a HelpViewer crash on 1/10/04.

Now I need to know how to fix it. Please Please help. Thanks.

 

[sjcaguy]

update: fixed

alright, fixed it.

if any of you have this problem, check out
http://www.thexlab.com/faqs/helpviewer.html#Anchor-Help-14210

 

[bousozoku]

Thanks for sharing that information with us.

I'm surprised that .Mac users haven't had the same problem since they all have Virex.

 

[mainstreetmark]

I almost always have more luck with Google than with the built-in help systems. Help always seems so terribly slow.

 

[yamadataro]

Originally posted by mainstreetmark
I almost always have more luck with Google than with the built-in help systems. Help always seems so terribly slow.

Yeah, I agree. Why is that help program soooooooo slow? My first instict always tells me I should open help, but it's so slow that I always have to force quit and go google.

Is it unusually slow on just my Mac???

 

[Beechside]

Mac Help problem resolved

Greetings all.

Thanks for your help since I had the same problem.

Tried repairing permissions, moving help files from my own signon (since other sign-ons on my machine worked OK), checking crach reporter logs and so on.

in the end, I moved all the help files from the Computer/Macintosh HD/Library/Documentation/Help folder to my desktop and moved them back in again. Not sure of the exact process since I was trying to diagnose but I think the key steps might have been:

Move all file from system help folder to desktop
Clicked on desktop
Started help (Cmd-?) - naturally, window was empty but at least it started
Moved all the files back again.

Bingo! Help worked for all apps.

Regs,

Pete