Is there any hope for Help Viewer?

Question

I have read through as many discussions about Help Viewer problems as I can find, and still, help in Finder doesn't work. I have tried all of Dr. Smoke's suggestions and many others to no avail. Help Viewer still ends up going back to a blank screen, links that don't work, and the search just keeps searching.
All of the suggestions I have tried fix Help Viewer temporarily, but it has always gone back to its same old broken self.
If anyone out there can REALLY help, I would REALLY appreciate it.
Thank you!

Answer 1

Hi Jordan. Hopefully I can offer a solution for this which bugged me enough to really try to resolve it, and have now done so, at least for me.
First the essentials.
System Setup: Powermac G4 Dual 1GHz MDD. 1GB. MacOS 10.4.3
Issue: Loading Mac Helper from the Finder will result in a blank screen after the first launch. On first launch you will be able to click one or two links then it will not work and search will not function [issues may vary but blank screen always]
This problem occurred with earlier versions of Tiger. I have since done a clean install. Tried replacing the Help Viewer app from the Install disk and also the MacHelp.help document too, but it did not help. I even tried the same items from other disks just to check for corrupt files but still no change. Trashing the prefs does not seem to make any difference, nor the same with the cache folder but it can resolve other issues, just not this particular one.
NOTE Before others try this fix I strongly suggest you try the solutions suggested by Apple and those on the very good XLab web site. Here are a few related articles:
XLab. The most comprehensive guide to the Help issues.Check out the 'Help Viewer displays a blank window.' link.
http://www.thexlab.com/faqs/helpviewer.html
Apple. From the source. Not quite the same symptoms but offers Help advice on
'Mac OS X 10.2, 10.3: Mac Help Viewer unexpectedly quits'
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=107013
Solution:
1. Go to User > Library > Caches > com.apple.helpui [note: you need to launch Help Viewer at least once so that this folder is created]
2. Delete ALL files/ folders in the com.apple.helpui folder, if any.
3. Create a new folder inside com.apple.helpui and name it 'Mac Help' [the same as that created automatically by Help Viewer, case sensitive].
4. Select the new folder and use Command + I to see the folder 'Info'. First
label it red [to aid further diagnostics] and then change ALL the permissions at the bottom to *Read only* [click Details to see the options, not just 'You can'. Include Read only for 'Owner', 'Group' & 'Others'. You will need Admin access for this]. Close the Info panel.
5. Launch Mac Help from the Finder menu bar. If it was blank before, the Help Viewer screen should show the Mac Help homepage again. Try several links and search and Index. They should all work, and quicker now. Quit and relaunch. This time the Help Viewer works now and no blank screen. The issue with Mac Help is fixed ( but be aware that any other Help folders created could well cause the same issue, so check for these if it still happens and read on for details of how to deal with this other part of the issue)
*BUT*
Although this resolves the Mac Help issue, AS SOON AS OTHER MAC APPLICATION HELP's ARE LAUNCHED, IT IS MOST LIKELY THE ISSUE WILL RETURN!, hence the labeling of the Help folders red, to track newly created Help folders (i.e. Mail Help, Safari Help etc). If these are launched this automatically creates help folders in com.apple.helpui for them and they also cause the blank screen problem.
So, the best thing is to create Help folders in the same way that you did for Mac Help, for ALL Mac applications to avoid having to do it incrementally as and when you use another Mac application Help [or if you do a search it may well create folders anyhow]. These are the Help folders I have created, with the red label and 'Read only' permissions:
Activity Monitor Help
Address Book Help
AirPort Help
AppleScript Help
Automator Help
Bluetooth Help
Calculator Help
Chess Help
Console Help
Dictionary Help
Directory Access Help
Disk Utility Help
DVD Player Help
Font Book Help
Grapher Help
iCal Help
iChat Help
Image Capture Help
Mac Help
Mail Help
ODBC Administrator Help
Preview Help
QuickTime Player Help
Safari Help
Script Editor Help
Sherlock Help
Stickies Help
System Profiler Help
Terminal Help
TextEdit Help
There are probably more but these are the ones I could find fairly easily. If they are labeled red then it is easy to see if any others appear and cause the issue. Once I have done this I make a backup copy of these folders with the permissions set and archive it for use as and when I need to replace them.
Result: For me and my setup this has resulted in my being able to use Help normally without the blank screen issue for nearly two weeks now since I spent a lot of time looking at this issue. In fact I find Help works a lot faster and suffers fewer delays. Because this only requires amendments to file permissions, in a folder which is automatically replaced if deleted anyhow, I feel it is a safe and easy enough for most users to do if they have this problem.
I hope this offers a solution to other users with the same issue and who have tried the other suggestions (Including Dr. Smoke's and from Apple etc) but still have problems with the blank screen.
The Cause & Other Notes
Having been frustrated with this issue for several months now I spent some time trying to find the cause. It clearly does not effect everyone, and others have found the suggested fixes, such as trashing the com.apple.helpui cache folder and relevant preference files, have worked for them. It makes it a more complicated problem to identify. It appears perhaps to be related to your type/ speed of connection from the computer to the Apple help servers where the cache folders and files and downloaded from. This seems likely from error messages. It also appears that, for whatever reason, some of those files being automatically created when Help Viewer is launched are the actual problem. In order to explain why I think that, if you have this issue then you should get the exact same repeatable test which led me to find the solution.
Do this:
1. Firstly navigate to > Library > Caches > com.apple.helpui and trash this folder. Then before proceeding launch the following apps to help diagnose and follow what is happening:
a. Console [so you can watch for error message in console.log window]
b. Activity Monitor [to watch internet traffic during launch and browsing the Help Viewer]
c. Leave the FInder window so you can watch what happens.
2. Launch Mac Help from the Finder menu bar. It should launch and show the home page on the screen. Immediately you will see a new com.apple.helpui folder being created. Navigate into this so you can watch what is being placed in the newly created com.apple.helpui folder.
3. Now click on any of the Help links on the right (not the link to the apple web site). Immediately (slower if dialup and not already connected) you should see traffic over the network as the computer connects to the Apple help servers. Then, in the com.apple.helpui folder you will see a new folder called 'Mac Help'. Also some other numbered (0-15) cache folders which are not of interest right now. And on quit a file called 'TOCCache.plist' which does not effect things. Soon you should see an error in the Console console.log window something like this:
"2005-11-19 01:57:45.585 Help Viewer[1313] Exception raised during posting of notification. Ignored. exception: * End of archive encountered prematurely at 400"
I am not sure exactly why this is but it appears to be related to some sort of timeout and failure to fully download some items.
4. Now try to click on any link or Index. For me, nothing happens and I get only more error messages like:
"2005-11-19 02:02:21.190 Help Viewer[1313] Uncaught exception - * End of archive encountered prematurely at 400
2005-11-19 02:02:21.190 Help Viewer[1313] * Attempt to remove unrecognized exception handler 0xbfffdce0"
The only option is to quit out.
5. Immediately relaunch Mac Help. If it is like me then it will now be a blank screen accompanied by the following my critical error message:
"2005-11-19 02:03:33.543 Help Viewer[1319] * NSRunLoop ignoring exception '* End of archive encountered prematurely at 400' that raised during posting of delayed perform with target 375df0 and selector '_setupTOC'"
Now, everytime I quit a launch Mac Help it is the same error and blank screen.
This seemed to me to point towards an issue within the com.apple.helpui folder because when it is trashed Help Viewer will launch one time then stop.
So I went through each folder (I had a number of Help folders the first time) and tried moving it out of the folder, rather like testing for bad prefs in OS8.
Eventually I tracked the offending file/s down to this:
User > Library > Caches > com.apple.helpui > Mac Help > Contents > Resources > English.lproj > pgs > pgs.helpindex
As soon as this file is created then it all stops. Trash this file and relaunch and the homepage appears again until it appears and once again the problem reappears. This is totally repeatable for me.
Once I had isolated the problem file I tried various solutions to resolve it. The first was to replace it with the same file which is already in the System within the MacHelp.help documentation here (the system Library, not the User path)
Library > Documentation > Help > MacHelp.help
Copy MacHelp.help and then use Command + I and 'Show Package Contents' to navigate to:
MacHelp.help > Contents > Resources > English.lproj > pgs > pgs.helpindex
(right at the bottom of the pgs folder with hundreds of .html files)
I then replaced the existing pgs.helpindex with this one. It is different at it has an earlier Created date of 16/03/2005 (my vary), the one in the cache folder is Created 20/10/2005 (may vary?)
This allowed Help Viewer to launch correctly, but after a short time and re-launch it returned to the blank screen. Examining the file showed it was being overwritten by the later downloaded version, the one causing the problem. This led me to change the permissions to 'Read only' to prevent it being overwritten and after this the Help Viewer worked normally on relaunches.
I also changed and altered the permissions on the pgs/pgs2.helpindex folder in the same directory as the pgs folder as it seemed to also cause a problem.
So, finally I resolved the problem, with no error messages, the Help Viewer loading correctly and a working Help. However, I noticed that after a while the blank screen came back. Knowing the pgs.helpindex was OK it seemed likely that other .helpindex files in other Help folders created in the com.apple.helpui folder. This proved the case because, on trashing the new Help folder, it launched again. Swapping the downloaded .helpindex in say, Mail Help, and changing the permissions fixed it, until another Apple application Help folder was created and it re-occurred. The problem does not occur with all the Mac application Helps, but with some (notably for me, Mail Help, Safari Help and some others).
Finally I found that rather than digging into the apps contents I could get the same fix and also quicker Help browsing by simply creating the actual Help folders as described above and ensuring the .helpindex (or other folders/ files like idx) was not created.
From nearly two weeks trials it so far appears to completely resolve this issue.
Just be aware of any new Help folders/ files being created.
The are a few other observations:
1. I tried just altering the permissions on the actual com.apple.helpui folder to 'Read only' but whilst it allowed the Help Viewer to open fine, it broke links within the application Help windows.
2. I have not tried many Helps on other non Apple applications. I find that Toast help triggers error messages:
"2005-11-19 02:27:02.229 Help Viewer[1340] -[IdxSearchController openIndices:] caught a VTWIN exception. Bad index file is /Applications/Toast 7 Titanium/Toast Titanium.app/Contents/Resources/English.lproj/Toast Help/Toast Help idx
It is not possible to change the 'Toast Help idx' as it is an exec file. The errors do not seem to break Help Viewer. I had similar error messages from Quicktime Help when it loaded. I suspect that the Toast help is broken for similar reasons as mac Help b (it works for links to installed pages but not external ones). But it could be from the alterations to the Help folders. Either way at least Help works.
3. It is possible to get most .helpindex files from the relevant application contents but just using the Help folders is a quicker solution.
4. I can't help feel that the difference between those that have or do not have these issues is a slower connection, i.e. non-broadband. I have a 64k ISDN connection through a router which is pretty much 'always on' with solid 7KB speeds, but it seems this is insufficient for Help to work properly. I read elsewhere that connection speed appears to be an issue and Help is sensitive to this. It would be interesting to know what type of connection people with the issue have. I also have a hardware firewall in the router which may be a factor but it does not stop any other normal traffic and allows the files through anyhow. It has been in place for 6 years and with no issues. Just wanted to note it.
5. Certainly for my situation, it appears that the files being downloaded from the Apple help servers are actually causing the problem at my end. I can't explain why or how other than the tests explained above are repeatable and that using the same file but from the System file resolves the problem. It remains unclear why a slower connection would lead to files downloading which affect some people but not others? It may be something totally different of course but the error messages in Console do seem to point towards this.
6. I imagine the reason why the files and folders are downloaded are to ensure that they are kept up to date, as the pgs.helpindex for instance is a later creation date. However I do not seem to have any problems browsing or looking at topics, especially with the 'Include product Support Searches' option selected in the Help View menu. It means that there is extra traffic but gives a wider range of responses from Apple. Perhaps it is better to deselect this option if you have a slow dialup connection?
Summary
I hope that this solution can help others with this issue and perhaps other related problems. There is no way of me testing it further and I do not know how others who seemingly do not have a problem can check this. I just know it resolved it for me. I am no expert but a long time Mac user who is used to simple and elegant functionality, not the ongoing saga of the current Help, and wanted the thing just to 'work'.
Good luck
Simon