Mac OS X 10.4.3 (#9): Mac Help inaccessible for some; More on Address Book content disappearing; Sleep Issues -- Solutions; more

CNET staff

Sept. 2, 2009 8:14 a.m. PT

5 min read

Mac Help inaccessible for some A handful of users report an inability to access Mac Help after the Mac OS X 10.4.3 update.

MacFixIt reader Matt Neuberg writes:

"Since the Mac OS X 10.4.3 update, choosing Mac Help (in the Finder's Help menu) brings up a blank window. I've seen this reported elsewhere, so I know I'm not alone. Deleting caches and relevant plist files has not helped. Other applications' help files work just fine; only Mac Help is not working."

Although these workarounds weren't successful for Matt, in some instances of this problem, a corrupt cache file may be to blame; an issue easily resolved by deleting the following folder:

~/Library/Caches/com.apple.helpui

(this is the Library folder at the root level of your User [~] directory [users/username/...])

Close and re-open Help Viewer, and the proper contents should be displayed.

Failing the above solution, you may need to delete the following property list files from the ~/Library/Preferences folder.

com.apple.helpviewer.plist
com.apple.help.plist
com.apple.helpui.plist

and re-launch Help Viewer.

More on Address Book content disappearing We continue to receive reports from readers for whom Address Book data disappears after the update to Mac OS X 10.4.3 -- usually not right after installation, but a few hours or days later.

One MacFixIt reader offers a more detailed observation of what is causing the problem:

"The problem seems to trigger by making some change in the Address Book and it somehow not getting 'auto-saved' correctly upon quit. While Address Book does keeps it's own backup copy of the Address Book database file, when a user opens Address Book after the first error occurs (not knowing it has occurred), and sees no addresses, then quits Address Book again, it replaces the backup copy with an empty Address Book as well. So now you're stuck.

"My limited analysis to date seems to point a something with how Address Book does it's 'autosave' and the interaction of that with other processing/applications (Spotlight? Address Book Widgets? iSync? Mail?) As a precaution since it happened to me, I use Address Book's manual Backup Database command to create my own backups. I'm glad I did too, since the problem did re-occur for me once, and I was quickly able to get back to my last manual backup state. There is some bad bug here that needs to get priority to get fixed by Apple."

Sleep Issues -- Solutions Users continue to report issues with sleep under Mac OS X 10.4.3, particularly an inability to wake their systems from sleep after the update.

In some cases, these issues can be resolved by removing problematic devices like PCI cards or external FireWire/USB devices.

In other cases, some of the workarounds listed in our tutorial "Dealing with Wake-from-sleep issues.".

In particular, deleting the following .plist files

/Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration/com.apple.PowerManagement.plist
/Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration/com.apple.AutoWake.plist
~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.systemuiserver.plist

Some users have also reported success with resetting various Macs' PMUs (power management units), also detailed in the tutorial.

If menubar items disappear, try re-enabling We've received scattered reports from for whom various menubar items disappear after the update to Mac OS X 10.4.3

In many cases, the resolution for this problem is as simple as re-enabling the menubar items through their appropriate preference pane or companion application.

For instance, if your AirPort menubar item is missing after the update, try launching the "Internet Connect" application (located at the root level of the /Applications folder), click the Airport pane, and choose "Show Airport status in menu bar."

Another solution for failed boot after update We continue to receive numerous reports from readers who are unable to properly startup after the update to Mac OS X 10.4.3. In most cases, the startup process stalls at the grey Apple progress indicator screen indefinitely.

Yesterday we noted a few potential workarounds for this issue, including

In some cases, the following process may also prove successful:

Download and save the Mac OS X 10.4.3 combo updater.
Startup from an alternate boot volume, such as an external FireWire drive, or use another Mac to boot the problematic system in FireWire target disk mode (connect the two machines via a FireWire cable, and boot the target [problematic] system while holding down the "T" key)
Once booted from an alternate drive, select the problematic volume in the Finder, and "Get Info" -- either by pressing the Command-I keyboard combination or accessing the "Get Info" option in the File menu. Check the box marked "Ignore ownership permissions on this volume."
If you have a third-party disk repair utility like DiskWarrior, use it to re-build the directory on the problematic volume (this step may not be necessary)
Re-install the Mac OS X 10.4.3 combo updater on the problematic drive.
Re-attempt booting from the problematic volume (hold down the option key at startup to select the desired drive)

Resetting NVRAM for non-functioning FireWire ports We've posted several workarounds in the past few days for problematic FireWire functionality occurring after the Mac OS X 10.4.3 update. New data suggests that performing an NVRAM reset may be successful in some cases where FireWire ports are not recognized by Apple System Profiler, nor any other component of Mac OS X.

In order to perform an NVRAM reset, restart your system and hold down the Command, Option, O and F keys simultaneously. You will be presented with a command-line prompt. Enter the following commands, pressing return after each:

reset-nvram
reset-all

Failing the above, the following workaround may be successful: Disconnect all FIreWire devices from your computer and disconnect any externally powered devices from electrical input. Shut off your Mac and wait several minutes. Reconnect all of the devices, and check for recognition.

Feedback? Late-breakers@macfixit.com.

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