Why are Ventura apps crashing when I select help?

Question

Level 1

15 points

Why are Ventura apps crashing when I select help?

Since upgrading to Ventura (M1 Macbook Pro) every time I mouse the help menu in an app it crashes the app. In the help menu dropdown I see a blue field just below the "Help" and then sometimes the first line of the help menu. It crashes too with the keyboard shortcut command-shift-/. So basically I can't access help at all. The report to apple gives says it is EXC_BAD_ACCESS (SIGSEGV) (I'm not allowed to paste the full report here apparently!)

It's irritating but not the end of the world, but I don't see how to fix it. I have looked at the Launch Agents and Daemons in both Libraries and they all look like the ones I expect.

Any ideas what else I can try?

MacBook Pro 14″, macOS 13.2

Posted on Mar 14, 2023 12:22 PM

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Answer 1

chuckbl

Community Specialist

Mar 15, 2023 01:47 PM in response to Bill Spears

Hello Bill Spears,

Let's use the steps below to boot your Mac into safe mode to see if that behavior still persists from there:

1. Shut down your Mac.

2. Turn on your Mac and continue to press and hold the power button until you see the startup options window.

3. Select your startup disk, then press and hold the Shift key while clicking “Continue in Safe Mode.”

4. Log in to your Mac. You might be asked to log in again.

You can also find those steps in this resource: How to use safe mode on your Mac - Apple Support

It can take a few extra minutes to boot into safe mode. Your screen may flash or flicker while in safe mode. Those behaviors are expected. Testing in safe mode runs a check on your disk, removes some cached files, and can help isolate conflicts with startup items. Once you've tested that behavior in safe mode, you can restart to leave safe mode.

Should that still persist, do you experience the same behavior from a newly created user account? Add a user or group on Mac - Apple Support

Let us know, and we'll keep moving forward based on your results.

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Answer 2

Owl-53

Level 10

100,159 points

Mar 16, 2023 09:16 AM in response to Bill Spears

From the Existing Report thought

2023-02-24 CleanMyMac X (4.12.6)

Any Third Party Applications that will interfere with the normal operation of the OS, is an invitation for disaster and comprise the Operating System

Certain Applications maybe available on the Apple Apps Store - this only means the Developer is prepared to pay Apple a portion on each sale. What the Application may do to the computer is up to the User to check this out before purchase

Any of the below should be removed as per Developers Instructions

1 - Disk Cleaner

This will include CleanMyMac , aka “ BrickMyMac “

Read some of the posting and arrive at your own conclusions.

What follows may not be what the User wants to hear but here goes anyways

Specific to CleanMyMac aka “ BrickMyMac “

The steps in #1 below is predicated on the Offending Application has been Removed as per the Developers Specific Instruction

# 1 Some Contributors suggest restarting in Recovery Mode and choosing to Reinstall the Operating System over the existing installation.

This may or may not replace elements of the Entire Operating System including the Home Folder ( User Account ) and replace any corrupted or removed elements of the Operating System and make thing right.

#2 - Then there are Other Contributors ( like myself ) would suggest from this link Use Disk Utility to erase a Mac with Apple silicon.

For Intel computer >> Use Disk Utility to erase an Intel-based Mac followed by How to reinstall macOS

Thereafter to start from scratch and install all Required Application directly from the Apple Apps Store or Directly from the Developer.

If going this route - I suggest Not using Startup Assist to migrate things back as this will probably Re-Introduce the existing issue that existed when the TM Backup was made

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Answer 3

Owl-53

Level 10

100,159 points

Mar 16, 2023 06:58 AM in response to Bill Spears

As the issue is still present in the New Account - then, this appears to be a System Wide issue on the computer.

Download the Application Etrecheck directly from the Developer.

This is a Diagnostic Tool that makes no changes to the computer.

It makes a coherent and readable inventory of both the Hardware and Software used on the computer

The application is free or paid from added features.

The Report will Not Reveal Any Personal Information.

Post back the Full Report - copy and paste - >>>> using the Additional Text Icon ( 3rd Icon to last ) <<<<

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Answer 4

Bill Spears Author

Level 1

15 points

Mar 16, 2023 06:04 AM in response to chuckbl

Dear Chuck,

Thanks for replying.

So in safe mode I get the same problem, with my user account, but with a new user account there is no crashing.

I look forward to your deduction from that.

Best regards,

Bill

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Answer 5

Owl-53

Level 10

100,159 points

Mar 16, 2023 09:12 AM in response to Bill Spears

Would suggest getting the Application from the Develops

The Version that was used to created the Report is probably from an Old Apple Store version

EtreCheck version: 6.2.2 (6C004) which is severely Crippled

Current version is EtreCheck version: 6.8.1 (68024)

Which is indicative of Ventura as listed as 10.18.3 10.18.3 (22D68)

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Answer 6

Bill Spears Author

Level 1

15 points

Mar 17, 2023 09:44 AM in response to Owl-53

Well the proposal for a complete reinstall with a clean system is a bit too drastic for me, I don't really want to throw away years of adjustments to the OS to suit my needs and work. Not to mention all the time that would take. So I would need to find a more clever way to get to the root of the problem.

What's interesting is that a clean account doesn't have the problem. I thought maybe it's the login or background items in system settings which are causing the problems. I compared the login and background items from the new account with the old, and gradually worked through the differences either deleting the login items or disabling the background items and then logging out and in again to test whether that helped. I even in the end disabled all background items. Unfortunately none of these attempts cleared the problem.

The suggestion to get rid of Cleanmymac also seems difficult. The uninstaller only lets you reset it, not remove it. So that could still be a cause.

I am wondering if there is some other difference between a new and old account I should investigate? And I also wonder why this has only happened since Ventura. Monterey worked fine.

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Answer 7

Owl-53

Level 10

100,159 points

Mar 17, 2023 02:21 PM in response to Bill Spears

Good work thus far but the Damages caused by " BrickMyMac " are generally very extensive.

The user may end up spending more time " Hunting and Pecking " trying to find the combinations of Issues that this software has infected on the Computer and never really get to the bottom go it.

Users choice though.

Good Luck with these issues with the computer

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