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*helpd* Process Problem

Same here on Spanish Big Sur.
I found a solution at this moment:
- Switch to English as default language
- Restart
- Everything works fine
- Switch to Spanish again
- Everything works fine now!

Just open some apps and helpd service appears and eat 90% of CPU.
Switch to english again... continue the investigation...
 
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Kraizelburg said:
No solution thus far, lets hope next Big Sur update solves the problem.
Click to expand...
It doesn't. I'm on the 11.2 beta (20D5029f) and the problem is still there. I have reported it in the Feedback Assistant and it says "Similar reports:more than 10. Resolution: Open."

Captura de pantalla 2021-01-08 a las 15.01.51.jpg
 
Same problem here, guys. Sorry but I can't wait for Apple to fix it, so I've just written a small script suited for a launchd agent that limits how much CPU time a single helpd process is allowed to consume.

You can find it here, along with explanations:
https://github.com/jestramiana/limit-helpd

Once you load the launchd agent, it will keep running in the background and looking for helpd processes to kill (only if they consume more CPU time than allowed, that is).

Keep in mind this a very simple script that I've written very quickly, that seems to work fine for me (tested for just half a day), so... use it at your own risk!!

You can either tell me here or in the GitHub repo of any issues or improvements you may think of.
 
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Sindark said:
Same problem here, guys. Sorry but I can't wait for Apple to fix it, so I've just written a small script suited for a launchd agent that limits how much CPU time a single helpd process is allowed to consume.

You can find it here, along with explanations:
https://github.com/jestramiana/limit-helpd

Once you load the launchd agent, it will keep running in the background and looking for helpd processes to kill (only if they consume more CPU time than allowed, that is).

Keep in mind this a very simple script that I've written very quickly, that seems to work fine for me (tested for just half a day), so... use it at your own risk!!

You can either tell me here or in the GitHub repo of any issues or improvements you may think of.
Click to expand...
Nice, works perfect. Good temporary solution until apple fixes the problem in future updates.
 
Sindark said:
Same problem here, guys. Sorry but I can't wait for Apple to fix it, so I've just written a small script suited for a launchd agent that limits how much CPU time a single helpd process is allowed to consume.

You can find it here, along with explanations:
https://github.com/jestramiana/limit-helpd

Once you load the launchd agent, it will keep running in the background and looking for helpd processes to kill (only if they consume more CPU time than allowed, that is).

Keep in mind this a very simple script that I've written very quickly, that seems to work fine for me (tested for just half a day), so... use it at your own risk!!

You can either tell me here or in the GitHub repo of any issues or improvements you may think of.
Click to expand...
Thanks buddy, it works perfect! BTW... is helpd needed at some exact point by any app, or just the internal help?
 
heraldo_jones said:
Thanks buddy, it works perfect! BTW... is helpd needed at some exact point by any app, or just the internal help?
Click to expand...
Helpd indexes application help files. Under normal conditions, it would run when installing a new app, or when opening the help of any application, but for a short time and without consuming resources. I've been using Sindark's solution for a day, without problems with any application and system.
 
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cuellar said:
I have reported it again to Apple after the OS reinstall didn't work. Now a call with Apple. They have asked me to format the disk and reinstall the OS again. I'm almost sure that if I do it the problem will still be there.

What seems strange to me is that almost nobody is reporting this issue...
Click to expand...
So, I suspect it's due to some software package that we all have in common. I also have a laptop and a Desktop, and the helpd problem only was appearing with the Desktop iMac (the laptop, a 2018 MBP 15" has been downgraded to Catalina for other bugs, like the battery draining too fast)
 
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Thanks man.

Apple needs more people to check the feedback reports, and to invest more in testing and solving bugs. And the problem is, they can. If there's a company with money to do that, is Apple.
 
Same Problem here on a MacBook Pro 15" 2015.

Solved changing the language to Latin Spanish as stated. Lets hope apple fixes this issue in the next update.
 
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I don't understand if they've fixed something or if they haven't found any errors, but it says now:
Investigation complete - Works as currently designed.

Captura de pantalla 2021-01-23 a las 13.22.51.jpg
 
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It seems we’ll be stuck in latin american Spanish... sigh.

By the way, next time you open a report, please specify the issue only happens with Spain Spanish.

Also please include screenshots of Activity Monitor showing high CPU time for helpd process.

This is so frustrating...
 
I updated my feedback report, which still shows Open/Similar None. They just aren't looking closely enough.

"Still fails in newest release macOS 11.2 RC 20D53. This only occurs using SPAIN SPANISH, other dialects work fine. Pay close attention to the screen shot included with System Preferences / Language & Region."

Hopefully this spells it out
 
joedec said:
I updated my feedback report, which still shows Open/Similar None. They just aren't looking closely enough.

"Still fails in newest release macOS 11.2 RC 20D53. This only occurs using SPAIN SPANISH, other dialects work fine. Pay close attention to the screen shot included with System Preferences / Language & Region."

Hopefully this spells it out
Click to expand...
Good, thank you.

Apple needs to invest more in bug detection and people checking the bug reports. Otherwise, having a beta program is useless.

I answered an Apple survey about Feedback Assistant and I complained about bugs and bug reports being overlooked, also I gave the service a low score.
 
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germanyague said:
I don't understand if they've fixed something or if they haven't found any errors, but it says now:
Investigation complete - Works as currently designed.

View attachment 1718071
Click to expand...
I must say. I'm currently on 11.2 (20D53) and after 24h the problem hasn't surfaced again. Seems fixed for me, but I'll keep an eye on it.

UPDATE 27/1/2021: Nop, still there. I've opened another ticket in Feedback Assistant with number FB8981644, this time specifying that is Spanish Spain and attaching everything I could think of. Meanwhile... Español latinoamericano it is.
 
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germanyague said:
I must say. I'm currently on 11.2 (20D53) and after 24h the problem hasn't surfaced again. Seems fixed for me, but I'll keep an eye on it.
Click to expand...
I installed it yesterday and after rebooting once the update was completed the Helpd process started for a while but after some minutes running it stopped and everything was ok.
I will keep on watching...
 
Populus said:
Anyone with the RC2 can see if this is still happening, even if you have to trigger it using the Help menu? Thank you.
Click to expand...

I am currently installing RC2, I'll attach screen shots shortly. Hope for the best.

Not fixed. I did invoke Help to start helpd, after exiting help, I snapped the following.
Captura de pantalla 2021-01-25 a las 2.16.57 p. m..pngCaptura de pantalla 2021-01-25 a las 2.17.32 p. m..pngCaptura de pantalla 2021-01-25 a las 2.19.19 p. m..png
 
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