svchost.exe problems.

[Electron]

Hi everyone,

I posted before about problems with this computer, now i am back. If anyone can help i may have some hair left.

The computer in question is a P4 1.8Ghz, 256mb Ram running WinXP.

The problem is extremely slow boot up, up to 10 minutes. Norton Antivirus then has a large red cross through it and i have to enable the antivirus, but that isn't a major problem. I then find Internet Explorer opens but has no connections. If i go to start- Connect to- there are no internet connections showing, sometimes the "Connect to" isn't there. About five minutes later they suddenly appear. During this time nothing on the Taskbar will work, although icons on the desktop work. If i then connect to the Internet and then go to Start-Connect to-Show all connections it shows the three i have but they all say they are disconnected.

I have run DRWatson and this is what it shows:-

Application exception occurred:
App: C:\WINDOWS\System32\svchost.exe (pid=756)
When: 08/09/2002 @ 20:54:34.883
Exception number: c0000005 (access violation)

Then gives the usual information about the computer and the task list. Then further down it says:-

*----> Stack Back Trace <----*
*** ERROR: Symbol file could not be found. Defaulted to export symbols for C:\WINDOWS\System32\ntdll.dll -
*** ERROR: Symbol file could not be found. Defaulted to export symbols for C:\WINDOWS\system32\ADVAPI32.dll -
WARNING: Stack unwind information not available. Following frames may be wrong.
*** ERROR: Module load completed but symbols could not be loaded for C:\WINDOWS\System32\svchost.exe

As i said before i had this problem a while back but had no clue as to what was going on, so ended up doing a backup and using the Recovery disc (XP came pre-loaded) to put the computer back as i got it (i tried to restore it to a previous date when it was working but it made no difference). I don't really want to do it all again, as it only lasted 4 days before the same problem re-occurred.

Any further information needed, please ask.
Any help will be gratefully appreciated, it seems to me to be svchost.exe causing the problem but i just don't know what to do about it.

[Electron]

I have been reading on the Microsoft website about svchost.exe and it says by going to a CMD line and typing Tasklist /SRV it gives a list of running services with the pid numbers so that you can isolate what program is causing the problem.

The problem i have is when i go to the CMD line and type in Tasklist /SRV i get a message saying:-
'Tasklist' is not recognized as an internal or external command, operable program or batchfile.

Can anyone explain this please.

[DrZaius]

Hi Electron,

First, run msconfig and uncheck anything that is not necessary from the startup tab (like anti-virus, etc.) Then see if you still get the same problems.

[Electron]

Hi DrZaius,

I have just run msconfig and took out six items:-
navapw32 = Norton AV
Ulead = Photo Manipulation
fsg = spyware (i have this blocked)
msmsgs = I believe is Messenger
Keymaestro = Keyboard
IAMAPP = Norton Firewall

I restarted everything booted fine. So i added one item back at a time rebooting between each, everything loaded fine.

After checking the last item IAMAPP everything loaded fine except everything froze. So i rebooted everything perfectly but the Norton Firewall showed six items trying to access the Internet as soon as it was fully loaded.

C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\svchost.exe
C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\alg.exe
C:\NORTON(squiggly-line)1\NAVPW3.EXE
C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\fsg.exe (blocked)
C:\...\SYPROXYSVC.EXE
C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\ISASS.EXE

I have a feeling something is going on in the Firewall part of Norton's Internet Security 2002, but i don't know what. XP Firewall is also enabled, but has been running like this for 6 months with no problem.

I ran Ad-Aware before and shows 28 instances of spyware (maybe) but when i deleted them, one of the programs i use won't work, so i put them back. Will have to go through deleting one by one until i find the one i need.

Any further help appreciated.

[DrZaius]

Try completely uninstalling Norton Firewall for now and see if the problem is still there. If it is, then it could be some of the spyware causing it.

[Electron]

Thanks DrZaius,

Will keep that in mind. I have shut down overnight and booted this morning and everything is working fine, including the boot process. So will see how it goes for a few days, if the problem reoccurs then i will uninstall Norton Firewall.

Thanks for the help.

[pointd]

As regards the No connections for Internet Explorer and the 5 minute wait I have a very similar problem.

I have NAV 2002 loading at startup as well as Zonealarm personal. I also use ICS. If I start my ICS host before my client all is well and I can connect immediately. If I start my ICS client and then the ICS host I have the 5 minute wait before the host will display or dial any connections.

Event Viewer gives the following info

Service Control Manager

Timeout (30000 milliseconds) waiting for a transaction response from the Netman service.

Take a look at the following. It may help in your situation

http://support.microsoft.com/default...;en-us;Q254631