Win XP AutoUpdate

[SawThe Light]

Two of the computers in our home network of five have developed a problem that seems to be directly linked with XP updates.

The boxes crank up OK but after a couple of minutes they partially freeze, so much so that they become virtually unusable. Opening Task Manager and loking at "Processes" I see an svchost.exe greedily consuming "mem usage" at some 70k - 80k. Ending that process immediately cures the problem but only for a couple of minutes.

If I disable auto update the problem seems to go away.

Looking at the update history of each machine I noted that one using XP Home has a good history with no failed update attempts, but the other running XP Pro had some 70%+ entries marked as failed updates. Applying the patches that I could find on the MS site that related to the fault didn't help either machine.

I tried carrying out Fred Langa's "Non-destructive re-build" on the XP Pro machine but run into so many difficulties with "missing" files on the CD-ROM that I gave up. I have just done a complete re-format and clean re-install on it & loaded SP3, but due to other more pressing tasks I haven't had the opportunity to see if the problem has been cured.

Has anyone else had this difficulty and can anyone suggest a fix other than re-formatting & re-installing.

STL

[Bushfiva]

Sounds like wuauserv got its knickers in a twist. In order of simplicity, one might delete C : \WINDOWS\SoftwareDistribution\DataStore and reboot. If that doesn't work, delete C : \ WINDOWS\SoftwareDistribution and reboot. Finally, a fix might be to netstop wuauserv, re-register its DLLs and restart it. The details are out there on thar intarweb somewhere.

[SawThe Light]

Thanks for that. I'll give it a try.

STL

[Bushfiva]

I think option 3 is the one for you, but I'd rather you find the steps on thar intarweb and read comments about them, rather than have me post them. That way, you won't get all upset with me when it goes pear-shaped. But since you mentioned Home sytems are fine, but Pro aren't, my bet's on wuauserv and its offspring.

[Saab Dastard]

My personal opinion is that Windows Updates should be set to "off", or possibly to just "notify only".

Of course, one must then make the investment in time and effort to manually carry out the update process - including evaluating if patches are appropriate etc.

I do this at the beginning of each month - and if I am aware of any "high priority" security patches.

SD

[SawThe Light]

Thanks for the advice guys.

For the record, the re-formatted Pro machine is doing fine even with auto updates activated. This box has SP3 too.

On the machine running Home, deleting the DataStore and then SoftwareDistribution (c/w reboots) did not correct the problem so as I find the time I will do a re-register of the dll's. For now, updates are de-activated.

This is like a virus! Now we have another of the Pro boxes is afflicted. If I had the confidence I'd start switching to Linux.


STL