svchost.exe Problem Windows XP SP3

[CLC]

I keep having the high CPU issue, one is on a machine i just did a virus removal on and I know it's clean. I also went through Bryce's fix and another listed below still no dice. I've heard disabling windows update will fix the issue but how can I fix this without disabling the update.

How to stop svchost.exe using up 100% system resources (Windows XP Only):
Visit the Microsoft website and Download Windows Update v3 WindowsUpdateAgent30-x86.exe and save it to your C:\ drive
Download this file fix_svchost.bat (right click and choose save as..) and save it to your C:\ drive
Download this file WindowsXP-KB927891.exe and save it to your C:\ drive
Reboot the computer and log in to Windows XP in safe mode. To do this, press F8 just before the WindowsXP logo shows up during boot and press up to choose “Safe Mode”
Once Windows has loaded and you have the option of which user account to use, log on as “Administrator”.
Click Start > Run, choose the Browse button and find the fix_svchost.bat file you saved before, press Open, then OK.
A black screen will pop up and white text will scroll past. Wait for this process to finish as it could take several minutes. It will close itself when its finished.
Once the black screen disappears, Click Start > Run, choose the Browse button and find the WindowsUpdateAgent30-x86.exe file you saved before, press Open, then OK. Follow the prompts as it installs.
When Windows Update Agent finishes installing, Click Start > Run, choose the Browse button and find the WindowsXP-KB927891.exe file you saved before, press Open, then OK. Follow the prompts as it installs.
Reboot the computer

Reset the Automatic Updates System – Windows XP SP3
Open a command prompt: Start | Run | cmd /Enter
net stop “Automatic Updates” – ENTER
del /f /s /q %windir%\SoftwareDistribution\*.* – ENTER
net start “Automatic Updates” – ENTER
wuauclt.exe /detectnow – ENTER

 

[ComputerRepairTech]

did you confirm that its windows update using the high cpu usage (it is likely but should be confirmed none the less). You can use process hacker to view the threads.

Edit: do you have d7? if so did you do the windows update fix within d7?

 

[Martyn]

Funny I've got one at this moment. I tried the D7 fix but no luck. Running Wsus updater and it's kick starting it into life. Ended the svchost.exe process for now. One of competitors went in and just re-installed XP SP2 with nothing else done Got it in the workshop

 

[ComputerRepairTech]

and you confirmed its the windows update thread doing it?

 

[Martyn]

and you confirmed its the windows update thread doing it?

No because I wanted to try the wsus thing first just to see. It's happened in the last hour and I just popped onto the forums while it's going.

 

[Martyn]

Yep updates are now working after wsus did ie8 and a reboot.

 

[ComputerRepairTech]

for curiosity sake what was happening when you tried to go through the normal windows update process?

 

[Martyn]

It was just running across the Windows update screen and never stopping with the updates. Saying that before it did one update through wsus and ie isn't working so i'm running wsus update now to do the bulk of the updates. As I say i'm live doing it and just saw your post while I was looking online at the svchost issue.

Update

svchost.exe has now backed off to 45% and wsus is running through some initial updates. I do find if I have issues with updates and I run wsus it kick starts it into life

 

[CLC]

Process explorer connected it to this dll which i believe has to do with windows update.
wuaueng.dll+0xa4f42

I have 2 computers acting up the same way, I'm tempted to just update everything and disable windows update all together.

 

[Martyn]

Process explorer connected it to this dll which i believe has to do with windows update.
wuaueng.dll+0xa4f42

I have 2 computers acting up the same way, I'm tempted to just update everything and disable windows update all together.

That's what the previous tech did without the updates. SP2, no updates and ie6

 

[ComputerRepairTech]

Process explorer connected it to this dll which i believe has to do with windows update.
wuaueng.dll+0xa4f42

I have 2 computers acting up the same way, I'm tempted to just update everything and disable windows update all together.

yes thats correct, as far as i know i've just run the d7 windows update repair script and then updates through IE and its worked for the issues ive encountered..i may have killed that thread first i dont recall.

 

[glricht]

I've had a few of these, the most recent was yesterday: a low-end XP Home SP3 IE8 in the back room which hadn't been turned on in over two months.

Powered it up and when XP finished booting, the CPU quickly went to 100%. Process explorer identified the culprit as svchost.exe, specifically the one in which the auto update process ran in.

In the past, I'd done what others mentioned above, but this time I decided to just let it run to see what would happen. About 20-30 minutes later, got a notification that 47 updates were available and the CPU was down to about 5%. Ran the updates and rebooted. The high CPU hasn't come back.

 

[drake3d]

MS has a patch for the different IE versions. It effect IE which causes issues with automatic updates. Search for KB2879017 and you should find your fix. Get it for the correct IE version.
Let us know if it works for you. It has worked on several systems I have applied it too.

 

[CLC]

I've had a few of these, the most recent was yesterday: a low-end XP Home SP3 IE8 in the back room which hadn't been turned on in over two months.

Powered it up and when XP finished booting, the CPU quickly went to 100%. Process explorer identified the culprit as svchost.exe, specifically the one in which the auto update process ran in.

In the past, I'd done what others mentioned above, but this time I decided to just let it run to see what would happen. About 20-30 minutes later, got a notification that 47 updates were available and the CPU was down to about 5%. Ran the updates and rebooted. The high CPU hasn't come back.

I'll try this, I can't remember if I left the computer on all last night or not but it does have IE 8 with the suggested security update from MS. For the moment I shut off windows update and the problem has vanished of course. This must be a new bug? I remember having problems with this a long time ago like when installing/updating net framework or what not but it would correct itself.

 

[numnutz]

I've had a few of these, the most recent was yesterday: a low-end XP Home SP3 IE8 in the back room which hadn't been turned on in over two months.

Powered it up and when XP finished booting, the CPU quickly went to 100%. Process explorer identified the culprit as svchost.exe, specifically the one in which the auto update process ran in.

In the past, I'd done what others mentioned above, but this time I decided to just let it run to see what would happen. About 20-30 minutes later, got a notification that 47 updates were available and the CPU was down to about 5%. Ran the updates and rebooted. The high CPU hasn't come back.

Had this issue last week did a wipe and reload as a favor for someone ended up trying to figure this out for 2 hours. Tried all the fixes etc. It was an old PC p4 intel processor 1gb memory. Finally let automatic updates run through the night. Woke up to needing 100 plus updates. Downloaded and installed and issue went away.

 

[redmon]

We used wsus offline to update and get past the issue.

 

[Tekguy]

I just worked on an XP computer a week or two ago that had the dreaded svchost.exe spiked at 100%. After applying all the Windows updates it was back to normal even after a few reboots.

That's interesting that it's a patch for IE that fixes the problem. I thought upgrading to the newest version of IE was the fix.