strange Windows Automatic Update issues

dgingeri

dgingeri

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Dec 5, 2004
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I have 3 machines here at work that are having issues with Automatic Updates, and I was wondering if anyone else has had these issues.

It starts off with the machine running very 'slowly' to the user. (I know, that is one of the most frequent complaints, so I almost dismissed it when it first came in.) I went to the user's desk, to find this laptop had the fan on high constantly. Pretty unusual for a laptop. I checked the task manager to find the processor pegged at 100%, with one of the svchost.exe processes using all available processor cycles. After much troubleshooting, I finally brought up process explorer to find out more. it turns out the svchost.exe process that was doing this is the parent process of the Automatic Updates process. There are also 3 WMI jobs running that shouldn't be under another svchost.exe. I shut the system down, unplug the network cable, then power is back up without a connection to the internet. It boots up fine and operates fine. I then plug in the network cable and am able to run Windows Update manually and get the latest updates. I reboot, and it seems to act normally.

After that, 2 helpdesk (desktop) computers are reported to have hte same issue. I go through the same sequence that fixes the first one, and the problems seem to go away, for a while.

the next day (yesterday) I get reports from all 3 of these users that the machines still go through periods, about once per hour, where it will slow to a crawl as before for about 2-3 minutes, then return to normal. They are able to work, but this gets very annoying to them.

I am thinking that one or more of the latest updates are causing this, but I haven't been able to find anything in a Google search. This certainly can't be only here. The only apps these systems have in common are Windows XP and Office 2003 standard. The help desk machines use a program called Talisma for a ticketing system, but the third system doesn't have that. the only additional program the third system has is Dreamweaver.

Anyone run into this since last patch Tuesday? Anyone have any ideas on what to try out?
 
This looks like exactly what I am running into. Thanks. I'll try it first thing in the morning and let you know how it goes.
 
This has worked on all the affected machines, of which 2 more were reported today. It's now a quick fix instead of a couple hours getting them going. I boot up disconnected from the network, install the patch, reboot, and all the patches start rolling in. Thanks a bunch. you made my job a lot easier.
 
ok, not quite done. While that worked on several systems, there is still one that has issues. It is still having points where the system will grind to a halt and automatic updates will not do anything except using all the processor cycles. It doesn't actually update anything.

Does anyone know where the downloaded updates are stored so I can try clearing them out?
 
I have a problem where I get the yellow shield saying downloading updates and it just stays at 0 percent. I copied and saved this from a Microsoft site. This may be the folder you are looking for. I still have my problem but I plan to try the update listed in this thread as a fix.
"This issue may occur because of a corrupted SoftwareDistribution folder.
We will rename this corrupt folder so that a new one is created when you access the site.
Please follow the steps I have listed below.

We will first stop the Automatic Updates Service

1. Click Start. Choose Run.
2. In the Run box, type services.msc. Click OK.
3. Right-click the Automatic Updates Service. Click Stop.

After Stopping the Service we will rename the folder C:\Windows\SoftwareDistribution

1. Open Windows Explorer. Navigate to the Windows folder
2. Click on the + next to the Windows folder
3. Navigate to SoftwareDistribution folder. Right Click on the SoftwareDistribution folder
4. Select rename from the Menu
5. Rename the folder to SoftwareDistribution.old and click Enter
6. Now restart the Automatic Update Service.

Now restart the Automatic Updates service

a. Click Start. Choose Run.
b. In the Run box, type services.msc. Click OK.
c. Right-click the Automatic Updates Service. Click Start.
 
Thank you. That folder name was what I needed.

I was also able to do that totally remotely.

1. the computer management console (compmgmt.msc) is able to connect remotely to another machine and give access to that machine's services.

2. just using the \\comp\c$ share, I was able to access and rename that folder.

We'll see how it works for him now.
 
I have now been having this issue on 2 regular computers where that fix didn't work, and on 7 virtual machines. In all the virtual machine cases, they had just received the latest updates,and when they were rebooted, they'd use the maximum of the processor as soon as they boot. The host machines are fine, but the virtual machines display the same behavior from the Automatic Updates. This seems to affect all the virtual machines I have come across so far, but only under Virtual PC 2004. Virtual PC 2007 seems to be fine with this, however, the virtual pc's made with Virtual PC 2004 stay affected even after the main Virtual PC program is upgraded to 2007.

any ideas?
 
I was having windows update issues. If I had automatic updates set to notify me but do not download, I would get the yellow shield telling me there were downloads available. If I clicked download the shield disappeared and the updates were never downloaded. If I set it to download but do not install the shield popped up and said downloading updates and just stayed at 0%. It would disappear after a while but come back on the next power up and load or windows. This happened on my two PC's after the patch Tuesday updates. I also noticed that these PC were very unresponsive when first turned on. I didn't know about the scvhost thing until reading this thread. The above patch fixed windows update on both PC's as I was able to download and install the WGA update. I have noticed on this PC that scvhost still comes up and pegs the CPU cycles for about a minute on every boot. Turning off windows automatic updates gets ride of it, but puts a nice red shield in my system tray.:rolleyes: I'm going to have a look at my other PC latter in the day to see if scvhost is lagging it on first boot.
 
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