Host Process for Windows Services has stopped working

Vista, SP2-

I get this message upon coming out of sleep mode or even restarting. I haven't found anything it's affecting "yet".

I ran msconfig.exe and hid the Microsoft items and disabled everything else under Services and disabled everything under Startup. Rebooted. I still get the message.

I do have Norton Premiere 2009 installed but it is not running because it's disabled in the Startup and Services, per the above.

I've attached a .doc which contains all the errors in the event log. Note that they are in reverse order of occurrence.

Hi wither,

Firstly, congratulations on getting your Power User badge!

How long has this problem been going on for?

Try this:

SFC Scan

1. Open the start menu
2. In the search box, type cmd
3. Right click on cmd and select Run as administrator
4. In command prompt, type:
   
   sfc /scannow
   
   
5. Let it run and let me know if it finds any Integrity Violations

Tom

Thanks for the compliment.

I ran the scannow and when it got done, it just closed out. Is there a log file somewhere?

By the way, when I open Start\Run, it automatically says it going to run any command with administrative privileges so I didn't need to run CMD.

I think you would have to do that in Win 7 with it's convoluted procedure for running a command.

wither 3 said:

Thanks for the compliment.

I ran the scannow and when it got done, it just closed out. Is there a log file somewhere?

By the way, when I open Start\Run, it automatically says it going to run any command with administrative privileges so I didn't need to run CMD.

I think you would have to do that in Win 7 with it's convoluted procedure for running a command.

Click to expand...

Yeah, follow Step 1 in the yellow box of this tutorial:

http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/66978-system-files-sfc-command.html

Then attach the sfcdetails.txt with your next post please

In my post, I said to type it in the search box, not in the run box, that's why it exited as soon as it finished Because it ran the sfc command then quit, if you'd opened command prompt and typed it in there it would've waited for the next command. But it doesn't matter. My canned speeches (like that SFC one) are a right mess at the moment, I'm in the process of updating them so I'll be sure to make this one clearer next time! Thanks for the input.

Tom

Sorry I missed the "Search Box". However, I looked at the CBS.log file and it looked like it had completed. I ran it your way and it did the same thing. When it got done, it said there were no Integrity Violations. I ran the command to retrieve the details file and the details there aren't as detailed as they are in the CBS.log file, unless some other process was running and reporting in the log.

It's not a problem

Okay, well that means there isn't anything wrong with your Windows files.

How long have you had this problem for?

Try this:

OTL

Download OTL (by OldTimer) to your desktop.
Double click on the icon to run it. Make sure all other windows are closed to let it run uninterrupted.
Click on Quick Scan (at the top)
When the scan completes, it will open two notepad windows. OTL.Txt and Extras.Txt. These are saved in the same location as OTL.
Please copy (Edit->Select All, Edit->Copy) the contents of these files, one at a time, and post it with your next reply.

I ran through the OTL generated files and didn't see anything of interest other than the errors that are in the file I already provided. I really don't know what you're looking for. If you tell me, I'll provide the applicable portion (s) of the files.

OTL didn't report any fixes.

Hello, probably useless to suggest a Restore , but, do you think that would work ?

That's always a possibility. I've been installing a lot of software so I'm not sure exactly where I would restore from. I'll think about it tomorrow. Too late tonight.

Thanks

How can I reset the Hosts file back to the default?
Did you check this out ? Not sure if this is what you need or not.

I ran that and rebooted. The order in which things used to load has been restored. I thought all was good but it only lasted 5 minutes and the error returned.

wither 3 said:

I ran through the OTL generated files and didn't see anything of interest other than the errors that are in the file I already provided. I really don't know what you're looking for. If you tell me, I'll provide the applicable portion (s) of the files.

OTL didn't report any fixes.

Click to expand...

OTL just makes a log for me, it doesn't report fixes It has detailed information about startup files and I just wanted to make sure that something was loading when we didn't want it to. It was a long shot.

Yard Dog said:

How can I reset the Hosts file back to the default?
Did you check this out ? Not sure if this is what you need or not.

Click to expand...

The Hosts file is to do with networking, it maps addresses to IPs, I would be very surprised if this was causing the problem

Can you try doing this? (The Process Explorer option)

How to determine what services are running under a SVCHOST.EXE process

Then upload a screenshot of the services that are running under svchost.exe for us please Something like this:



Tom

What I did is run:

Selective startup without Startup items- no errors
Selective startup with Startup items- no errors
Diagnostic startup- no errors

Then I got thinking about the fact that when I reinstalled Vista on my new harddrive, I didn't install the router software because it gave some error message but all has been working fine so I didn't bother it. Must be working off the firmware and driver on the router.

So, I unplugged the router and did a normal startup- no errors
Plugged it back in and did a normal startup- error
I guess I better install the router software.

I've enclosed the results of synchost.exe

wither 3 said:

What I did is run:

Selective startup without Startup items- no errors
Selective startup with Startup items- no errors
Diagnostic startup- no errors

Then I got thinking about the fact that when I reinstalled Vista on my new harddrive, I didn't install the router software because it gave some error message but all has been working fine so I didn't bother it. Must be working off the firmware and driver on the router.

So, I unplugged the router and did a normal startup- no errors
Plugged it back in and did a normal startup- error
I guess I better install the router software.

I've enclosed the results of synchost.exe

Click to expand...

That screenshot looks normal to me

Great find with the router software! Yeah, that sounds like a good idea. Let us know how it goes!

Tom

Well, the router software swears I don't have an ethernet connection when nothing has changed and everything is working. Went to troubleshooting mode. Says to power off modem and router, shut down, and power up the modem and router in a certain way and then start the computer. When I went to shutdown, there were 9 Vista updates so I said to install them and shut down. I took care of the modem and router and restarted. My desktop was totally screwed up and I got the same error as before. The hard drive was going full force for 10 minutes and nothing was changing. I restarted it. Afterwards, my desktop was back correctly and, guess what, there was no host process error. I shut it down tonight. I'll let you know tomorrow if the error comes back. Still don't know how to install the router software.

It's back. The router installation problem could be something screwed up in the NVIDIA networking. I'm not good with that stuff but will take a look.

Hello wither,

Have you installed all possible Windows updates? That might be a good start

What make/model is the router? I can try and give you a hand to find some instructions somewhere. Does it give you an error code or anything when you try and install it?

Tom

Vista is fully up to date.

Note that the router is working perfectly. It's a Netgear wr2000. I think you followed my trevails with the hard drive that got screwed up by the SP1 uninstall and on which the router was originally installed. I still have it installed as a secondary drive.

There are no error codes. I'm using the NVIDIA nforce networking. During the router installation, one has to pick the network. When I do, I just get the error message that there is no ethernet connection. I took a cursory look at the network today and was blown away. I was going to post in the Netgear forum on that issue tomorrow. If I can get pass that problem, hopefully the Windows problem will go away.

Thanks for your help.

Hello wither,

I don't really want to go down the networking route because I'm not very experienced with it and I would probably end up doing more harm than good. There's a few things I want to try first, if they fail then I'll ask someone else for help.

Right, can you give me your most recent event log again please? Can you save it as a text file this time please? It's a little easier to read

You're most welcome for the help. Although I haven't really done much so far!

Tom

Hi Tom982- the attached is the same as I sent you the other day in the requested format.

I'm also getting errors like the following after the messages in the attached. There's another related to the Windows Instrumentation Manager. Note that I have posted in the Netgear forum but have no responses yet.

Log Name: System
Source: Service Control Manager
Date: 1/13/2012 8:16:33 PM
Event ID: 7032
Task Category: None
Level: Error
Keywords: Classic
User: N/A
Computer: Bob-PC
Description:
The Service Control Manager tried to take a corrective action (Restart the service) after the unexpected termination of the Remote Access Connection Manager service, but this action failed with the following error:
An instance of the service is already running.
Event Xml:
<Event xmlns="Error">
<System>
<Provider Name="Service Control Manager" Guid="{555908D1-A6D7-4695-8E1E-26931D2012F4}" EventSourceName="Service Control Manager" />
<EventID Qualifiers="49152">7032</EventID>
<Version>0</Version>
<Level>2</Level>
<Task>0</Task>
<Opcode>0</Opcode>
<Keywords>0x80000000000000</Keywords>
<TimeCreated SystemTime="2012-01-14T01:16:33.000Z" />
<EventRecordID>52272</EventRecordID>
<Correlation />
<Execution ProcessID="0" ThreadID="0" />
<Channel>System</Channel>
<Computer>Bob-PC</Computer>
<Security />
</System>
<EventData>
<Data Name="param1">1</Data>
<Data Name="param2">Restart the service</Data>
<Data Name="param3">Remote Access Connection Manager</Data>
<Data Name="param4">%%1056</Data>
</EventData>
</Event>