BITS error after update

After updating to the new windows update services with bits 2.0 I am
receiving a bits event log error 16391 stating that a bits job was in an
unrecognized format and the bits job list will be cleared. This error occurs
daily.

I cannot find any scheduled task that launches at the time that these errors
occur, so I am not sure where this error is originating and why it is
occurring.

I did some research for you and found this web page, please read it fully, as
there is a solution, I am NOT an expert on this matter, and I cannot advise
you to apply this solution, however if you proceed I would recommend you
create a restore point prior to making any changes. I hope this will be of
some help to you.


http://groups.google.ca/groups?hl=en...gbl%26rnum%3D3

"frank" wrote:

> After updating to the new windows update services with bits 2.0 I am
> receiving a bits event log error 16391 stating that a bits job was in an
> unrecognized format and the bits job list will be cleared. This error occurs
> daily.
>
> I cannot find any scheduled task that launches at the time that these errors
> occur, so I am not sure where this error is originating and why it is
> occurring.

Terry,

Thanks for the research and link. I don't receive the error every time I
boot, but rather at about 8:00 PM every day. The event log says that the job
list is cleared, so apparently something is creating a new job list in an
incompatible format each day.

BTW I am running Windows 2000 service pack 4.



"terry" wrote:

> I did some research for you and found this web page, please read it fully, as
> there is a solution, I am NOT an expert on this matter, and I cannot advise
> you to apply this solution, however if you proceed I would recommend you
> create a restore point prior to making any changes. I hope this will be of
> some help to you.
>
>
> http://groups.google.ca/groups?hl=en...gbl%26rnum%3D3
>
> "frank" wrote:
>
> > After updating to the new windows update services with bits 2.0 I am
> > receiving a bits event log error 16391 stating that a bits job was in an
> > unrecognized format and the bits job list will be cleared. This error occurs
> > daily.
> >
> > I cannot find any scheduled task that launches at the time that these errors
> > occur, so I am not sure where this error is originating and why it is
> > occurring.

"frank" <> wrote in message news:B2EC0C51-76E9-4972-AD02-...
> After updating to the new windows update services with bits 2.0 I am
> receiving a bits event log error 16391 stating that a bits job was in an
> unrecognized format and the bits job list will be cleared. This error occurs
> daily.

Is this about WU or about WSUS? If the latter you will
find better a assistance in a newsgroup which specializes
in that product.


>
> I cannot find any scheduled task that launches at the time that these errors
> occur, so I am not sure where this error is originating and why it is
> occurring.

Try and correlate the timestamps in the event log with timestamps
and messages in the WindowsUpdate.log E.g. wuauclt.exe
is scheduled regularly and depending on your AU options could
be automatically downloading using BITS.

You could also get some clues by opening a cmd window to run:

bitsadmin /wrap /monitor /allusers

Unfortunately you may have to be present to observe the messages
as the monitor makes them. I haven't found a way to record them
to a file, for example.


HTH

Robert Aldwinckle
---

Robert,

Thank you for your help.

The BITS update was listed in the critical update section in the April
updates for this system. It is KB842773. The KB article says:

"This software updates the Background Intelligent Transfer Service (BITS) to
v2.0 and updates WinHTTP. These updates help ensure an optimal download
experience with future versions of Automatic Updates, Windows Update, and
other programs that rely on BITS to transfer files using idle network
bandwidth."

This system is running Windows 2000 Server, so it may be WSUS, although each
time the system has been updated it has been through the Windows Update
website????

I compared the event log error timing with the Windows Update.log file and
found that they track closely, but not exactly. Following are two entries
from the event log and the WU log:

Event Log:
Type Date Time Source Category Event User
Error 4/20 8:29:05PM BITS None 16391 N/A
Error 4/21 3:17:09PM BITS None 16391 N/A

Windows Update.log
4/20 20:34:26 01:34:26 Success IUCTL Starting
4/21 15:22:29 20:22:29 Success IUCTL Starting

So, it seems that the BITS error is occurring about 5 minutes and 20 seconds
before the entries in the Windows Update log begin.

I tried to run the bitsadmin command, but it is unrecognized on this system.

Thanks again for your help!

"Robert Aldwinckle" wrote:

> "frank" <> wrote in message news:B2EC0C51-76E9-4972-AD02-...
> > After updating to the new windows update services with bits 2.0 I am
> > receiving a bits event log error 16391 stating that a bits job was in an
> > unrecognized format and the bits job list will be cleared. This error occurs
> > daily.
>
> Is this about WU or about WSUS? If the latter you will
> find better a assistance in a newsgroup which specializes
> in that product.
>
>
> >
> > I cannot find any scheduled task that launches at the time that these errors
> > occur, so I am not sure where this error is originating and why it is
> > occurring.
>
> Try and correlate the timestamps in the event log with timestamps
> and messages in the WindowsUpdate.log E.g. wuauclt.exe
> is scheduled regularly and depending on your AU options could
> be automatically downloading using BITS.
>
> You could also get some clues by opening a cmd window to run:
>
> bitsadmin /wrap /monitor /allusers
>
> Unfortunately you may have to be present to observe the messages
> as the monitor makes them. I haven't found a way to record them
> to a file, for example.
>
>
> HTH
>
> Robert Aldwinckle
> ---
>
>
>
>
>
>

"frank" <> wrote in message
newsC8173AD-3320-416E-89C3-
....
> The BITS update was listed in the critical update section in the April
> updates for this system. It is KB842773. The KB article says:

This article applies to... XP?
Why did you (with Windows 2000) install it?

Oh. It's been updated since I last read it.

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=8...25120121120120

Does this mean that Windows 2000 users can now use WUv5?
(See next comment.)


>> Try and correlate the timestamps in the event log with timestamps
>> and messages in the WindowsUpdate.log

> I compared the event log error timing with the Windows Update.log

If you are still using Windows Update.log (with a space)
you are probably using WUv4. AFAIK in order to use BITS
for your updates you would need to be using WUv5.
However, this is based on XP experience which may not map well
to W2K possibilities. What URL do you see when you go to WU?


> I tried to run the bitsadmin command, but it is unrecognized on this system.

According to this you can download it from the XPsp2 Support Tools
download site.

http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/en...asp?frame=true

Other articles in that group imply that the tool is not restricted just
to XP use but maybe they are just giving XPsp2 as an example
and you have to get your own version from *your* Support Tools?

FWIW here is the link that they would have meant:

<title>Windows XP Service Pack 2 Support Tools</title>
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=838079

I think the restrictions documented there look ominous for you
but who knows? you may be lucky and be able to use it anyway.


Realizing now that your OS probably means that your WU doesn't
use BITS my guess is that your BITS symptom and WU are
independent. Therefore you would probably get better assistance
from a newsgroup which supports BITS by itself.

I don't know what the web interface calls it.
(I don't know which portal you are using in any case.)
FWIW a real NNTP newsreader (e.g. OE) would use this:

news:microsoft.windows.backgroundtransfer

OE users could use this even if they didn't already have a news server
defined:

news://msnews.microsoft.com/microsof...groundtransfer


Or you might get more people who were aware of BITS possibilities
with your OS in a public.win2000 newsgroup.


Depending on how much implementation on your OS parallels
what I see on XP, especially if it turns out that you are actually
using WUv5, I think I could still help by providing you with
possible analogies but you would have to figure out what the
differences are to make them apply to your case.


Good luck

Robert
---


> Robert,
>
> Thank you for your help.
>
> The BITS update was listed in the critical update section in the April
> updates for this system. It is KB842773. The KB article says:
>
> "This software updates the Background Intelligent Transfer Service (BITS) to
> v2.0 and updates WinHTTP. These updates help ensure an optimal download
> experience with future versions of Automatic Updates, Windows Update, and
> other programs that rely on BITS to transfer files using idle network
> bandwidth."
>
> This system is running Windows 2000 Server, so it may be WSUS, although each
> time the system has been updated it has been through the Windows Update
> website????
>
> I compared the event log error timing with the Windows Update.log file and
> found that they track closely, but not exactly. Following are two entries
> from the event log and the WU log:
>
> Event Log:
> Type Date Time Source Category Event User
> Error 4/20 8:29:05PM BITS None 16391 N/A
> Error 4/21 3:17:09PM BITS None 16391 N/A
>
> Windows Update.log
> 4/20 20:34:26 01:34:26 Success IUCTL Starting
> 4/21 15:22:29 20:22:29 Success IUCTL Starting
>
> So, it seems that the BITS error is occurring about 5 minutes and 20 seconds
> before the entries in the Windows Update log begin.
>
> I tried to run the bitsadmin command, but it is unrecognized on this system.
>
> Thanks again for your help!
>
> "Robert Aldwinckle" wrote:
>
>> "frank" <> wrote in message news:B2EC0C51-76E9-4972-AD02-...
>> > After updating to the new windows update services with bits 2.0 I am
>> > receiving a bits event log error 16391 stating that a bits job was in an
>> > unrecognized format and the bits job list will be cleared. This error occurs
>> > daily.
>>
>> Is this about WU or about WSUS? If the latter you will
>> find better a assistance in a newsgroup which specializes
>> in that product.
>>
>>
>> >
>> > I cannot find any scheduled task that launches at the time that these errors
>> > occur, so I am not sure where this error is originating and why it is
>> > occurring.
>>
>> Try and correlate the timestamps in the event log with timestamps
>> and messages in the WindowsUpdate.log E.g. wuauclt.exe
>> is scheduled regularly and depending on your AU options could
>> be automatically downloading using BITS.
>>
>> You could also get some clues by opening a cmd window to run:
>>
>> bitsadmin /wrap /monitor /allusers
>>
>> Unfortunately you may have to be present to observe the messages
>> as the monitor makes them. I haven't found a way to record them
>> to a file, for example.
>>
>>
>> HTH
>>
>> Robert Aldwinckle
>> ---
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>

"Robert Aldwinckle" <> wrote in message news:
....

(Corrections for typos in links.)

> FWIW a real NNTP newsreader (e.g. OE) would use this:
>

news:microsoft.public.windows.backgroundtransfer

>
> OE users could use this even if they didn't already have a news server
> defined:
>

news://msnews.microsoft.com/microsof...groundtransfer


---

Frank,

If you haven't solved this yet -

Stop the BITS service
Browse to C:\Documents and Settings\All Users.WINNT\Application
Data\Microsoft\Network\Downloader

Delete the contents

Restart the BITS service.

Done!

The old .dat files aren't removed when the BITS update is installed...

Jim

"frank" wrote:

> After updating to the new windows update services with bits 2.0 I am
> receiving a bits event log error 16391 stating that a bits job was in an
> unrecognized format and the bits job list will be cleared. This error occurs
> daily.
>
> I cannot find any scheduled task that launches at the time that these errors
> occur, so I am not sure where this error is originating and why it is
> occurring.