svchost taking 95%!!!

Hi guys,

since about a week ago I am having problems with windows update. First off,
the icon in the task bar was saying its downloading updates but was 0% for
days!!! I had windows reinstalled and the first set of updates works fine.
Then again after a certain update it does the same. when I try to manually
download updates, the same happens where the website just says its checking
for updates, but does nothing more. When this is going on, svchost is taking
up around 95% of the CPU, making it hard for me to do anything at all.

Installed windows from scratch again and found that after one of the
security patches (908925 I think) this problem occurs. The whole system works
in a very slow mode after installing this patch. I unistalled it and it seems
to have worked that my computer seems to be working almost normal again.
after that, it seems that everytime windows update is downloading or
installing any updates, svchost will take up the whole cpu and I dont get to
do any work which is very annoying.

Does anyone know whats going on???

I'm running WSUS and a growing number of our client PCs are exhibiting the
99% CPU utilization for svchost. The kb927891 patch slightly alleviated, but
did not fix the issue on the XP PCs I installed it on.
M$ needs to correct this problem.

"Audette" wrote:

> Hi guys,
>
> since about a week ago I am having problems with windows update. First off,
> the icon in the task bar was saying its downloading updates but was 0% for
> days!!! I had windows reinstalled and the first set of updates works fine.
> Then again after a certain update it does the same. when I try to manually
> download updates, the same happens where the website just says its checking
> for updates, but does nothing more. When this is going on, svchost is taking
> up around 95% of the CPU, making it hard for me to do anything at all.
>
> Installed windows from scratch again and found that after one of the
> security patches (908925 I think) this problem occurs. The whole system works
> in a very slow mode after installing this patch. I unistalled it and it seems
> to have worked that my computer seems to be working almost normal again.
> after that, it seems that everytime windows update is downloading or
> installing any updates, svchost will take up the whole cpu and I dont get to
> do any work which is very annoying.
>
> Does anyone know whats going on???

If you have converted Windows Update to Microsoft Update, then you may be
having the same issue as I do on three machines that are running Windows XP
and also have Office 2003 installed. Microsft KB article 916089
(http://support.microsoft.com/kb/916089) talks about this issue but I am not
going to pay for a support call to get a hotfix. I am currently using the
below workaround until this issue gets fixed:

1. Open Microsoft Update by going to Start>All Programs>Microsoft Update or
select "Windows Update" from the Tools menu in Internet Explorer.

2. In Microsoft Update, click the "Change Settings" link on the left pane.

3. Scroll down until you see the section called "Stop Using Microsoft
Update" and check the box for "Disable Microsoft Update and let me use
Windows Update only". Follow any prompts received after that.

Notes:

If you later decide to go back to "Microsoft Update" there is an option to
do that when you open Windows Update. Look for text that mentions "Microsoft
Update" and there is a "Get it now" link beside that.

The advantage of using Microsoft Update is that it updates your office apps
as well as Windows. Once you go back to Windows Update (which only updates
Windows or Windows components) you will need to update your office apps from
Office Update. Use this link to update your Office apps:
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/do...incatalog.aspx

I plan go go back to using Microsoft Update once Microsoft resolves this
issue in an official update.

John

"Audette" wrote:

> Hi guys,
>
> since about a week ago I am having problems with windows update. First off,
> the icon in the task bar was saying its downloading updates but was 0% for
> days!!! I had windows reinstalled and the first set of updates works fine.
> Then again after a certain update it does the same. when I try to manually
> download updates, the same happens where the website just says its checking
> for updates, but does nothing more. When this is going on, svchost is taking
> up around 95% of the CPU, making it hard for me to do anything at all.
>
> Installed windows from scratch again and found that after one of the
> security patches (908925 I think) this problem occurs. The whole system works
> in a very slow mode after installing this patch. I unistalled it and it seems
> to have worked that my computer seems to be working almost normal again.
> after that, it seems that everytime windows update is downloading or
> installing any updates, svchost will take up the whole cpu and I dont get to
> do any work which is very annoying.
>
> Does anyone know whats going on???

As a follow-up to my previous post, I noticed that the hotfix mentioned in
Microsoft KB 916089 (which was only available by calling Microsoft) caused
another issue and was superseded by a publicly available hotfix that can be
downloaded via Microsoft KB article 927891
(http://support.microsoft.com/kb/927891/). I downloaded the Windows XP fix
from Microsoft KB 927891 and turned Microsoft Updates back on, and I have
exactly the same issue. If I go to Microsoft Updates and do the express scan
I have the same long lag while my system runs at 100 % CPU, and the
svchost.exe process (which is still running at 95-99%) just kills the
performance on my system. Therefore I went back to my original suggestion
of reverting to Windows Update (reboot after you do that) and manually
updating Office via the link I mentioned in the previous post. I would like
to add the following in reference to the workaround in my previous post:

Perhaps you have noticed, but unless there is a serious threat going on,
updates for Windows and Office come out monthly, and usually both are
available to download and install around the same time. In addition to
reverting my three systems (that have this issue) to use Windows Update
rather than Microsoft Update, I have configured Automatic Updates (in the
Control Panel) to "download" the Windows Updates but prompt to install them.
That way I know updates have came out. I install the Windows Updates that
were downloaded, and then visit Office Updates to scan for, and install any
available Office Updates.

John

"Audette" wrote:

> Hi guys,
>
> since about a week ago I am having problems with windows update. First off,
> the icon in the task bar was saying its downloading updates but was 0% for
> days!!! I had windows reinstalled and the first set of updates works fine.
> Then again after a certain update it does the same. when I try to manually
> download updates, the same happens where the website just says its checking
> for updates, but does nothing more. When this is going on, svchost is taking
> up around 95% of the CPU, making it hard for me to do anything at all.
>
> Installed windows from scratch again and found that after one of the
> security patches (908925 I think) this problem occurs. The whole system works
> in a very slow mode after installing this patch. I unistalled it and it seems
> to have worked that my computer seems to be working almost normal again.
> after that, it seems that everytime windows update is downloading or
> installing any updates, svchost will take up the whole cpu and I dont get to
> do any work which is very annoying.
>
> Does anyone know whats going on???