svchost.exe takes up 100% CPU

[jkhoch]

I am having an issue with my Xp Pro, SP2 computer at work. When I turn it on, everything boots up fine. But when I get to my desktop, my computer freezes up for about 15 minutes. The task manager shows that the svchost.exe with SYSTEM as a user name process is using 100% of the CPU uses anywhere from 60,000 to 101,000+ memory usage. There are two svchost.exe with SYSTEM as a user name. Do I need both of them? Is there a fix for this problem?

 

[Commish]

It's likely due to Windows updates. Go here.

 

[olmer]

First you can lower its priority for now then check what service is making for such high usage. It is most likely to be network or telephony. You can disable telephony. If network - disable ms updates/other auto updates, check for invalid/wrong entries in your hosts file (or even large hosts file can cause this problem). If no change check with sysinternals what prog causes high usage and fix/disable it. If still no change ? check for viruses/spyware.

 

[Smilin]

first find out which svchost is the issue. use taskman to find ou the process ID.

Use the command "tasklist /svc" to find out what is being hosted in that instance.

 

[Rilex]

Originally posted by: olmer
First you can lower its priority for now then check what service is making for such high usage. It is most likely to be network or telephony. You can disable telephony. If network - disable ms updates/other auto updates, check for invalid/wrong entries in your hosts file (or even large hosts file can cause this problem). If no change check with sysinternals what prog causes high usage and fix/disable it. If still no change ? check for viruses/spyware.

And before wasting your time doing that, fix WU:

http://blogs.technet.com/smsandmom/arch...te-agent-wua-3-0-is-now-available.aspx

Note there are two portions to this fix, Commish' link only provides half of the fix.

 

[RebateMonger]

Originally posted by: Rilex
And before wasting your time doing that, fix WU:

Man, I hope this is finally fixed.

 

[redbeard1]

I used the two files recommended below to fix a couple of systems that were having issues with svchost.exe running 100% cpu.

Quote:

The newly released 'standalone' version of Windows Update Agent 3.0, v.
7.0.6000.374, for 32 bit machines is available here
http://download.windowsupdate.com/v7/wi...tandalone/WindowsUpdateAgent30-x86.exe

You will also need to install or re-install KB927891 for a complete fix.
MS

The MS update team believes that this solves all three svchost problems that
folks have been experiencing. See here:
http://blogs.technet.com/wsus/archive/2007/04/28/update-on.aspx

End Quote

 

[daveybrat]

Originally posted by: redbeard1
I used the two files recommended below to fix a couple of systems that were having issues with svchost.exe running 100% cpu.

Quote:

The newly released 'standalone' version of Windows Update Agent 3.0, v.
7.0.6000.374, for 32 bit machines is available here
http://download.windowsupdate.com/v7/wi...tandalone/WindowsUpdateAgent30-x86.exe

You will also need to install or re-install KB927891 for a complete fix.
MS

The MS update team believes that this solves all three svchost problems that
folks have been experiencing. See here:
http://blogs.technet.com/wsus/archive/2007/04/28/update-on.aspx

End Quote

And i've also seen forums where people have tried both fixes and still had the problem, what a crock!
I've had to disable auto-updates on so many computer lately because of this as that's the only sure way (though not a fix per-se) to alleviate it for now. Microsoft says they will be releasing a true fix in their windows updates sometime in June, so here's to hoping.