Re: manual MS Update fails (gen. host proc. fail) but works automa

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Must be a miracle 8^). While I have an HP printer network-shared, it wasn't
the type specified, so that was out.

However, following the links you provided, I ran through virtually
everything...installing another update, registering dll's, shutting off auto
updates then back on, checkdisk, spyware and trojan searches (clean), every
possible thing I could find regarding updates through your links and Google.
Still got those infernal error messages for updates.

I had resigned myself to reformatting...though it's a lot of work
reinstalling everything, I don't want a machine I can't rely on when it's
the only one (laptop) I may have with me. Did a full disk image with
Acronis (just in case the format/reinstall didn't work either), exported all
docs and settings that I could, and decided to bite the bullet and reformat.
A last-minute look at event viewer looked relatively clean for the last day
or so, so out of curiosity I clicked on MS update. Waited for the familiar
"generic host process" message; and waited; and waited; then up popped the
list of available updates. Ran a couple of them (optional ones) and all
went fine, and all important updates are current.

So go figure. Must have healed itself, or when it realized I was serious
and going to dump the whole mess, decided to quit giving me a hard time.
8^)

Thanks for the suggestions. I don't know which, if any, did the job, but
regardless of that, I got out of a lot of extra work and everything is
working.

Gary

"TaurArian" <TaurArian@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:468D2204-2EC0-4715-8B61-11D4AAFB7A79@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Hard one to track. Could be virus/malware related.

Do you have a HP Printer installed?
http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?dlc=en&lc=en&product=391194&lang=en&cc=us&docname=c00273968
HP All-in-One Products - A 'Generic Host Process For Win32 Services Has
Encountered a Problem and Needs to Close' Error Message Displays

Some additional stuff here:-
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/927891
You receive an access violation error and the system may appear to become
unresponsive when you try to install an update from Windows Update or from
Microsoft Update


"Gary R." wrote:

Thanks for the quick reply. I tried the reinstall of the update files
specified in the article as it instructed, and it completed, but the
error
message still comes up.

"Generic host porcess for win32 services has encountered a problem and
needs
to close etc."
The tech details show:

szappname svchost.exe
szappver 5.1.2600.2180
sz mod name msxml.dll
sz mod ver 8.90.1101.0
offset 00009abf

I noticed something else after both of these occurrences...it seems to
affect network accessibility for that machine. It still accesses the
internet fine, but the other computers can't find it on the network,
where
they could immediately before this occurred. (I noticed this when I
tried
to move a file after the earlier try at MS update, and couldn't get to
the
network. It happened again after the next update try. It can sometimes
see
the other machines, but they can't see it until I reboot. When the
windows
update is not involved, it is always easily accessible to and from other
machines.

Something additional; there was an update showing in the system tray, so
I
initiated it (Capicom KB931906) and it worked fine. Then after I closed
the
box that reported a successful update, up popped that 'generic host
process'
box. This time it was the msi.dll like the first time, not the
msxml3.dll
like the second time. Again, the other computers could not see it on the
network until I rebooted.

I don't know if it's relevant, but your message and the article about the
repair process reminded me of it. As I was installing applications, I
ran
into an issue that seemed to be caused by a newly installed app; I got a
couple of blue screens, so I uninstalled the app and did a system restore
to
earlier that day. It turned out that the blue screens were caused by a
USB
drive I had plugged in with a corrupted file system instead of the
application, but the system restore was at a time when the install of XP
was
relatively fresh and updates were installing pretty regularly. It's too
late to undo the system restore now, but I wonder if the system restore
messed something up (?)

Anyway, your help and further suggestions are appreciated.

Gary

"TaurArian" <TaurArian@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:1C6B987D-AE0D-4326-BCED-6AE347E219A5@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Hi Gary, check this kb article out (ignore the title as it relates to
clean
installs also etc)
Updates are not installed successfully from Windows Update, from
Microsoft
Update, or by using Automatic Updates after you repair a Windows XP
installation
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/943144

Post back if no joy and we'll try and assist further.
K

"Gary R." wrote:

New clean install WinXPpro sp2 on a Gateway laptop. Several days ago
I
was
installing updates and the sp1 for Net Framework 2 failed; I
downloaded
the
update and installed it manually because I couldn't get any response
from
the MS Update site after that. Prior to that I believe the manual
update
was working OK, because I had it check for updates to get the net
frameworks
installed.

Auto updates since then seem to be working normally and succeeding.
However, if I go to MSUpdate manually (wanted to check for driver or
optional updates) it starts out normally, but while it's checking for
what
updates are needed, it stalls and I get a popup that generic host
process
has stopped (sorry, I didn't get the exact wording). Sending the
error
info
to MS doesn't get any 'help' info in response, but it sends OK.

Looking in event viewer for applications, it shows as Faulting
application
SVCHOST.EXE, faulting module MSI.DLL, event ID 1000.

Looking in the log for windows update just after that problem, it
appeared
that something was working, as there were many entries with that time
stamp
for things that did not need updating, and info that there was a
scheduled
update tonight. No warnings or indications that something went wrong.

But I never get to the list of optional updates; as I said, it just
hangs
while it's checking and never gets there after the general host
process
error. Following the links from Event viewer are no help, and I once
tried
to use the free support for windows update but it failed after I typed
in
all the info...no explanation except "try later".

In Googling this, I find references to Windows installer, and it seems
like
msi.dll would be part of that, so could this be something as simple as
reinstalling windows installer, or is that just a symptom? The
machine
is
working well and I'm too far along in reinstalling applications to
start
over with a clean install (this was a Vista machine, but I located
drivers
for everything for XP and decided I preferred XP for now).

So any ideas of how I can fix this to be able to use the manual update
feature? Auto is fine, but I don't like having something like this
bugging
an otherwise great working machine. I got used to those popup error
messages on Vista machines, but never get them in XP, so this is an
oddity.
Thanks for any help.

Gary








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