Random windows services crashing

Ika

Lifer
Mar 22, 2006
14,264
3
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Lately, my Windows Vista x64 has been behaving very strangely. The problems include:

1) upon startup, oftentimes (but not all the time), Windows will tell me "Host Process for Windows Services has stopped working" (l=pic]http://pics.bbzzdd.com/users/Aflac/ScreenShot055.jpg[/l]). This is almost immediately upon startup, maybe about 30 seconds into it (my system takes about a full minute to become responsive after starting up, since I have so many programs set to run at startup). Sometimes, Aero will disappear for a little bit (bad example - see how the menu is all Windows95-ish... a few seconds before this screenshot, the start menu changed to Windows95-style as well, but then popped back). Sometimes, Aero will remain fine; once, Aero shut down and wouldn't resurrect itself (not even an option anymore in Windows Color and Appearance).

2) Sometimes, the Remote Access Manager will shut down, in a manner very similar to the Host Process shutdown (example
). Usually, this one shuts down Aero more often than the Host Process shutdown does. It happened randomly while I was looking at a Wikipedia page, not touching the computer.

3) Sometimes, one of my two network connections will not connect (the LAN connection wouldn't authenticate itself for a few days, but then fixed itself, and now the wireless connection says the authentication server will not work, which is not true).

4) Tinkering with my network connections will usually cause the Remote Access Connection Manager to crash. Usually the catalyst is enabling and disabling one of my connections, though I've gotten the crash a few times when Windows tried to diagnose and fix the network connection problem.

EDIT: 5) I just enabled my wireless connection; it connected, but then the Host Process for Windows Services crashed. No ill effects, though, just the crash message. This is really strange, since I hadn't restarted since last night, when I couldn't connect to the wireless because the authentication wouldn't work.

EDIT: 6) Some very odd behavior... I guess I was wrong about the last time the Host Process crashing not having any ill effects - Aero is half-on, half-off. pic for example - see how the windows still have the aero titlebar, but nothing else is aero? It's so weird. I don't get it at all.

I'm really not sure what's causing these problems. I checked the files that the error report refers me to, but they don't really say anything at all. These problems started after I did two things - installed Service Pack 1 over Windows Update and installed an nLite-ed version of Windows XP SP3 on another partition. I did both at the exact same time, so I don't know which one is causing the problem.

If anyone has any insight into these problems, I would be grateful. These problems aren't debilitating, just extremely annoying when I have to restart again because Aero doesn't work anymore, or my network connection doesn't work the way I want it to. There are two possible solutions I can think of - either uninstall XP and see if the problems go away, or reinstall my network drivers and software. I'd rather not do either, because XP was a pain to set up, and I had to jump through a lot of hoops to find a version of SecureW2 that worked in x64 Vista (my network has some authentication that I don't really understand too well).

Thanks for the help, and sorry for the long post.
 

Ika

Lifer
Mar 22, 2006
14,264
3
81
Okay, it happened again - Aero is gone, with no way to bring it back. I could really use some help, guys...
 

lxskllr

No Lifer
Nov 30, 2004
59,551
10,062
126
I have no idea what the problem is, but I don't think it's XP. Other than the bootloader, Vista shouldn't even know it's there. If you don't get better advice, the only thing I can offer is either a repair install, or a system restore to a time before problems.
 

Ika

Lifer
Mar 22, 2006
14,264
3
81
Interesting. I uninstalled my network adapters, and the problem *seems* to have gone away. Unfortunately, now my wireless adapter's drivers aren't recognized by Vista anymore. One for another... but I prefer it this way, since my LAN still works. I wonder what's up.

EDIT: NOOOOOOO~~~~~!!!!!! It happened again, this time while I wasn't sitting at my computer, just playing music from Foobar. the Host Process shut down, and took out Foobar's Aero with it. My other windows seem to be fine... but the problem is still around. :|
 

Ika

Lifer
Mar 22, 2006
14,264
3
81
Bump. I woke up this morning and came back to a PC with a gray Windows 95 start menu. Anyone have any idea what's going on?
 

Mem

Lifer
Apr 23, 2000
21,476
13
81
Have you tried runnnig Memtest86+ for a long period,I'm wondering about faulty ram being an issue?..Anyway have nothing to lose by running a memory test.
 

achangb

Junior Member
Feb 17, 2006
20
0
0
Check my thread about laggy windows explorer. Basically I narrowed it down to a overheating northbridge chip..it wacked up all sorts of things with my computer . Check your southbridge chip too. Try turning your computer off for a while till it gets to room temp, ..then turn it back on and if everything is fine for the moment until it heats up again you can suspect a heat problem. Another thing that can wack a computer is a faulty power supply.
 

nerp

Diamond Member
Dec 31, 2005
9,865
105
106
It does sound like memory issues. Run memtest86+ via a boot CD and let it run for some hours. I'd also run a CHKDSK /f later -- bad memory can cause data corruption.
 

Ika

Lifer
Mar 22, 2006
14,264
3
81
I originally had 4 sticks of 1gb RAM in my comp for a while, and I was getting some random Windows crashes (we're talking blue screens and hard freezes). I ran memtest and found that one of my sticks was faulty, so I took out two of them. I ran memtest on my other two sticks and they ran error free for a few passes.

I don't think it's a hardware problem, because my hardware was fine until right about when I installed SP1. PSU is a Corsair HX520, mobo is a Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3R, with latest BIOS and chipsets installed.


To reiterate on my problem, it doesn't seem like a corruption problem at all - my guess is that something in Windows conflicts with something else and is causing the Host Process to crash. I check my Reliability and Performance Monitor every once in a while and it seems that the offending program is svchost.exe. I don't really think knowing that will get me anywhere, though...

If worst comes to worst, I can live with it until I get a chance to reload Windows again (which would be a pain, but... :(). I guess I could load AHCI at the same time, too, if I do. But I don't know why no one else has this problem. I've spent hours Googling my error messages and nothing recent comes up.
 

Ika

Lifer
Mar 22, 2006
14,264
3
81
Bump again. It never ends!

EDIT: uninstalled SP1 in Safe Mode and the problems seem to have gone away (all of them - language bar, wireless adapter, and Host Process). Now installing the regular SP1 through Windows Update and hopefully the problems will stay buried.