[nlomis]

Have had this problem for a few months

After startup, hourgalss flickers every 10-15 seconds - very annoying-. Via opening task manager, have found culprit as svchost LOCAL SERVICE, where spikes are associated with CPU usage of 5-25%.

After I right click on svcost LOCAL SERVICE and end the process (despite the warning that doing so may make things unstable), this is resolved. I do not notice any problems thereafter, all seems to function well.

However, after any startup this problemrecurs, again resoved by manully ending the svchost LOCAL SERVICE process.

I would like to have this end permanently, without manually having to end process

Have Mcafee virus scan up to date, run Adaware and Spybot, defragmented, scanned disk.

Would appreciate any help.

Note: I am a novice, need step by step instructions

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We need to find out which instance of svchost.exe is causing the problem.
So, Task Manager won't do the job. Download procexp.
Open it. Right-click on the instance of svchost.exe causing the problem, click Properties.
In the Properties dialog of the svchost causing the problem. Click on Services Tab. List down all the services, in ur next post.

[darth_ash]

We need to find out which instance of svchost.exe is causing the problem.
So, Task Manager won't do the job. Download procexp.
Open it. Right-click on the instance of svchost.exe causing the problem, click Properties.
In the Properties dialog of the svchost causing the problem. Click on Services Tab. List down all the services, in ur next post.

[nlomis]

The following are listed under Services tab after proceeding with your instructions, listed under columns labelled Service and Display Name, separated by comma, respectively..

LmHosts , TCP/IP Net BIOS Helper
RemoteRegistry , Remote Registry
SSDPSRV , SSDP Discovery Service
WebClient , WebClient

[darth_ash]

What I don't get is there are 2 instances of RemoteRegisrty and WebClient.??
Open ur services.msc, check if there are two instances of the aforementioned services.

Also, why is RemoteRegistry enabled, do u control other people registry on ur network? Or, Is ur PC's Registry controlled by other people?

[nlomis]

No, not 2 instances running - I was responding with what I see on the screen when I follow your instructions

To calrify, the services running under the svchost local service instance are :
LmHosts
RemoteRegistry
SSDPSRV
WebClient

Listed next to each of these services under the heading " display name" for each of these respective services is
TCP/IP Net BIOS Helper
Remote Registry
SSDP Discovery Service
WebClient

Regarding your final question - this is a home PC, I do not know what Remote Registry is - is this the potential cause of the problem I am having?? How do I open services.msc (i.e. what/where do I "click" (i'm a novice)

[darth_ash]

Remote Registry is used to help Remote Users (Over a network) to modify ur registry.

Follow the steps below:
Start -> Run.
Type: services.msc.
Press <enter>.

Double-click on Remote Registry, This opens its Properties Dialog. Click on Stop button. Change StartupType to Manual.

See if the problem persists.

[nlomis]

Did as instructed
Restarted computer
Problem still persists

[nlomis]

After reviewing your instructions, I stopped the SSDPSRV service, the one with the display name SSDP Discovery Service, with the description: Enables discovery of UPnP devices on your home network. The startup type is set to manual.

This makes the problem go away!

However, when I restart the problem recurs, and the service status for SSDPSRV is again "started"

Bottom line: I think this is the culprit - is there a way to stop this permanently (set startup type to "disable" ) and if so what are the implications?

[darth_ash]

Yes it can be disabled, but it is not advisable to do so if you have your personal Home network. Its better to leave it Manual.
Also can u check the StartupType "Universal Plug and Play Device Host" service; If its Automatic, stop the service and set it to Manual.

[nlomis]

This is the culprit.

If I set SSDP Discovery Service to "disabled", the problem is resolved and does not recur when I reboot. Thus far everything seems to work fine - monitors and printer functioning normally.

If I instead stop the service and set to "manual", for some reason it still restarts at reboot, and thus has to be manually stopped be me each time.

Thus the end-user friendly fix at this time seems to be to leave it at "disabled"

Questions are -
-what are implications of leaving this "disabled"(I am not networked at this time, although may be in future, I do occasionally plug in digital camera which I have not retried yet)

-any way to figure out why this specific service is associated with CPU spikes--seems the norm is to have it in automatic or manual mode. Does it require some sort of fix?

[darth_ash]

That is why I asked u to check StartupType of "Universal Plug and Play Device Host" service in my last post, because this ervice depends on SSDP, and if this is on Automatic it will lead to the start SSDP as it needs it.

[nlomis]

The default setting on "Universal Plug and Play Device Host" is "manual" and "stopped", thus I don't think this appears to be part of the problem.

Bottom line is that the original problem is resolved only by setting SSDP Discovery Service to "disable" and "stopped". The CPU spikes (w/hourglass flicker) resolve immediately, and do not recur on startup. System seems to work fine.

However, I again question whether there is any way to see why service is causing this problem, and can it be resolved without disabling the service?

[nlomis]

System workign fine now - however in reference to my last question - any suggestions?