svchost consumes 100% of CPU on startup

[Guest]

So I startup my computer and it works at a staggeringly slow pace.
Using Process Explorer I've found that an instance of svchost.exe with only
the Dnscache service is consuming my CPU. If I kill the process then the
problem goes away. However, this seems to make other apps like Explorer do
funny things, like take me off line constantly. Also, Dnscache (a Microsoft
product) seems to be an important component of a healthy, internet-connected
Windows XP. Anyone know how I can repair the Dnscache service?

john

 

[Richard Urban]

http://search.microsoft.com/search/results.aspx?st=b&na=88&View=en-us&qu=Dnscache

--
Regards,

Richard Urban

If you knew as much as you thought you know,
You would realize that you don't know what you thought you knew!

 

[Ramesh, MS-MVP]

John,

This behavior is normal if you have a huge HOSTS file.

--
Ramesh, MS-MVP
Windows Shell/User

Windows XP Troubleshooting
http://www.winhelponline.com
http://windowsxp.mvps.org

Windows XP Newsgroup Setup Instructions for Outlook Express:
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/expertzone/newsgroupsetup.mspx

 

[Wesley Vogel]

You can purge the DNS Resolver cache.

The ipconfig /flushdns command provides you with a means to flush and reset
the contents of the DNS client resolver cache. Resetting the cache does not
eliminate entries that are preloaded from the local Hosts file. To eliminate
those entries from the cache, remove them from the HOSTS file.

Open a command prompt...
Start | Run | Type: cmd | Click OK |
Type or paste this in the command prompt window:

ipconfig /flushdns

Hit your Enter key.

You can then view the DNS cache.

Type or paste this in the command prompt window:
ipconfig /displaydns
Hit your Enter key.
-----

[[ Editors Note: in most cases a large HOSTS file (over 135 kb) tends to
slow down the machine. This only occurs in W2000 and XP. Windows 98 and ME
are not affected.

To resolve this issue (manually) open the "Services Editor"

Start | Run (type) "services.msc" (no quotes)
Scroll down to "DNS Client", Right-click and select: Properties
Click the drop-down arrow for "Startup type"
Select: Manual, click Apply\Ok and restart.
You can see that the above "Service" is not needed (after a little browsing)
by opening the Services Editor again, scroll down to DNS Client and check
the "Status" column. It should be blank, if it was needed it would show
"Started" in that column. ]]
From...
Blocking Unwanted Parasites with a Hosts File
http://www.mvps.org/winhelp2002/hosts.htm

--
Hope this helps. Let us know.

Wes
MS-MVP Windows Shell/User

In

 

[Guest]

Dear Richard,

I apologize if I appeared to try to look like I know what I am doing. I
don't. I simply tried to read through the other posts and do some leg work
before soliciting help. Fortunately, for people like me, there are very
smart and passionate people like you who do know what they're doing and
respond to calls for help. Unfortunately, your response was not as helpful
as the other posts to my query; I had already done the search on DNScache,
discovered what it means, and remained unclear about what action to take.
However, I thank you for your response and sincerely appreciate your trying
to help.

John

 

[Guest]

Wesley,

Thank you very much for your response. I tried the "ipconfig /flushdns" and
the "ipconfig /displaydns" commands. Unfortunately both "failed during
execution". Are these available for the XP Home edition or only XP Pro? At
any rate, the editor's note about running services.msc and setting the
service startup to "manual" solved the problem. Many thanks for taking the
time to help!!

John

You can purge the DNS Resolver cache.

The ipconfig /flushdns command provides you with a means to flush and reset
the contents of the DNS client resolver cache. Resetting the cache does not
eliminate entries that are preloaded from the local Hosts file. To eliminate
those entries from the cache, remove them from the HOSTS file.

Open a command prompt...
Start | Run | Type: cmd | Click OK |
Type or paste this in the command prompt window:

ipconfig /flushdns

Hit your Enter key.

You can then view the DNS cache.

Type or paste this in the command prompt window:
ipconfig /displaydns
Hit your Enter key.
-----

[[ Editors Note: in most cases a large HOSTS file (over 135 kb) tends to
slow down the machine. This only occurs in W2000 and XP. Windows 98 and ME
are not affected.

To resolve this issue (manually) open the "Services Editor"

Start | Run (type) "services.msc" (no quotes)
Scroll down to "DNS Client", Right-click and select: Properties
Click the drop-down arrow for "Startup type"
Select: Manual, click Apply\Ok and restart.
You can see that the above "Service" is not needed (after a little browsing)
by opening the Services Editor again, scroll down to DNS Client and check
the "Status" column. It should be blank, if it was needed it would show
"Started" in that column. ]]
From...
Blocking Unwanted Parasites with a Hosts File
http://www.mvps.org/winhelp2002/hosts.htm

--
Hope this helps. Let us know.

Wes
MS-MVP Windows Shell/User

In

So I startup my computer and it works at a staggeringly slow pace.
Using Process Explorer I've found that an instance of svchost.exe with
only the Dnscache service is consuming my CPU. If I kill the process
then the problem goes away. However, this seems to make other apps like
Explorer do funny things, like take me off line constantly. Also,
Dnscache (a Microsoft product) seems to be an important component of a
healthy, internet-connected Windows XP. Anyone know how I can repair the
Dnscache service?

john

 

[Guest]

Thanks, Ramesh. What is the location of the HOSTS file that you speak of.
Is it in
~/WINDOWS/system32/drivers/etc ? If so, is 2.4 MB considered big? If so,
how does it get that way, and how can I avoid it getting too big?

John

 

[srd]

I think the comment about knowledge was part of his signature, not an
aspersion on you.

Stephen Diamond

 

[Ramesh, MS-MVP]

John,

Yes 2.4MB is considered big. BTW, I could resolve the problem (delay at
every logon) by simply disabling the DNS Client service.

--
Ramesh, MS-MVP
Windows Shell/User

Windows XP Troubleshooting
http://www.winhelponline.com
http://windowsxp.mvps.org

Windows XP Newsgroup Setup Instructions for Outlook Express:
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/expertzone/newsgroupsetup.mspx

 

[Wesley Vogel]

John,

Jeepers! 2.4MB I thought my HOSTS file was pretty good sized at 288 KB.

It is ipconfig.exe and it is available on XP Home.

The /? switch will show Help. I.e. ipconfig /?

Type or paste ipconfig /? in a command prompt window and see if that works.

--
Hope this helps. Let us know.

Wes
MS-MVP Windows Shell/User

In

Wesley,

Thank you very much for your response. I tried the "ipconfig /flushdns"
and the "ipconfig /displaydns" commands. Unfortunately both "failed
during execution". Are these available for the XP Home edition or only
XP Pro? At any rate, the editor's note about running services.msc and
setting the service startup to "manual" solved the problem. Many thanks
for taking the time to help!!

John

You can purge the DNS Resolver cache.

The ipconfig /flushdns command provides you with a means to flush and
reset the contents of the DNS client resolver cache. Resetting the
cache does not eliminate entries that are preloaded from the local Hosts
file. To eliminate those entries from the cache, remove them from the
HOSTS file.

Open a command prompt...
Start | Run | Type: cmd | Click OK |
Type or paste this in the command prompt window:

ipconfig /flushdns

Hit your Enter key.

You can then view the DNS cache.

Type or paste this in the command prompt window:
ipconfig /displaydns
Hit your Enter key.
-----

[[ Editors Note: in most cases a large HOSTS file (over 135 kb) tends to
slow down the machine. This only occurs in W2000 and XP. Windows 98 and
ME are not affected.

To resolve this issue (manually) open the "Services Editor"

Start | Run (type) "services.msc" (no quotes)
Scroll down to "DNS Client", Right-click and select: Properties
Click the drop-down arrow for "Startup type"
Select: Manual, click Apply\Ok and restart.
You can see that the above "Service" is not needed (after a little
browsing) by opening the Services Editor again, scroll down to DNS
Client and check the "Status" column. It should be blank, if it was
needed it would show "Started" in that column. ]]
From...
Blocking Unwanted Parasites with a Hosts File
http://www.mvps.org/winhelp2002/hosts.htm

--
Hope this helps. Let us know.

Wes
MS-MVP Windows Shell/User

In

So I startup my computer and it works at a staggeringly slow pace.
Using Process Explorer I've found that an instance of svchost.exe with
only the Dnscache service is consuming my CPU. If I kill the process
then the problem goes away. However, this seems to make other apps like
Explorer do funny things, like take me off line constantly. Also,
Dnscache (a Microsoft product) seems to be an important component of a
healthy, internet-connected Windows XP. Anyone know how I can repair
the Dnscache service?

john

 

[Richard Urban]

He must have 95% of the internet in there. (-:

--
Regards,

Richard Urban

If you knew as much as you thought you know,
You would realize that you don't know what you thought you knew!

John,

Jeepers! 2.4MB I thought my HOSTS file was pretty good sized at 288 KB.

It is ipconfig.exe and it is available on XP Home.

The /? switch will show Help. I.e. ipconfig /?

Type or paste ipconfig /? in a command prompt window and see if that
works.

--
Hope this helps. Let us know.

Wes
MS-MVP Windows Shell/User

In

Wesley,

Thank you very much for your response. I tried the "ipconfig /flushdns"
and the "ipconfig /displaydns" commands. Unfortunately both "failed
during execution". Are these available for the XP Home edition or only
XP Pro? At any rate, the editor's note about running services.msc and
setting the service startup to "manual" solved the problem. Many thanks
for taking the time to help!!

John

You can purge the DNS Resolver cache.

The ipconfig /flushdns command provides you with a means to flush and
reset the contents of the DNS client resolver cache. Resetting the
cache does not eliminate entries that are preloaded from the local Hosts
file. To eliminate those entries from the cache, remove them from the
HOSTS file.

Open a command prompt...
Start | Run | Type: cmd | Click OK |
Type or paste this in the command prompt window:

ipconfig /flushdns

Hit your Enter key.

You can then view the DNS cache.

Type or paste this in the command prompt window:
ipconfig /displaydns
Hit your Enter key.
-----

[[ Editors Note: in most cases a large HOSTS file (over 135 kb) tends to
slow down the machine. This only occurs in W2000 and XP. Windows 98 and
ME are not affected.

To resolve this issue (manually) open the "Services Editor"

Start | Run (type) "services.msc" (no quotes)
Scroll down to "DNS Client", Right-click and select: Properties
Click the drop-down arrow for "Startup type"
Select: Manual, click Apply\Ok and restart.
You can see that the above "Service" is not needed (after a little
browsing) by opening the Services Editor again, scroll down to DNS
Client and check the "Status" column. It should be blank, if it was
needed it would show "Started" in that column. ]]
From...
Blocking Unwanted Parasites with a Hosts File
http://www.mvps.org/winhelp2002/hosts.htm

--
Hope this helps. Let us know.

Wes
MS-MVP Windows Shell/User

In John Wasserbauer <[email protected]> hunted and
pecked:
So I startup my computer and it works at a staggeringly slow pace.
Using Process Explorer I've found that an instance of svchost.exe with
only the Dnscache service is consuming my CPU. If I kill the process
then the problem goes away. However, this seems to make other apps
like
Explorer do funny things, like take me off line constantly. Also,
Dnscache (a Microsoft product) seems to be an important component of a
healthy, internet-connected Windows XP. Anyone know how I can repair
the Dnscache service?

john

 

[Wesley Vogel]

<LOL>

--
Hope this helps. Let us know.

Wes
MS-MVP Windows Shell/User

In

He must have 95% of the internet in there. (-:

--
Regards,

Richard Urban

If you knew as much as you thought you know,
You would realize that you don't know what you thought you knew!

<snip>

 

[Guest]

Wes,

Apparently I'm typing everything in correctly and it's making an attempt to
flush the dns cache. The error I get reads:

Windows IP Configuration
Could not flush the DNS Resolver Cache: Function failed during execution.

Are there any automatic flushes that occur under normal operation? Perhaps
this flush failure is how the file size got out of hand... ? Thoughts?
Other things to try?

John

John,

Jeepers! 2.4MB I thought my HOSTS file was pretty good sized at 288 KB.

It is ipconfig.exe and it is available on XP Home.

The /? switch will show Help. I.e. ipconfig /?

Type or paste ipconfig /? in a command prompt window and see if that works.

--
Hope this helps. Let us know.

Wes
MS-MVP Windows Shell/User

In

Wesley,

Thank you very much for your response. I tried the "ipconfig /flushdns"
and the "ipconfig /displaydns" commands. Unfortunately both "failed
during execution". Are these available for the XP Home edition or only
XP Pro? At any rate, the editor's note about running services.msc and
setting the service startup to "manual" solved the problem. Many thanks
for taking the time to help!!

John

You can purge the DNS Resolver cache.

The ipconfig /flushdns command provides you with a means to flush and
reset the contents of the DNS client resolver cache. Resetting the
cache does not eliminate entries that are preloaded from the local Hosts
file. To eliminate those entries from the cache, remove them from the
HOSTS file.

Open a command prompt...
Start | Run | Type: cmd | Click OK |
Type or paste this in the command prompt window:

ipconfig /flushdns

Hit your Enter key.

You can then view the DNS cache.

Type or paste this in the command prompt window:
ipconfig /displaydns
Hit your Enter key.
-----

[[ Editors Note: in most cases a large HOSTS file (over 135 kb) tends to
slow down the machine. This only occurs in W2000 and XP. Windows 98 and
ME are not affected.

To resolve this issue (manually) open the "Services Editor"

Start | Run (type) "services.msc" (no quotes)
Scroll down to "DNS Client", Right-click and select: Properties
Click the drop-down arrow for "Startup type"
Select: Manual, click Apply\Ok and restart.
You can see that the above "Service" is not needed (after a little
browsing) by opening the Services Editor again, scroll down to DNS
Client and check the "Status" column. It should be blank, if it was
needed it would show "Started" in that column. ]]
From...
Blocking Unwanted Parasites with a Hosts File
http://www.mvps.org/winhelp2002/hosts.htm

--
Hope this helps. Let us know.

Wes
MS-MVP Windows Shell/User

In John Wasserbauer <[email protected]> hunted and
pecked:
So I startup my computer and it works at a staggeringly slow pace.
Using Process Explorer I've found that an instance of svchost.exe with
only the Dnscache service is consuming my CPU. If I kill the process
then the problem goes away. However, this seems to make other apps like
Explorer do funny things, like take me off line constantly. Also,
Dnscache (a Microsoft product) seems to be an important component of a
healthy, internet-connected Windows XP. Anyone know how I can repair
the Dnscache service?

john

 

[Wesley Vogel]

John,

I read somewhere that...
The default time period for keeping an address in the cache is 24 hours.

After a little experimenting I have found out why ipconfig /flushdns isn't
working for you.

ipconfig /displaydns and ipconfig /flushdns do *not* work with the DNS
Client service *not* running.

You have to have the DNS Client service running in order for
ipconfig /displaydns and ipconfig /flushdns to work properly.

--
Hope this helps. Let us know.

Wes
MS-MVP Windows Shell/User

In

Wes,

Apparently I'm typing everything in correctly and it's making an attempt
to flush the dns cache. The error I get reads:

Windows IP Configuration
Could not flush the DNS Resolver Cache: Function failed during execution.

Are there any automatic flushes that occur under normal operation?
Perhaps this flush failure is how the file size got out of hand... ?
Thoughts? Other things to try?

John

John,

Jeepers! 2.4MB I thought my HOSTS file was pretty good sized at 288 KB.

It is ipconfig.exe and it is available on XP Home.

The /? switch will show Help. I.e. ipconfig /?

Type or paste ipconfig /? in a command prompt window and see if that
works.

--
Hope this helps. Let us know.

Wes
MS-MVP Windows Shell/User

In

Wesley,

Thank you very much for your response. I tried the "ipconfig /flushdns"
and the "ipconfig /displaydns" commands. Unfortunately both "failed
during execution". Are these available for the XP Home edition or only
XP Pro? At any rate, the editor's note about running services.msc and
setting the service startup to "manual" solved the problem. Many thanks
for taking the time to help!!

John

:

You can purge the DNS Resolver cache.

The ipconfig /flushdns command provides you with a means to flush and
reset the contents of the DNS client resolver cache. Resetting the
cache does not eliminate entries that are preloaded from the local
Hosts file. To eliminate those entries from the cache, remove them
from the HOSTS file.

Open a command prompt...
Start | Run | Type: cmd | Click OK |
Type or paste this in the command prompt window:

ipconfig /flushdns

Hit your Enter key.

You can then view the DNS cache.

Type or paste this in the command prompt window:
ipconfig /displaydns
Hit your Enter key.
-----

[[ Editors Note: in most cases a large HOSTS file (over 135 kb) tends
to slow down the machine. This only occurs in W2000 and XP. Windows 98
and ME are not affected.

To resolve this issue (manually) open the "Services Editor"

Start | Run (type) "services.msc" (no quotes)
Scroll down to "DNS Client", Right-click and select: Properties
Click the drop-down arrow for "Startup type"
Select: Manual, click Apply\Ok and restart.
You can see that the above "Service" is not needed (after a little
browsing) by opening the Services Editor again, scroll down to DNS
Client and check the "Status" column. It should be blank, if it was
needed it would show "Started" in that column. ]]
From...
Blocking Unwanted Parasites with a Hosts File
http://www.mvps.org/winhelp2002/hosts.htm

--
Hope this helps. Let us know.

Wes
MS-MVP Windows Shell/User

In John Wasserbauer <[email protected]> hunted and
pecked:
So I startup my computer and it works at a staggeringly slow pace.
Using Process Explorer I've found that an instance of svchost.exe with
only the Dnscache service is consuming my CPU. If I kill the process
then the problem goes away. However, this seems to make other apps
like Explorer do funny things, like take me off line constantly.
Also, Dnscache (a Microsoft product) seems to be an important
component of a healthy, internet-connected Windows XP. Anyone know
how I can repair the Dnscache service?

john

 

[Guest]

Wes,

Worked like a charm! I am absolutely thrilled to have this issue resolved
with no remaining mysteries! Wesley, Richard and Ramesh, you have been most
gracious. On behalf of myself and my family, thank you again for all your
help!

Sincerely,

John Wasserbauer

John,

I read somewhere that...
The default time period for keeping an address in the cache is 24 hours.

After a little experimenting I have found out why ipconfig /flushdns isn't
working for you.

ipconfig /displaydns and ipconfig /flushdns do *not* work with the DNS
Client service *not* running.

You have to have the DNS Client service running in order for
ipconfig /displaydns and ipconfig /flushdns to work properly.

--
Hope this helps. Let us know.

Wes
MS-MVP Windows Shell/User

In

Wes,

Apparently I'm typing everything in correctly and it's making an attempt
to flush the dns cache. The error I get reads:

Windows IP Configuration
Could not flush the DNS Resolver Cache: Function failed during execution.

Are there any automatic flushes that occur under normal operation?
Perhaps this flush failure is how the file size got out of hand... ?
Thoughts? Other things to try?

John

John,

Jeepers! 2.4MB I thought my HOSTS file was pretty good sized at 288 KB.

It is ipconfig.exe and it is available on XP Home.

The /? switch will show Help. I.e. ipconfig /?

Type or paste ipconfig /? in a command prompt window and see if that
works.

--
Hope this helps. Let us know.

Wes
MS-MVP Windows Shell/User

In John Wasserbauer <[email protected]> hunted and
pecked:
Wesley,

Thank you very much for your response. I tried the "ipconfig /flushdns"
and the "ipconfig /displaydns" commands. Unfortunately both "failed
during execution". Are these available for the XP Home edition or only
XP Pro? At any rate, the editor's note about running services.msc and
setting the service startup to "manual" solved the problem. Many thanks
for taking the time to help!!

John

:

You can purge the DNS Resolver cache.

The ipconfig /flushdns command provides you with a means to flush and
reset the contents of the DNS client resolver cache. Resetting the
cache does not eliminate entries that are preloaded from the local
Hosts file. To eliminate those entries from the cache, remove them
from the HOSTS file.

Open a command prompt...
Start | Run | Type: cmd | Click OK |
Type or paste this in the command prompt window:

ipconfig /flushdns

Hit your Enter key.

You can then view the DNS cache.

Type or paste this in the command prompt window:
ipconfig /displaydns
Hit your Enter key.
-----

[[ Editors Note: in most cases a large HOSTS file (over 135 kb) tends
to slow down the machine. This only occurs in W2000 and XP. Windows 98
and ME are not affected.

To resolve this issue (manually) open the "Services Editor"

Start | Run (type) "services.msc" (no quotes)
Scroll down to "DNS Client", Right-click and select: Properties
Click the drop-down arrow for "Startup type"
Select: Manual, click Apply\Ok and restart.
You can see that the above "Service" is not needed (after a little
browsing) by opening the Services Editor again, scroll down to DNS
Client and check the "Status" column. It should be blank, if it was
needed it would show "Started" in that column. ]]
From...
Blocking Unwanted Parasites with a Hosts File
http://www.mvps.org/winhelp2002/hosts.htm

--
Hope this helps. Let us know.

Wes
MS-MVP Windows Shell/User

In John Wasserbauer <[email protected]> hunted and
pecked:
So I startup my computer and it works at a staggeringly slow pace.
Using Process Explorer I've found that an instance of svchost.exe with
only the Dnscache service is consuming my CPU. If I kill the process
then the problem goes away. However, this seems to make other apps
like Explorer do funny things, like take me off line constantly.
Also, Dnscache (a Microsoft product) seems to be an important
component of a healthy, internet-connected Windows XP. Anyone know
how I can repair the Dnscache service?

john

 

[Wesley Vogel]

You betcha, John. Keep having fun.

--
Hope this helps. Let us know.

Wes
MS-MVP Windows Shell/User

In

Wes,

Worked like a charm! I am absolutely thrilled to have this issue resolved
with no remaining mysteries! Wesley, Richard and Ramesh, you have been
most gracious. On behalf of myself and my family, thank you again for
all your help!

Sincerely,

John Wasserbauer

John,

I read somewhere that...
The default time period for keeping an address in the cache is 24 hours.

After a little experimenting I have found out why ipconfig /flushdns
isn't working for you.

ipconfig /displaydns and ipconfig /flushdns do *not* work with the DNS
Client service *not* running.

You have to have the DNS Client service running in order for
ipconfig /displaydns and ipconfig /flushdns to work properly.

--
Hope this helps. Let us know.

Wes
MS-MVP Windows Shell/User

In

Wes,

Apparently I'm typing everything in correctly and it's making an attempt
to flush the dns cache. The error I get reads:

Windows IP Configuration
Could not flush the DNS Resolver Cache: Function failed during
execution.

Are there any automatic flushes that occur under normal operation?
Perhaps this flush failure is how the file size got out of hand... ?
Thoughts? Other things to try?

John

:

John,

Jeepers! 2.4MB I thought my HOSTS file was pretty good sized at 288
KB.

It is ipconfig.exe and it is available on XP Home.

The /? switch will show Help. I.e. ipconfig /?

Type or paste ipconfig /? in a command prompt window and see if that
works.

--
Hope this helps. Let us know.

Wes
MS-MVP Windows Shell/User

In John Wasserbauer <[email protected]> hunted and
pecked:
Wesley,

Thank you very much for your response. I tried the "ipconfig
/flushdns" and the "ipconfig /displaydns" commands. Unfortunately
both "failed during execution". Are these available for the XP Home
edition or only XP Pro? At any rate, the editor's note about running
services.msc and setting the service startup to "manual" solved the
problem. Many thanks for taking the time to help!!

John

:

You can purge the DNS Resolver cache.

The ipconfig /flushdns command provides you with a means to flush and
reset the contents of the DNS client resolver cache. Resetting the
cache does not eliminate entries that are preloaded from the local
Hosts file. To eliminate those entries from the cache, remove them
from the HOSTS file.

Open a command prompt...
Start | Run | Type: cmd | Click OK |
Type or paste this in the command prompt window:

ipconfig /flushdns

Hit your Enter key.

You can then view the DNS cache.

Type or paste this in the command prompt window:
ipconfig /displaydns
Hit your Enter key.
-----

[[ Editors Note: in most cases a large HOSTS file (over 135 kb) tends
to slow down the machine. This only occurs in W2000 and XP. Windows
98 and ME are not affected.

To resolve this issue (manually) open the "Services Editor"

Start | Run (type) "services.msc" (no quotes)
Scroll down to "DNS Client", Right-click and select: Properties
Click the drop-down arrow for "Startup type"
Select: Manual, click Apply\Ok and restart.
You can see that the above "Service" is not needed (after a little
browsing) by opening the Services Editor again, scroll down to DNS
Client and check the "Status" column. It should be blank, if it was
needed it would show "Started" in that column. ]]
From...
Blocking Unwanted Parasites with a Hosts File
http://www.mvps.org/winhelp2002/hosts.htm

--
Hope this helps. Let us know.

Wes
MS-MVP Windows Shell/User

In John Wasserbauer <[email protected]> hunted
and pecked:
So I startup my computer and it works at a staggeringly slow pace.
Using Process Explorer I've found that an instance of svchost.exe
with only the Dnscache service is consuming my CPU. If I kill the
process then the problem goes away. However, this seems to make
other apps like Explorer do funny things, like take me off line
constantly. Also, Dnscache (a Microsoft product) seems to be an
important component of a healthy, internet-connected Windows XP.
Anyone know how I can repair the Dnscache service?

john

 

[Guest]

I'm having the same problem with ipconfig /flushdns except that the DNS
Client Service is Started and on automatic and I'm still getting "Could not
flush the DNS Resolver Cache: Function failed during execution" Any
suggestions?

You betcha, John. Keep having fun.

--
Hope this helps. Let us know.

Wes
MS-MVP Windows Shell/User

In

Wes,

Worked like a charm! I am absolutely thrilled to have this issue resolved
with no remaining mysteries! Wesley, Richard and Ramesh, you have been
most gracious. On behalf of myself and my family, thank you again for
all your help!

Sincerely,

John Wasserbauer

John,

I read somewhere that...
The default time period for keeping an address in the cache is 24 hours.

After a little experimenting I have found out why ipconfig /flushdns
isn't working for you.

ipconfig /displaydns and ipconfig /flushdns do *not* work with the DNS
Client service *not* running.

You have to have the DNS Client service running in order for
ipconfig /displaydns and ipconfig /flushdns to work properly.

--
Hope this helps. Let us know.

Wes
MS-MVP Windows Shell/User

In John Wasserbauer <[email protected]> hunted and
pecked:
Wes,

Apparently I'm typing everything in correctly and it's making an attempt
to flush the dns cache. The error I get reads:

Windows IP Configuration
Could not flush the DNS Resolver Cache: Function failed during
execution.

Are there any automatic flushes that occur under normal operation?
Perhaps this flush failure is how the file size got out of hand... ?
Thoughts? Other things to try?

John

:

John,

Jeepers! 2.4MB I thought my HOSTS file was pretty good sized at 288
KB.

It is ipconfig.exe and it is available on XP Home.

The /? switch will show Help. I.e. ipconfig /?

Type or paste ipconfig /? in a command prompt window and see if that
works.

--
Hope this helps. Let us know.

Wes
MS-MVP Windows Shell/User

In John Wasserbauer <[email protected]> hunted and
pecked:
Wesley,

Thank you very much for your response. I tried the "ipconfig
/flushdns" and the "ipconfig /displaydns" commands. Unfortunately
both "failed during execution". Are these available for the XP Home
edition or only XP Pro? At any rate, the editor's note about running
services.msc and setting the service startup to "manual" solved the
problem. Many thanks for taking the time to help!!

John

:

You can purge the DNS Resolver cache.

The ipconfig /flushdns command provides you with a means to flush and
reset the contents of the DNS client resolver cache. Resetting the
cache does not eliminate entries that are preloaded from the local
Hosts file. To eliminate those entries from the cache, remove them
from the HOSTS file.

Open a command prompt...
Start | Run | Type: cmd | Click OK |
Type or paste this in the command prompt window:

ipconfig /flushdns

Hit your Enter key.

You can then view the DNS cache.

Type or paste this in the command prompt window:
ipconfig /displaydns
Hit your Enter key.
-----

[[ Editors Note: in most cases a large HOSTS file (over 135 kb) tends
to slow down the machine. This only occurs in W2000 and XP. Windows
98 and ME are not affected.

To resolve this issue (manually) open the "Services Editor"

Start | Run (type) "services.msc" (no quotes)
Scroll down to "DNS Client", Right-click and select: Properties
Click the drop-down arrow for "Startup type"
Select: Manual, click Apply\Ok and restart.
You can see that the above "Service" is not needed (after a little
browsing) by opening the Services Editor again, scroll down to DNS
Client and check the "Status" column. It should be blank, if it was
needed it would show "Started" in that column. ]]
From...
Blocking Unwanted Parasites with a Hosts File
http://www.mvps.org/winhelp2002/hosts.htm

--
Hope this helps. Let us know.

Wes
MS-MVP Windows Shell/User

In John Wasserbauer <[email protected]> hunted
and pecked:
So I startup my computer and it works at a staggeringly slow pace.
Using Process Explorer I've found that an instance of svchost.exe
with only the Dnscache service is consuming my CPU. If I kill the
process then the problem goes away. However, this seems to make
other apps like Explorer do funny things, like take me off line
constantly. Also, Dnscache (a Microsoft product) seems to be an
important component of a healthy, internet-connected Windows XP.
Anyone know how I can repair the Dnscache service?

john

 

[Wesley Vogel]

The last post in this thread was from Wed, Jul 6 2005 9:07 am

Now there's a MS KB article on this.

Error message when you run the ipconfig /flushdns command on a Windows
XP-based computer: "Could not flush the DNS Resolver Cache: Function failed
during execution."
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/919746

Open a command prompt, type: sc query dnscache and hit Enter.

If the DNS Client Service (dnscache) is running you will see:
STATE : 4 RUNNING

http://www.google.com/search?q=+"Co...execution."&hl=en&lr=&as_qdr=all&start=0&sa=N

--
Hope this helps. Let us know.

Wes
MS-MVP Windows Shell/User

In

I'm having the same problem with ipconfig /flushdns except that the DNS
Client Service is Started and on automatic and I'm still getting "Could
not flush the DNS Resolver Cache: Function failed during execution" Any
suggestions?

You betcha, John. Keep having fun.

--
Hope this helps. Let us know.

Wes
MS-MVP Windows Shell/User

In

Wes,

Worked like a charm! I am absolutely thrilled to have this issue
resolved with no remaining mysteries! Wesley, Richard and Ramesh, you
have been most gracious. On behalf of myself and my family, thank you
again for all your help!

Sincerely,

John Wasserbauer

:

John,

I read somewhere that...
The default time period for keeping an address in the cache is 24
hours.

After a little experimenting I have found out why ipconfig /flushdns
isn't working for you.

ipconfig /displaydns and ipconfig /flushdns do *not* work with the DNS
Client service *not* running.

You have to have the DNS Client service running in order for
ipconfig /displaydns and ipconfig /flushdns to work properly.

--
Hope this helps. Let us know.

Wes
MS-MVP Windows Shell/User

In John Wasserbauer <[email protected]> hunted and
pecked:
Wes,

Apparently I'm typing everything in correctly and it's making an
attempt to flush the dns cache. The error I get reads:

Windows IP Configuration
Could not flush the DNS Resolver Cache: Function failed during
execution.

Are there any automatic flushes that occur under normal operation?
Perhaps this flush failure is how the file size got out of hand... ?
Thoughts? Other things to try?

John

:

John,

Jeepers! 2.4MB I thought my HOSTS file was pretty good sized at 288
KB.

It is ipconfig.exe and it is available on XP Home.

The /? switch will show Help. I.e. ipconfig /?

Type or paste ipconfig /? in a command prompt window and see if that
works.

--
Hope this helps. Let us know.

Wes
MS-MVP Windows Shell/User

In John Wasserbauer <[email protected]> hunted
and pecked:
Wesley,

Thank you very much for your response. I tried the "ipconfig
/flushdns" and the "ipconfig /displaydns" commands. Unfortunately
both "failed during execution". Are these available for the XP Home
edition or only XP Pro? At any rate, the editor's note about
running services.msc and setting the service startup to "manual"
solved the problem. Many thanks for taking the time to help!!

John

:

You can purge the DNS Resolver cache.

The ipconfig /flushdns command provides you with a means to flush
and reset the contents of the DNS client resolver cache.
Resetting the cache does not eliminate entries that are preloaded
from the local Hosts file. To eliminate those entries from the
cache, remove them from the HOSTS file.

Open a command prompt...
Start | Run | Type: cmd | Click OK |
Type or paste this in the command prompt window:

ipconfig /flushdns

Hit your Enter key.

You can then view the DNS cache.

Type or paste this in the command prompt window:
ipconfig /displaydns
Hit your Enter key.
-----

[[ Editors Note: in most cases a large HOSTS file (over 135 kb)
tends to slow down the machine. This only occurs in W2000 and XP.
Windows 98 and ME are not affected.

To resolve this issue (manually) open the "Services Editor"

Start | Run (type) "services.msc" (no quotes)
Scroll down to "DNS Client", Right-click and select: Properties
Click the drop-down arrow for "Startup type"
Select: Manual, click Apply\Ok and restart.
You can see that the above "Service" is not needed (after a little
browsing) by opening the Services Editor again, scroll down to DNS
Client and check the "Status" column. It should be blank, if it was
needed it would show "Started" in that column. ]]
From...
Blocking Unwanted Parasites with a Hosts File
http://www.mvps.org/winhelp2002/hosts.htm

--
Hope this helps. Let us know.

Wes
MS-MVP Windows Shell/User

In John Wasserbauer <[email protected]> hunted
and pecked:
So I startup my computer and it works at a staggeringly slow pace.
Using Process Explorer I've found that an instance of svchost.exe
with only the Dnscache service is consuming my CPU. If I kill the
process then the problem goes away. However, this seems to make
other apps like Explorer do funny things, like take me off line
constantly. Also, Dnscache (a Microsoft product) seems to be an
important component of a healthy, internet-connected Windows XP.
Anyone know how I can repair the Dnscache service?

john

 

[Guest]

Thanks Wesley,
I tried it and the cache is running
sc query dns cache gives me :
TYPE : 20 WIN32_SHARE_PROCESS
STATE : 4 RUNNING
<STOPPABLE,NOT_PAUSABLE,IGNORES_SHUTDOWN>
WIN32_EXIT_CODE :0 <0xO>
SERVICE_EXIT_CODE :0 <0x0>
CHECKPOINT : 0x0
WAIT_HINT : 0x0
Any suggestions on what to do next? My laptop decided on Wednesday that it
wasn't going to connect to the internet via wireless or ethernet and I have
got as far as trying to repair the wireless connection where I get an error
message that the DNS cache cannot be cleared.

The last post in this thread was from Wed, Jul 6 2005 9:07 am

Now there's a MS KB article on this.

Error message when you run the ipconfig /flushdns command on a Windows
XP-based computer: "Could not flush the DNS Resolver Cache: Function failed
during execution."
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/919746

Open a command prompt, type: sc query dnscache and hit Enter.

If the DNS Client Service (dnscache) is running you will see:
STATE : 4 RUNNING

http://www.google.com/search?q=+"Co...execution."&hl=en&lr=&as_qdr=all&start=0&sa=N

--
Hope this helps. Let us know.

Wes
MS-MVP Windows Shell/User

In

I'm having the same problem with ipconfig /flushdns except that the DNS
Client Service is Started and on automatic and I'm still getting "Could
not flush the DNS Resolver Cache: Function failed during execution" Any
suggestions?

You betcha, John. Keep having fun.

--
Hope this helps. Let us know.

Wes
MS-MVP Windows Shell/User

In John Wasserbauer <[email protected]> hunted and
pecked:
Wes,

Worked like a charm! I am absolutely thrilled to have this issue
resolved with no remaining mysteries! Wesley, Richard and Ramesh, you
have been most gracious. On behalf of myself and my family, thank you
again for all your help!

Sincerely,

John Wasserbauer

:

John,

I read somewhere that...
The default time period for keeping an address in the cache is 24
hours.

After a little experimenting I have found out why ipconfig /flushdns
isn't working for you.

ipconfig /displaydns and ipconfig /flushdns do *not* work with the DNS
Client service *not* running.

You have to have the DNS Client service running in order for
ipconfig /displaydns and ipconfig /flushdns to work properly.

--
Hope this helps. Let us know.

Wes
MS-MVP Windows Shell/User

In John Wasserbauer <[email protected]> hunted and
pecked:
Wes,

Apparently I'm typing everything in correctly and it's making an
attempt to flush the dns cache. The error I get reads:

Windows IP Configuration
Could not flush the DNS Resolver Cache: Function failed during
execution.

Are there any automatic flushes that occur under normal operation?
Perhaps this flush failure is how the file size got out of hand... ?
Thoughts? Other things to try?

John

:

John,

Jeepers! 2.4MB I thought my HOSTS file was pretty good sized at 288
KB.

It is ipconfig.exe and it is available on XP Home.

The /? switch will show Help. I.e. ipconfig /?

Type or paste ipconfig /? in a command prompt window and see if that
works.

--
Hope this helps. Let us know.

Wes
MS-MVP Windows Shell/User

In John Wasserbauer <[email protected]> hunted
and pecked:
Wesley,

Thank you very much for your response. I tried the "ipconfig
/flushdns" and the "ipconfig /displaydns" commands. Unfortunately
both "failed during execution". Are these available for the XP Home
edition or only XP Pro? At any rate, the editor's note about
running services.msc and setting the service startup to "manual"
solved the problem. Many thanks for taking the time to help!!

John

:

You can purge the DNS Resolver cache.

The ipconfig /flushdns command provides you with a means to flush
and reset the contents of the DNS client resolver cache.
Resetting the cache does not eliminate entries that are preloaded
from the local Hosts file. To eliminate those entries from the
cache, remove them from the HOSTS file.

Open a command prompt...
Start | Run | Type: cmd | Click OK |
Type or paste this in the command prompt window:

ipconfig /flushdns

Hit your Enter key.

You can then view the DNS cache.

Type or paste this in the command prompt window:
ipconfig /displaydns
Hit your Enter key.
-----

[[ Editors Note: in most cases a large HOSTS file (over 135 kb)
tends to slow down the machine. This only occurs in W2000 and XP.
Windows 98 and ME are not affected.

To resolve this issue (manually) open the "Services Editor"

Start | Run (type) "services.msc" (no quotes)
Scroll down to "DNS Client", Right-click and select: Properties
Click the drop-down arrow for "Startup type"
Select: Manual, click Apply\Ok and restart.
You can see that the above "Service" is not needed (after a little
browsing) by opening the Services Editor again, scroll down to DNS
Client and check the "Status" column. It should be blank, if it was
needed it would show "Started" in that column. ]]
From...
Blocking Unwanted Parasites with a Hosts File
http://www.mvps.org/winhelp2002/hosts.htm

--
Hope this helps. Let us know.

Wes
MS-MVP Windows Shell/User

In John Wasserbauer <[email protected]> hunted
and pecked:
So I startup my computer and it works at a staggeringly slow pace.
Using Process Explorer I've found that an instance of svchost.exe
with only the Dnscache service is consuming my CPU. If I kill the
process then the problem goes away. However, this seems to make
other apps like Explorer do funny things, like take me off line
constantly. Also, Dnscache (a Microsoft product) seems to be an
important component of a healthy, internet-connected Windows XP.
Anyone know how I can repair the Dnscache service?

john

 

[Wesley Vogel]

Peter,

Out of curiosity, does the

ipconfig /displaydns

command work?

Or do you get this error message:

Could not display the DNS Resolver Cache.

dnsrslvr.dll is the DNS Caching Resolver Service. Maybe something is hinky
with dnsrslvr.dll.

This is grasping at straws. But give it a shot anyway.

dnsrslvr.dll normally exists in
C:\WINDOWS\system32
and
C:\WINDOWS\system32\dllcache

The dnsrslvr.dll in C:\WINDOWS\system32 is the one that gets used. The
other one is for backup. If Windows File Protection is working correctly,
the following should help. Windows File Protection should replace the file
that you move.

First, stop and disable dnscache in Services then try this.

Start | Run | Type: system32 | Click OK |

C:\WINDOWS\system32 should open.
Size the window so you can also see your Desktop.
Scroll down to dnsrslvr.dll.
Left click and drag dnsrslvr.dll to your Desktop.
Wait just a minute.
Now scroll down clear to the bottom of system32.
Is there a new dnsrslvr.dll there?
Windows File Protection should have created a new copy from
C:\WINDOWS\system32\dllcache.

If there is a new dnsrslvr.dll delete the one on your Desktop and close
system32.

If there is NOT a new dnsrslvr.dll drag the one on your Desktop back into
system32. Close system32.

If there is a new dnsrslvr.dll in system32, you'll see something similar to
this in the Event Viewer under System, listed as Information; Windows File
Protection:

Event Type: Information
Event Source: Windows File Protection
Event Category: None
Event ID: 64002
Date: 24-Nov-06
Time: 3:28:33 PM
Description:
File replacement was attempted on the protected system file
c:\windows\system32\dnsrslvr.dll. This file was restored to the original
version to maintain system stability. The file version of the system file is
5.1.2600.0.

To open the Event Viewer...
Start | Run | Type: eventvwr | Click OK |
Click on System in the left hand pane and look for Infomation under the Type
header and Windows File Protection under the Source header. Double click
that entry.

Set dnscache to Automatic or Manual whatever you had it set at before and
start it.

Try ipconfig /flushdns and ipconfig /displaydns commands again.

--
Hope this helps. Let us know.

Wes
MS-MVP Windows Shell/User

In

Thanks Wesley,
I tried it and the cache is running
sc query dns cache gives me :
TYPE : 20 WIN32_SHARE_PROCESS
STATE : 4 RUNNING

<STOPPABLE,NOT_PAUSABLE,IGNORES_SHUTDOWN> WIN32_EXIT_CODE :0 <0xO>
SERVICE_EXIT_CODE :0 <0x0>
CHECKPOINT : 0x0
WAIT_HINT : 0x0
Any suggestions on what to do next? My laptop decided on Wednesday that it
wasn't going to connect to the internet via wireless or ethernet and I
have got as far as trying to repair the wireless connection where I get
an error message that the DNS cache cannot be cleared.

The last post in this thread was from Wed, Jul 6 2005 9:07 am

Now there's a MS KB article on this.

Error message when you run the ipconfig /flushdns command on a Windows
XP-based computer: "Could not flush the DNS Resolver Cache: Function
failed during execution."
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/919746

Open a command prompt, type: sc query dnscache and hit Enter.

If the DNS Client Service (dnscache) is running you will see:
STATE : 4 RUNNING

http://www.google.com/search?q=+"Co...execution."&hl=en&lr=&as_qdr=all&start=0&sa=N

--
Hope this helps. Let us know.

Wes
MS-MVP Windows Shell/User

In

I'm having the same problem with ipconfig /flushdns except that the DNS
Client Service is Started and on automatic and I'm still getting "Could
not flush the DNS Resolver Cache: Function failed during execution" Any
suggestions?

:

You betcha, John. Keep having fun.

--
Hope this helps. Let us know.

Wes
MS-MVP Windows Shell/User

In John Wasserbauer <[email protected]> hunted and
pecked:
Wes,

Worked like a charm! I am absolutely thrilled to have this issue
resolved with no remaining mysteries! Wesley, Richard and Ramesh, you
have been most gracious. On behalf of myself and my family, thank you
again for all your help!

Sincerely,

John Wasserbauer

:

John,

I read somewhere that...
The default time period for keeping an address in the cache is 24
hours.

After a little experimenting I have found out why ipconfig /flushdns
isn't working for you.

ipconfig /displaydns and ipconfig /flushdns do *not* work with the
DNS Client service *not* running.

You have to have the DNS Client service running in order for
ipconfig /displaydns and ipconfig /flushdns to work properly.

--
Hope this helps. Let us know.

Wes
MS-MVP Windows Shell/User

In John Wasserbauer <[email protected]> hunted
and pecked:
Wes,

Apparently I'm typing everything in correctly and it's making an
attempt to flush the dns cache. The error I get reads:

Windows IP Configuration
Could not flush the DNS Resolver Cache: Function failed during
execution.

Are there any automatic flushes that occur under normal operation?
Perhaps this flush failure is how the file size got out of hand... ?
Thoughts? Other things to try?

John

:

John,

Jeepers! 2.4MB I thought my HOSTS file was pretty good sized at
288 KB.

It is ipconfig.exe and it is available on XP Home.

The /? switch will show Help. I.e. ipconfig /?

Type or paste ipconfig /? in a command prompt window and see if
that works.

--
Hope this helps. Let us know.

Wes
MS-MVP Windows Shell/User

In John Wasserbauer <[email protected]> hunted
and pecked:
Wesley,

Thank you very much for your response. I tried the "ipconfig
/flushdns" and the "ipconfig /displaydns" commands. Unfortunately
both "failed during execution". Are these available for the XP
Home edition or only XP Pro? At any rate, the editor's note about
running services.msc and setting the service startup to "manual"
solved the problem. Many thanks for taking the time to help!!

John

:

You can purge the DNS Resolver cache.

The ipconfig /flushdns command provides you with a means to flush
and reset the contents of the DNS client resolver cache.
Resetting the cache does not eliminate entries that are preloaded
from the local Hosts file. To eliminate those entries from the
cache, remove them from the HOSTS file.

Open a command prompt...
Start | Run | Type: cmd | Click OK |
Type or paste this in the command prompt window:

ipconfig /flushdns

Hit your Enter key.

You can then view the DNS cache.

Type or paste this in the command prompt window:
ipconfig /displaydns
Hit your Enter key.
-----

[[ Editors Note: in most cases a large HOSTS file (over 135 kb)
tends to slow down the machine. This only occurs in W2000 and XP.
Windows 98 and ME are not affected.

To resolve this issue (manually) open the "Services Editor"

Start | Run (type) "services.msc" (no quotes)
Scroll down to "DNS Client", Right-click and select: Properties
Click the drop-down arrow for "Startup type"
Select: Manual, click Apply\Ok and restart.
You can see that the above "Service" is not needed (after a
little browsing) by opening the Services Editor again, scroll
down to DNS Client and check the "Status" column. It should be
blank, if it was needed it would show "Started" in that column.
]]
From...
Blocking Unwanted Parasites with a Hosts File
http://www.mvps.org/winhelp2002/hosts.htm

--
Hope this helps. Let us know.

Wes
MS-MVP Windows Shell/User

In John Wasserbauer <[email protected]>
hunted and pecked:
So I startup my computer and it works at a staggeringly slow
pace. Using Process Explorer I've found that an instance of
svchost.exe with only the Dnscache service is consuming my CPU.
If I kill the process then the problem goes away. However,
this seems to make other apps like Explorer do funny things,
like take me off line constantly. Also, Dnscache (a Microsoft
product) seems to be an important component of a healthy,
internet-connected Windows XP. Anyone know how I can repair the
Dnscache service?

john