XP Media Center Generic SvcHost Error

[dmoody1]

Reposting Question from XP Media Center to XP Help and Support at
recommendation of Media Center Forum Members:

I am trying to troubleshoot a problem on a Windows XP Media Center PC.
Edition is 5.1 (build 2600) Service Pack 3. To start off, I will admit I do
not know much about this OS. Any assistance or direction would be
appreciated.

When PC boots and windows loads, there is an immediate message launched.
Data Execution Prevention
To help protect your computer, windows has closed the program
Generic Host Process for Win32 Services

When you close the message,
Generic Host Process for Win32 Services
Generic Host Process for Win32 Services encountered a problem and needed to
close. Do you want to report to microsoft appears.
Details: Event BEX P1 svchost.exe P2 5.1.2600.5512 P3 48025bc0 P4 Unknown

Whether you chose send or don't send, you return to the DEP message and
continue in an endless loop. If you leave the DEP message up, the computer
works.

When I go through the event logs, I only see two potential issues:
Application Error 1000: svchost.exe, version 5.1.2600.5512, faulting module
unknown, version 0.0.0.0, fault address 0x00d896bc
System Error 7022: Service Control Manager, The Windows Image Aquisition
(WIA) service hung on starting.

I have looked at DEP and it is supposively not turned on. Test returns a
false response. WIA DLL appears to be the correct version. Running out of
ideas on how to make this message go away. Suggestions?

 

[thecreator]

Hi dmoody1,

Uninstall Windows XP Service Pack 3. Reboot. Make sure to reapply all
Hotfixes, if needed and Optional Software, including the .Net Framework 3.0
which the newer Nero 9 needs and its Updates. Then reinstall Windows XP
Service Pack 3.

Why? Usually / sometimes a problem with SVCHOST.EXE indicates virus. By
uninstalling and reinstalling Windows XP Service Pack 3, would be a lot
quicker and would preserve your files and desktop, then would a reformat and
reinstall of the operating system.

.Net Framework 3.0 does not install when Windows XP Service Pack 3 is
installed, through experimenting and experiences in doing so. .Net Framework
3.0 installs when Service Pack 2 is installed only.

 

[Sector-9]

Here's something you can try (for the record, I had problems with this error
after installing a scanner via scanner & camera wizard in control panel -
this was on a relatively recent install of XP Pro with SP3 slipstreamed into
it - also it took ages to open my computer).

To get rid of the DEP error, you need to disable Windows DEP - this was a
simple radio button option in SP2 (under my
computer|properties|advanced|Performance settings|Data Execution Prevention),
however SP3 seems to have enabled it by default and the option is now greyed
out. No matter, you just need to edit the hidden file c:\boot.ini so (making
sure you have admin rights) open a command prompt then type in the following:

cd\
attrib boot.ini -r -h -s
edit boot.ini

then remove any "/noexecute" switches you find, save and exit. Finally,
re-set the attributes to hide the boot.ini file, like so:

attrib boot.ini +r +h +s
exit

Okay, that'll stop the DEP and generic host process errors, but alone it
won't fix your problem. Try restarting the WIA service and it'll probably
still throw up an error about terminating unexpectedly, and it's still likely
to take ages to open an Explorer window. As this problem seems to be related
to WIA, we'll now need to try and clean that up, so go to device manager and
remove any entries for imaging devices you find (yes, you'll need to
reinstall them later so make sure you've got the drivers available). If,
like me, you get an error when trying to remove such device, you can try
again in safe mode but it likely won't work either. In that case, fire up
regedit and navigate down to
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Enum\Root and right-click on
IMAGE. Click on permissions and make sure full control is ticked for the
group "everyone". Click ok to save the changes and then delete the numbered
keys within IMAGE. Now, if you re-open device manager you should find all
your imaging devices are gone.

Hopefully you should now be able to restart the WIA service, without any
errors, and my computer should open up at normal speed. Assuming that's the
case, you should be good to reinstall the drivers for your imaging devices.

I hope this works for you - it did on both my laptops but obviously success
isn't guaranteed!