Windows XP Windows Update 100% CPU

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Hi,

I have an XP (SP3) system. A couple of days ago Windows Update started taking 100% of the CPU just after system boot up. Windows Update appears never to finish or do anything. It is possible to work on the computer at the same time but it is very slow. You can hear the system ramp up when windows update starts.

I ran process explorer and was able to identify the process as windows update. I can kill it and the CPU usage immediately drops.

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks.

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Might be worth turning off WU, then heading off to WU via your web browser and running the update from there.
http://update.microsoft.com/windowsupdate

cheers, Paul

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If its stuck on an install or configuration of new updates, rather than trying to unistall recent updates to try and get behind the problem again, I use System Restore to a point previous to when the problem developed so its working perfectly again, and then try installing the updates again, maybe one or two at a time, see if its ok this time or identify what update it may be getting hung up on.

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If you have 512 megs of memory or less you can minimize this issue by upgrading to 1 gig of memory. Somewhere along the line, Windows Update has expanded to use up more than 512 megs of memory and you will see a lot of paging activity when it runs. You should see a significant performance improvement with the memory upgrade.

Jerry

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Does your hard disk grind away like crazy during Windows Update? How much free hard disk space does Windows report you have? And does Windows manage your paging file dynamically, or have you configured it yourself?

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