Off the top of my head, i'd have to go and guess that windows update KB896423 is causing the problem. Remove it and your issue will be resolved.
Took me about 3 hours helping a person to figure this out, his issue was with another third party program. But none the less, microsoft released this update maybe a week ago or so. It fixes a security flaw with the printer spooler service. Symantec unfortunately needs to do some work in order to make their software better adapt to the microsoft update.
Alternatively, if you don't even do any printing. You can just disable the printer spooler service from starting up, and that'll likely take care of your problem.
if i didn't dislike symantec as much as i do, i'd make an attempt to contact them and inform them of this issue with their software. Knowing them though, they either wouldn't help me cause i'm not a customer, and simply wouldn't be able to get past the fact i'm try'n to help them, or they'd try to charge me money for technical support.
Message Edited by scottatah on 08-22-2005 04:49 PM
It's not a good idea to remove this (or any other) security update unless Microsoft advised it!
I've also recently seen spoolsv.exe try to access the net, but I don't have Norton. I run McAfee antiviral and ZoneAlarm firewall. To be safe, I told ZoneAlarm to deny access to spoolsv whenever it trys. I don't see a reason why print spooler service would need to access the web since it's purpose is to control the printing process and shouldn't have any need for the internet.
i agree it's not a good idea to remove this. But unfortunately, well int he case i had, the dude couldn't use the program he wanted. The only two options were either disabling the printer service (which paritally fixed the issue) but stopped him from printing, which he needed, or removing the patch, which solved everything.
You can look on the bright side, this hole has been in xp since it came out, you can always hope that if you never had a problem until now, hopefully you won't for another month without it, until norton fixes their stuff.
Alternatively if you hadn't paid for a subscription, you could use a different firewal.....or you could contact norton and get their opinion.
I deleted the update. I dont' get the Norton notification anymore, but I still can't run any applications related to Neverwinter Nights until I go and kill the spoolsv.exe process....
Click start>settings>printers&fax
Look down the list and see if any printer (especially Microsoft Office Document Image Writer) has a job waiting to print. If any does, delete the print job(s) from the queue.
If that doesn't fix things, uninstall your printer software, reinstall the update you deleted and then reinstall the printer. Some people on another forum are suddenly having trouble with the same game too, so you might want to contact that company for a fix. Some say removing Microsoft update KB887742, deleting the printer software, then reinstalling the update followed by the printer stuff may fix the problem.
I did the printer uninstall, reinstalled the update... at first I still had the spoolsv.exe problem but then the next day it disappeared, so I'm considering it an intermittent problem for now...
However, I noticted that now I sometimes can't open .pdf files... I can try to open Acrobat Reader, and it will start to load, but then it will hang up... I can find the acrobat exe and try to quit it, but it will not force quit. I also see that spoolsv.exe and it won't quit, either.
It's an awful lot of trouble, considering the cost of my XPS Gen 5 system...
BTW I had no pending print jobs, and when I contact Atari (they distribute Neverwinter Nights), they say they have never seen this problem before and said I'd have to contact my computer manufacturer.
Sounds like this is getting painful. You may want to uninstall/reinstall Acrobat now too. :(
I didn't remove any of the updates but I haven't seen spoolsv.exe attempting to access the internet lately. One thing I did do, which you might want to try is run a system file check.
click start>run
type in: sfc /scannow
(space between sfc and /)
click ok
sfc will check and replace any XP files that are missing or corrupt. It may ask for your XP CD so have it handy. sfc won't damage any of your personal files or settings. Possibly spoolsv.exe got damaged when one of the updates was installed so maybe sfc can fix the problem.
Post back so the rest of us will know if that worked for you too.
I liked that suggestion but it found no corrupted files.
I deleted spoolsv.exe for a while (DELL suggested it, and I found I could only delete it in safe mode). It stops the notifications, but would prevent printing, of course. I also tried replacing the file with one from another Windows XP machine.
I'm back to getting the notification, and having to force quite the spoolsv.exe.
I've also noticed my computer shuts down VERY slowly. I've run MANY virus and spyware scans using different programs, but it always comes up clean. Any suggestions?
Sounds like you're ready for a Repair Reinstall of XP. This is not a full reformat and reinstall so you shouldn't lose your personal files and settings, but won't hurt to back them up first. You will have to reinstall all the XP updates and hotfixes but your other software should survive.
And if you don't have it, go to support.microsoft.com and download/install user hive cleanup service (uphclean.exe) which can help with slow shutdowns.
I did the hive cleanup. It didn't seem to help. The executable ran (I think) but it didn't give any indication that it did anything.
I e-mailed DELL, and tried a lot of things that were listed there (so I'm not sure what in particular might have helped). I've had two decent shut downs in a row now... programs didn't hang, logging out was speedy, and the shutdown phase was reasonalbly fast. So far, so good! :smileyhappy:
scottatah
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658 Posts
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August 22nd, 2005 20:00
Message Edited by scottatah on 08-22-2005 04:49 PM
RoHe
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August 22nd, 2005 22:00
I've also recently seen spoolsv.exe try to access the net, but I don't have Norton. I run McAfee antiviral and ZoneAlarm firewall. To be safe, I told ZoneAlarm to deny access to spoolsv whenever it trys. I don't see a reason why print spooler service would need to access the web since it's purpose is to control the printing process and shouldn't have any need for the internet.
Ron
Message Edited by RoHe on 08-22-2005 04:41 PM
scottatah
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658 Posts
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August 22nd, 2005 22:00
i agree it's not a good idea to remove this. But unfortunately, well int he case i had, the dude couldn't use the program he wanted. The only two options were either disabling the printer service (which paritally fixed the issue) but stopped him from printing, which he needed, or removing the patch, which solved everything.
You can look on the bright side, this hole has been in xp since it came out, you can always hope that if you never had a problem until now, hopefully you won't for another month without it, until norton fixes their stuff.
Alternatively if you hadn't paid for a subscription, you could use a different firewal.....or you could contact norton and get their opinion.
rfachini
39 Posts
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August 23rd, 2005 23:00
scottatah
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658 Posts
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August 24th, 2005 00:00
rfachini
39 Posts
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August 25th, 2005 00:00
RoHe
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45.2K Posts
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August 25th, 2005 00:00
Look down the list and see if any printer (especially Microsoft Office Document Image Writer) has a job waiting to print. If any does, delete the print job(s) from the queue.
If that doesn't fix things, uninstall your printer software, reinstall the update you deleted and then reinstall the printer. Some people on another forum are suddenly having trouble with the same game too, so you might want to contact that company for a fix. Some say removing Microsoft update KB887742, deleting the printer software, then reinstalling the update followed by the printer stuff may fix the problem.
Having fun? ;)
Ron
rfachini
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August 26th, 2005 21:00
RoHe
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45.2K Posts
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August 26th, 2005 23:00
I didn't remove any of the updates but I haven't seen spoolsv.exe attempting to access the internet lately. One thing I did do, which you might want to try is run a system file check.
click start>run
type in: sfc /scannow
(space between sfc and /)
click ok
sfc will check and replace any XP files that are missing or corrupt. It may ask for your XP CD so have it handy. sfc won't damage any of your personal files or settings. Possibly spoolsv.exe got damaged when one of the updates was installed so maybe sfc can fix the problem.
Post back so the rest of us will know if that worked for you too.
Ron
rfachini
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August 27th, 2005 01:00
The scan didn't help.
I called DELL again. They had me alter my selective startup, which didn't help.
They gave me the option to purchase help from their software department for $99 for 3 days, or $299 for a year.
scottatah
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August 27th, 2005 03:00
rfachini
39 Posts
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August 27th, 2005 04:00
rfachini
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September 2nd, 2005 21:00
RoHe
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45.2K Posts
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September 6th, 2005 23:00
And if you don't have it, go to support.microsoft.com and download/install user hive cleanup service (uphclean.exe) which can help with slow shutdowns.
Ron
rfachini
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September 9th, 2005 16:00