Scheduled Tasks problem

My new Dell Dimension 8200 arrived in August of this year. It came preloaded with WinXP (Home Ed.), MS Office SBE, and a 90-day trial version of Norton Anti-Virus 2002, among other things. When the 90 days of NAV were about to expire, I subscribed to NAV 2003, downloaded and installed it. Everything works well except for the Automatic LiveUpdate downloads of NAV. I can get them manually, but never once has one come down automatically, either before or after the update to 2003. And I believe I have NAV configured correctly.

I should add that one of the first things I did after the new Dell arrived was to use PartitionMagic 7.0 to partition the HD into 4 logical drives: C:\ for Windows, D:\ for MS Office and other applications, E:\ for Netscape 4.79 and Internet downloads, and F:\ for backups of major system and app programs and the larger data folders and files. I also run ZoneAlarm (free), Ad-Aware, and am on DSL. Everything is all up to date and frequently defragged.

I first searched Symantec's Web support site, and it recommended I create a small task in Scheduled Tasks to see if it would work. So I set it up about a week ago to run Calc.exe at startup , and it doesn't work either. Scheduled Tasks says "The scheduled task did not run because an incorrect password or user name was entered." In Properties, I've tried both of the passwords I might have originally entered, and I've tried running the task after changing them in different combinations with different likely user names. No luck.

Scheduled Tasks shows Symantec NetDetect "could not start" because "General page initialization failed. The specific error is: 0x80070534: No mapping between account names and security IDs was done." I notice that Scheduled Tasks shows "owner" as the creator of the Symantec NetDetect task, while my full name is shown as the creator of the Calc.exe task. Is that a clue to anything?

For the past few days I've been exchanging e-mails with Dell's on-line tech support. They first recommended I uninstall and reinstall NAV 2002. When I reminded them that I was now running NAV 2003, and that I had created the Calc.exe scheduled task, and that neither of them worked, they now recommend I uninstall WindowsXP and reinstall it. Does that seem to be the most likely solution? I'd lose all the MS updates, then, wouldn't I?

Sorry for such a long post. Ideas? Suggestions?

 

Hi Bobbo
No, the solution to this is NOT to uninstall XP.
Although I've not got a definitive answer for you, I ran across this.

Daizy

*edit*
Oops.......which led to this

 

Daizy: Thanks for replying.

I had already been to both of the links you created, and I'd also printed out copies of all the steps mentioned. I'd seen the MSKB article on WinXP's problem with Scheduled Tasks, but just now followed its "Resolution" suggestion and entered a password for my user account (my computer is a stand-alone unit in my home). When I rebooted, I found I needed to enter that password, a nuisance I hadn't had to put up with before. Once up and running, I didn't get an automatic update download, and there's still a "could not start" comment in Scheduled Tasks, but it shows calc.exe as "Running" now, an improvement. But I don't see it running, nor do I see an icon for it, on the desktop or anywhere else. Shouldn't I?

Since that step didn't solve the NAV automatic update problem, I guess my next move is to proceed to Step 3 in the Symantec solution I downloaded.

Stay tuned.

 

Update: I went through Step 3, which removes and then recreates a scheduled task (Symantec's NetDetect). It may have done some good. Task Scheduler now shows NetDetect as "Running," and my full name is displayed under "Creator" now (no jokes about that, please) rather than "owner" as it did before. No updates for NAV were downloaded, however, but I didn't really expect any, as I'd run the Automatic Update download manually earlier today. It could be a few days before the next virus definition is ready.

Should the Automatic Update icon be showing in my Task Bar or System Tray all the time now (it isn't)? Or just when an Automatic LiveUpdate is downloading? And why doesn't Calculator appear upon startup as I've scheduled it to do?

When I checked in Scheduled Tasks\Advanced\View Log, I found this:

"Symantec NetDetect.job" (NDETECT.EXE) 12/7/2002 5:43:00 PM ** ERROR ** The attempt to retrieve account information for the specified task failed; therefore, the task did not run. Either an error occurred, or no account information existed for the task. The specific error is: 0x80070534: No mapping between account names and security IDs was done.
"Task Scheduler Service" Exited at 12/7/2002 5:55:44 PM
"Task Scheduler Service" Started at 12/7/2002 5:56:13 PM
"Calculator.job" (calc.exe) Started 12/7/2002 5:56:14 PM
"Task Scheduler Service" Exited at 12/7/2002 6:00:11 PM
"Task Scheduler Service" Started at 12/7/2002 6:00:37 PM
"Calculator.job" (calc.exe) Started 12/7/2002 6:00:37 PM
"Symantec NetDetect.job" (NDETECT.EXE) Started 12/7/2002 6:00:43 PM
"Symantec NetDetect.job" (NDETECT.EXE) Finished 12/7/2002 6:00:45 PM Result: The task completed with an exit code of (65).
"Symantec NetDetect.job" (NDETECT.EXE) Started 12/7/2002 6:03:00 PM
"Symantec NetDetect.job" (NDETECT.EXE) Finished 12/7/2002 6:03:00 PM Result: The task completed with an exit code of (65).
[***** Most recent entry is above this line *****]

Any clues, good or bad, in there?

 

Hi Creator........I mean BOBBO
I'm so sorry to be of such litlte help to you tonight. I'm one of those people that won't allow their computer to do a darn thing on it's own. I manually, scandisk, defrag and update my antivirus. I also prefer to free up every little resource I can, by not having apps loading in the background.
But none of that is solving your problem.
No chance I can talk you into just ditching Norton's and going with the free AVG ?






Daizy

 

Daizy:

"No chance I can talk you into just ditching Norton's and going with the free AVG?"

I wouldn't say there's NO chance, but the odds are against it. My thinking is that we may have already licked the NAV part of the problem. And that even if we haven't, maybe just some configuring needs to be done to get everything working as it should.

There are still a couple of loose ends (see earlier post), but for the time being they're questions, not problems.

I've just looked over the printout of the Symantec database download again, and I see where there is still another step to do.

 

I don't blame you. you've already paid for the product. It should work for you.
I switched from Norton's on this computer to AVG, because the dang thing kept corrupting on me. Just one too many uninstall and re-install.

I'll just sit and twiddle my thumbs, and be of absolutely no use at all to you tonight. I'm great company though, aren't I?

Daizy

 

Daizy: "I'm great company though, aren't I? "

The best I've had so far tonight.

 

FABULOUS answer!

How goes the battle? Did you get to that extra step?

Daizy

 

Daizy: Yes, I did. And I'm not sure what the results mean. The step was to search for the file "autoupdt.trg" and delete it. That's supposed to fix the problem and if any NAV updates are available, they should automatically come down. Trouble is, the search couldn't find the file anywhere. Would that be as good as a successful deletion? New updates may not become available for a few days. So I'll have to wait for that and see if the fix works or not.

Calc.exe still doesn't appear. The files themselves are where they're supposed to be, but the program doesn't pop up after startup or after the scheduled times arrive for it to run as I've configured it to. Mysterious.

 

For the problem of the missing autoupdt.trg...if it's a hidden file, XP's search won't find it until you tell it to sort through hidden files and folders...if you haven't told it to already, that is.

In the Windows Search window, click on "More Advanced Options" and check all three options to make sure it'll look everywhere.

 

Miz: Thanks for joining in.

I did as you suggested, and again Search found nothing. To be honest, I don't know if that's a good or bad thing. Maybe I'm not supposed to find that file if the reason I'm trying to find it is to delete it. Agree?

Latest: Still no Calculator appearing on startup or at scheduled intervals. Still no Automatic LiveUpdate downloads, but that could be simply because there aren't any ready for downloading. Haven't checked manually. I got an e-mail from Dell support with a suggestion of how to bypass the log-on password requirement, but I haven't tried it yet.

New problem: Today my MS mouse wheel isn't scrolling like it did until now. What's with that? I want FEWER problems, not more.

 

BOBBO - there is a chance you have some messed up system files or the wrong version of some. Can easily happen and is just as easily fixed.

First and just to make sure you are in good shape otherwise, run a scandisk. You can either go into My Computer, pick the drive (start with C select properties~tools and tell it to check for errors or you can open a DOS window and run chkdsk with either /f to fix errors or /r to check free space and a few other items not done with /f.

It will require a reboot for the scan to take place.

After it finishes and you are back in windows, do start~run~sfc /scannow which will check all the system files and replace any that have problems. You will probably need your XP CD for this.

And never a bad idea to empty the temporary internet files and all files in your profile~local settings~temp.

 

Newt: The possibility of some messed up system files has been suggested by several sources now, so I ran Scandisk (everything seemed OK), and then ran sfc /scannow. That involved several items being copied to the DLL Cache. While I had the Win XP CD in, I had it do a compatibility check and it told me that Easy CD Creator 5 is not compatible with WIN XP. Later it said I'd have to reload it after the Win XP reinstall.

I checked my Temp files and found virtually nothing there. No surprise. I keep them tidied up as part of regular housekeeping (defragging, etc.).

After all that, my MS mouse wheel still doesn't scroll and Calculator still doesn't appear after startup or at scheduled intervals.

I can live with the NAV's Automatic LiveUpdate not working, because I can manually download the updates, and the Calculator task was merely a test in the first place to see if Task Scheduler works OK or not. What I'm most anxious to fix now is getting my mouse wheel back to scrolling again.

Suggestions?

 

Update: For some mysterious reason, today the mouse wheel is scrolling as it should. Yesterday, even though I shut down and restarted my computer 2 or 3 times, the scroll wheel wouldn't work at all. Before yesterday it had always worked fine, and today it's working again, without my having done a thing. Very mysterious. But at least that particular problem is a thing of the past, or at least let's hope so.

The two scheduled tasks still don't seem to be working, though. One, Calc. exe, is really only a test, so its working isn't of much importance to me. I would like to figure out how to get the NAV Automatic LiveUpdate to work, though. Since I can manually download the updates, it's not vital, but since it's supposed to work, I'd like it to. And there's always the possibility that a new virus would appear and attack me before I manually retrieve an update that perhaps would have already arrived to protect me if the Automatic LiveUpdate worked properly. Any new ideas?

 

Hi Bobbo
I'm back to being of little help to you. This does seem to be a prevalent problem, and why most people choose to do a manual update. I'm not quite sure I'd agree with your theory of missing a virus definition, by not having it set to automatic. Stumbled across this thread which said it better than I could.

Daizy

*edit*
A little more info

 

Any chance that NAV script blocking is preventing the automatic updates? Or Zonealarm (if you have it) not set to allow liveupdate?

Daizy

 

Daizy: I checked out the links in your post, and they make a convincing argument that manual downloads are better (they can get new virus definitions sooner) than the Automatic LiveUpdate downloads (which usually are transmitted only once a week). So maybe I'll just forget that Symantec's NetDetect isn't working as it's supposed to in Win XP's Task Scheduler and will rely on manual downloads instead.

Out of curiosity, I just attempted a manual download, and no new virus definitions were available. The most recent ones I've retrieved were on 12/6 (Friday). So no loss there.

I'm still curious why the Calc.exe task I set up as a test in Task Scheduler doesn't work, but the question is academic. I'll probably delete it so its failure to perform won't continually bug me.

I guess this whole thing has turned out to be an example of something that's thought to be a problem but actually isn't a problem. Is that the good kind?

Thanks to everybody for your efforts to help.

 

The latest: When I booted up my computer this morning, Calculator popped up for the first time as it's supposed to as a task listed in Task Scheduler. Why it appeared today and hadn't all those days I expected it to, I don't know. The only thing I did yesterday that might have affected it is to click a couple of places so I could bypass having to type in a password each time during startup. I would think that's supposed to stop something, not start something. (And just now, while I was typing that sentence, Calculator popped up again at another scheduled time.) Anyway, it appears that Task Scheduler is configured correctly now, and since I don't really want Calculator popping up -- it was set up merely as a simple way to test whether Task Scheduler worked correctly -- I'll probably delete it from Task Scheduler. The way everything has been going, it's getting hard to tell anymore what's a cause and what's an effect, and which is causing which.

I concluded late yesterday that what I'd thought was a problem (Norton's Automatic LiveUpdate not working) isn't a problem I need to solve, so everything seems back to normal, maybe in some ways even a bit better than before. Overall, an interesting if often mystifying experience.

 

Check Here for a link to the most recent NAV updates. Download and install if you want.