Resolved Thorny shutdown problem

While trying to fix a friend's computer, I have encountered a particularly intractable shutdown problem. After days of research and testing, I narrowed the issue to the Windows Update Service wuauserv. The problem is that the computer shuts down or resets normally as long as no more than about 10 minutes have passed since the last boot. After that, it takes about 3 or 4 minutes for the shutdown window to appear, and again about an equal amount of time at the actual shutdown page. A check of the event log shows a dcom error that the server didn't respond within the timeout period. If the update service is disabled the problem goes away but then of course updates no longer works.

I have tried every tip I could find on the Internet that relates to this issue, including re-registering the relevant dlls which is mentioned on this site, but nothing seems to have any effect. I'm really tearing my hair over this one and would greatly appreciate any suggestions that might cast more light on this behaviour. The system in question is XP Pro.

As this is a friend's computer purchased second-hand with a legal Windows system already on it but no installation CD, reinstalling from scratch isn't really an option. I really need to find out what is wrong with the update function.

Any ideas are most welcome. Thanks for reading.

 

You are the one! Reinstalling Update Agent fixed the problem. Thank you so much. I really appreciate the no-nonsense approach of this site. You definitely have my vote.