Google Updater & Services Manager (Local)

Discussion in 'Software' started by drcarl, Sep 11, 2008.

  1. drcarl

    drcarl Staff Sergeant

    On my Windows XP Home SP2 machine, I have installed, uninstalled, and re-installed the only Google application I have, the new speedy Chrome, more times than I can remember.

    [Wait…I also uninstalled Google Earth…maybe THAT’s the problem? –read on…]

    I have used CCleaner and Advanced Windows Care V2 to clean up the registry between installs and reboots. I now have no idea if the Updater is really functioning or not even though I receive a message saying essentially that “you have the latest version.”

    What got me started on all this was trying to ~rid~ myself of the Google updater, then, not finding any other way to update, noticing that when I clicked “About” within Chrome, there was a message at the bottom of the box that said something like “unable to access server.”

    This led me to wonder if I did indeed have the latest version, and ultimately to my trying to re-activate the GoogleUpdate function. I cleaned out all the Google I could find, and then put Chrome back in hoping that the updater would come back and work. This all brings me to now…

    When I open the Services Manager (Local), and scroll down to the Google Update Service entry, after resetting the properties to “manual” (from disabled), I get the following error message when I try to “start” the service: “Could not start the Google Update Service (gupdate1c8c1cbb172d8f0) service on Local Computer. Error 3: The system cannot find the path specified.”

    The properties indicate the path to be “ "C:\Program Files\Google\Update\GoogleUpdate.exe" /svc ” and sure enough, there is no Google folder, and therefore no .exe file.

    I do find “GoogleUpdate.exe” in the following two folders:

    C:\Documents and Settings\Named Folder\Local Settings\Application Data\Google\Update
    C:\Documents and Settings\Named Folder\Local Settings\Application Data\Google\Update\1.2.131.11

    Should I be concerned?
    Should I create a folder where Services Manager expects to find it?
    Did removing Google Earth disable the Service Manager item?
    Do I need to fix this un-startable Service?
    If so, how?

    I’m stuck and need help.

    Thank you in advance,

    Dr Carl
     
  2. Sharagoz

    Sharagoz Private First Class

    The uninstaller is probably not doing a 100% job.
    It removes the file without removing the service entry.
    The service entry points to a file that no longer exists, so you can safely delete it.
    You can delete the service by going to start->run->"cmd" and running the command "sc delete gupdate".
     
  3. drcarl

    drcarl Staff Sergeant

    Thank you for your reply...

    I opened a command prompt, went to "C:\>" and tried to delete the gupdate with the DOS command, to no avail.

    Then, I tried as many "combos" as I could; none worked.

    They all return this:

    [SC] OpenService FAILED 1060:

    The specified service does not exist as an installed service.


    Might you give me the exact text to use?

    Thanx again,

    drcarl



    Here's what I tried already

    sc delete gupdate (as you suggested)
    sc delete Google Update Service
    sc delete Google Update Service (gupdate1c8c1cbb172d8f0)
    sc delete (gupdate1c8c1cbb172d8f0)
    sc delete gupdate1c8c1cbb172d8f0 [ends with a zero]
    sc delete gupdate1c8c1cbb172d8fO [ends with upper case "O"]
    sc delete gupdate1c8c1cbb172d8fo [ends with lower case "o"]
     
  4. Sharagoz

    Sharagoz Private First Class

    Go to start->run->"services.msc".
    Find the Goolge Update Service, right-click on it and select properties.
    At the top of the "general" tab you should see the "service name". The service name is what should come after "sc delete".
    If the name has a space in it, you need to wrap the name in quotation marks, e.g like this:
    Code:
    sc delete gupdate
    sc delete "google update service"
     
  5. drcarl

    drcarl Staff Sergeant

    Sharagoz and Mark…


    Mark:

    Thank you for reiterating what I’ve already done, and for providing me with another, far more laborious option. Oh, and thank you for answering the question “what are my options?” (even though that’s not what I asked). With computers and math, I tend to desire literalness.

    BTW – if you read my post more carefully, you might understand that I had already opted for your first suggestion of reinstalling Chrome. This might be understood when I said, “…and ultimately to my trying to re-activate the GoogleUpdate function…” and “…then >>put Chrome back in<< hoping that the updater would come back and work and ultimately to my trying to re-activate the GoogleUpdate function…” Maybe it was just too vague when I said “putting it back in.” I might have more descriptively used the term, “reinstalled.”

    In case I was not clear. Here it is more simply put: >>>I reinstalled Chrome<<< --and still had the problem.

    Thanks anyway.

    I assume you intend to help.



    Sharagoz:

    We were close (but no cigar) with my guess. I did try: “ sc delete gupdate1c8c1cbb172d8f0 ”

    With your instructions, I used “ sc delete “gupdate1c8c1cbb172d8f0” ” (with the quotes, although I see no space)

    Your suggestion of finding the service name, then putting it in quotes worked perfectly.

    Thank you.
     
  6. Sharagoz

    Sharagoz Private First Class

    So "gupdate1c8c1cbb172d8f0" needed quotes to be deleted, that's strange. I have no idea why.
    Well, at least you figured it out.
     
  7. drcarl

    drcarl Staff Sergeant

    I wish I knew everything...and I do mean everything! lol...

    I suspect that the C:\Program Files\Google\Update\GoogleUpdate.exe folders and file belong to Google Earth which I removed due to a lack of resources (RAM) on this antique laptop. Just a guess.

    It appears that the Updater for Chrome is working. I suppose I'll know for sure if I read that there's a new version and it does not update automatically.

    I'm not sure where to find data on what IS the latest version. I ran across a program called Chromium that promises to update VERY frequently. They (the Chromium people) allege that there are something like 10 new builds per evening!

    Chrome still needs some polishing; I swore never to be tempted by a beta version. Oh, well!

    Thank you for your help.

    drcarl
     

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