Crisis! Can't Connect to System Event Notification Svc- Nothing helps!

[Thenin]

Okay, this problem has been seen plenty of times by others, so I've read some 20 threads now offering a fix, but none of them solves the problem!

Upon booting Windows 7, after entering my password, for several minutes I see the message "Please wait for the System Event Notification Service" (or words to that effect). After a while, the machine finishes booting and the desktop shows up, but immediately a message shows up near the notification area reading:

"Failed to connect to a windows service / Windows could not connect to the System Event Notification Service service. This problem prevents standard users from logging on to the system. As an administrative user, you can review the System Event Log for details about why the service didn't respond"

But, it's lying! You cannot use the event viewer if the System Event Notification Service isn't running!

BTW, SENS (System Event Notification Service) is set to start automatically. If it matters, the last things I did prior to encountering this problem were...

(1) Uninstalled iTunes.

(2) Installed older version of iTunes.

(3) iTunes failed to launch properly due to various error messages.

(4) Performed System Restore from last night, before step (1) occurred, then rebooted.

(5) SENS problem first appeared, and when I finally got to the desktop, I saw a message saying that the System Restore failed, and that I should try again.

(6) Every subsequent System Restore I tried failed in the same way as (5)

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One alleged "fix" was to boot into Safe Mode, start the SENS , then run the event viewer, but in my case, I absolutely cannot start SENS! So I cannot run the event viewer, either.

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Another alleged "fix" was to use the command "netsh winsock reset", but whether in Safe Mode or not, although the command completed normally, it did not fix the problem.

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Another alleged "fix" was to run "SFC /Scannow". This is something I do fairly often, but it doesn't fix this problem.

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Another alleged "fix" is to startup without any user startup programs and without any non-Microsoft services, as follows (Clean Boot):

(1) Run msconfig
(2) Chose "Selective Startup"
(3) Disable "Load startup items"
(4) Go to Services tab, select Hide All Microsoft Services
(5) Select "Disable All" to disable all non-MS services
(6) Reboot

But this did not fix the problem, either.

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Another alleged "fix" was to stop the Font Cache service, rename the font cache to .old, then reboot.
But this did not fix the problem, either.

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Another alleged "fix" was to delete all the files under "C:\Windows\System32\winevt\Logs". This didn't work either.

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Another alleged "fix" is to run a Hotfix described at: KB2590550. Weirdly, you're not allowed to just download the Hotfix, MS actually REQUIRES that you request that the link to the file be emailed to you!

I made that request at 6 pm local time, but it's 9:40 pm now and I still haven't received the email!

I'll try it when I MS decides they can trust me with it, but does anyone have any other suggestions as to how to fix this crisis?

Thanks!

 

[UsernameIssues]

...You cannot use the event viewer if the System Event Notification Service isn't running!...

Sadly, you have multiple issues. I have no problem seeing the event logs while SENS is stopped/disabled... even after restarting the W7pro64bit Virtual Machine.

Perhaps I got to the log files in a way that is different than what you tried. I did the following:

Start > right-click on Computer
Select Manage from the context menu.
Drill down to the event log of interest.

After selecting a particular log (e.g. System) I did have to let it sit for several seconds before the middle pane populated with info. I have seen this take several minutes. You might try leaving it selected over night :-(

I'm not a big fan of the System Restore process. You might be looking at doing a http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/3413-repair-install.html

 

[Thenin]

Thanks for your reply, UsernameIssues!

...You cannot use the event viewer if the System Event Notification Service isn't running!...

Sadly, you have multiple issues. I have no problem seeing the event logs while SENS is stopped/disabled... even after restarting the W7pro64bit Virtual Machine.

Perhaps I got to the log files in a way that is different than what you tried. I did the following:

Start > right-click on Computer
Select Manage from the context menu.
Drill down to the event log of interest.

Unfortunately, that doesn't work. When I try it, I get an error message reading: "Event Log Service is unavailable. Verify that the service is running", which, of course, it's not and it cannot be started.

I'm not a big fan of the System Restore process. You might be looking at doing a http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/3413-repair-install.html

That may be my last desperate option, but I refuse to try it yet. Why not? I've done several repair installs in the past, using just that excellent tutorial you linked to. But I hate having to install hundreds of Windows Updates, so I use WinToolkit to create an already-updated install disk/usb (which takes several hours to prepare). And I did just that about a week ago. Unfortunately, it didn't work! See my most recent thread on SevenForums, How to figure out what went wrong with Win7 Repair Install?l

 

[Thenin]

Another alleged "fix" is to run a Hotfix described at: KB2590550. Weirdly, you're not allowed to just download the Hotfix, MS actually REQUIRES that you request that the link to the file be emailed to you!

I made that request at 6 pm local time, but it's 9:40 pm now and I still haven't received the email!

Well, I just received the Hotfix (which has an extension ".msu"), but when I tried to apply it, I got an error message reading:

Installer encountered an error: 0x80080005
Server execution failed

So that didn't work either...

 

[UsernameIssues]

The (Windows) Event Log Service is not the System Event Notification Service.

The (Windows) Event Log Service does not depend on the System Event Notification Service to be able to run.

SENS:
Monitors system events and notifies subscribers to COM+ Event System of these events.

Windows Event Log:
This service manages events and event logs. It supports logging events, querying events, subscribing to events, archiving event logs, and managing event metadata. It can display events in both XML and plain text format. Stopping this service may compromise security and reliability of the system.

 

[GokAy]

The one time I had this Creative Audio Service was stuck at 19% CPU and in starting phase. Eventually found out my Creative sound card failed. Removing the sound card or disabling the service would fix it.

Maybe try a clean startup - http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorial...ation-conflicts-performing-clean-startup.html

 

[Thenin]

The (Windows) Event Log Service is not the System Event Notification Service.

The (Windows) Event Log Service does not depend on the System Event Notification Service to be able to run.

SENS:
Monitors system events and notifies subscribers to COM+ Event System of these events.

Windows Event Log:
This service manages events and event logs. It supports logging events, querying events, subscribing to events, archiving event logs, and managing event metadata. It can display events in both XML and plain text format. Stopping this service may compromise security and reliability of the system.

Thanks for pointing that out, UsernameIssues! It may well have made a difference.

Alas, I can't even boot to the desktop any longer, which means I couldn't have performed a Repair Install either

So I had no alternative but to restore a system partition backup from about three weeks ago, and then I used a sync tool to transfer all the newer non-system files from the bad system partition to the restored system. Then I had to install all the apps and such from the intervening 3 weeks.

It's working now, at least.

Thanks for your help, sir!

 

[Thenin]

Thanks for your reply, GokAy

The one time I had this Creative Audio Service was stuck at 19% CPU and in starting phase. Eventually found out my Creative sound card failed. Removing the sound card or disabling the service would fix it.

It's curious, but quite a few of the other threads I've read about this problem also had audio-related problems...

Maybe try a clean startup - http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorial...ation-conflicts-performing-clean-startup.html

Sure, but in my OP I reported that I had tried that and it didn't work. Anyway, see my reply to UsernameIssues, above.

I'm closing this thread now...