Shell Hardware Detection Service gets stopped.

Hi all,

I was able to isolate the "Shell Hardware Detection" service as the cause of my windows 7 home prof version pc flickering.   When I would get a drop down box with options in it, the box would disappear before I could click on an option.  By a process of elimination of services and booting up I came down to eliminating the problem by isolating the cause with this particular service. 

All the system files scanned and showed nothing missing or corrupted.   I figured it might be some kind of configuration associated with this service somewhere that needed to be tweaked, but for now, I just disabled the service and the flickering and drop down box problems all stopped.  

I started with the configuration with safe mode with networking support.    After getting into safe mode, I noted all the services that were started.   Then I rebooted and went do msconfig > services and left checked only the services I found with safe mode with networking support.   Then I started adding back services and rebooting and checking for the flickering problem.   When I turned the service on that resulted in the flickering problem then I turned on all the services and left the "Shell Hardware Detection" service unchecked in the msconfig > services tab.   Then I went over to services.msc and disabled that service.    This process is relatively simple but it took most of the day to find the culprit. 

This process can be used to isolate other services that are not working correctly.   I am including all this description so that others might see the solution to the flickering windows applications a fast disappearing drop down box problems which make operating the computer a real pain.

Hi Roshini,

It could be caused when other services interfere with this service or if the service is corrupt.

Here are some troubleshooting steps that you can try to resolve this problem.

Method 1: Let’s place the computer in clean boot and check if the Shell Hardware Detection Service starts and runs.

Clean boot will help us identify if any third party applications or start up items are causing the issue.

To do this, follow steps from this link:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/929135

Note: After checking the functionality in clean boot, follow the suggestions under “How to reset the computer to start as usual after troubleshooting with clean boot”.

Method 2 : Run System File Checker tool.

To do this, refer this link:

How to use the System File Checker tool to troubleshoot missing or corrupted system files on Windows Vista or on Windows 7

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/929833

If you face any further issues, please reply to this post and we'll be happy to assist you further.

Hi Roshini,

Thank you for sharing the information. Hope this information helps the other forum users encountering the same issue.

More information is available in the following link.

Service Trigger Eventshttp://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/dd405513%28v=vs.85%29.aspx

Hi,

A service can register to be started or stopped when a trigger event occurs. This eliminates the need for services to start when the system starts, or for services to poll or actively wait for an event; a service can start when it is needed, instead of starting automatically whether or not there is work to do. This powerful feature is known as Trigger Started Services. These are not supported until Windows Server 2008 R2 and Windows 7.

 So here, once it is stopped, and then start , it will stopped automatically after sometime. For better performance, Windows will do that. After that it is starting automatically when a trigger event occurs.

For eg, Windows Image Acquisition service is needed for Windows scan. Eventhough it is stopped, it will start automatically when we perform a wondows scan.

I tried both options. But the problem still exists.

The problem exists in the clean boot itself. And the system file checker tool cannot find any problem.

Actually the service is  running without any problem until we stop the service. Once it is stopped, then after starting the service this problem comes. I checked it with several PCs, and found same behaviour. Its happening for several services.