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Host Process stops working?

I have a Dell laptop running Vista. Suddenly today, I started getting the message, "Host Process for Windows Services stopped working and was closed." This seems to happen anytime I do ANYTHING. Sometimes just before that message, I receive another one: DHCP Client has stopped working..."

 In addition, the sound regularly turns off and I am told that Windows Audio Service is not enabled, and I must re-enable it.

I thought this was due to my installing D-Link Media Server software today; but after I returned my computer to an earlier system restore point, I still have the problem.

Any ideas?
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Thanks, Javier; I think we're on the right track. svchost 4536 includes audio service, dhcp, event log and security center--all things I've received that "has stopped running" message for. How can I fix it, or find out what happened to it?
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The quickest test I have is to start any media player (Windows, Winamp...) and try to play a music file. The audio service immediately shuts off. I get a message to that effect, and a message stating that the event log has shut down.

Don't I need all four of those services--audio service, event log, security center and dhcp? Won't disabling any of them cause some things not to work? Or are you just suggesting seeing if the computer itself will work once the service is disabled?
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Right now, all those services are showing up in the Task Manager as stopped (with no PID number associated with it); when I attempt to start each one, I am told that another instance of that service is already running, even though another instance is not showing up in the services list. Why would this be? And, I'm wondering--is the PID number static, or does it change each time the service is started? In other words, should I look for 4536 each time, or just the name of the service?
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Okay, forget my last message. I figured out that the PID changes every time, but all four of those processes (and a fifth one: lmhosts -- TCP/IP NetBIOS) remain associated with the same PID number. My earlier question remains, though: how can I fix these processes? I mentioned one time when I receive these messages all the time--when trying to play any kind of audio file (or when a video file streams from the internet--audio shuts down). Can somebody tell me how these processes are associated, and what I would need to do to repair them?
I just wanted to see which one caused the problem to replace only the needed files.
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Okay, this is what I found: Disabling Windows Event Log, TCP/IP NetBIOS Helper, Security Center and DHCP client, in turn, had no effect. When I disabled Windows Audio (Audiosrv), the audio of course didn't work -- but I stopped getting messages that any other services had shut down. So, the problem seems to lie with Audiosrv itself.

So, what do I do now?
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My impression is that it is a software issue. I have no problems when playing streaming video that uses Adobe Flash player (like the video on NYTimes.com), but the audio service shuts off when I stream video using a quicktime plugin, or when playing an mp3 through Windows Media Player. Also, different incidental sounds within programs (like the cash register in Quicken) are not affected, and do not shut down the audio service.

I'll try updating my driver and let you know what happens.
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Interesting...when I downloaded the official Sigma Tel audio driver from the Dell website, uninstalled the old driver and installed that new one, I received the same problem all over again. When I simply uninstalled that driver, restarted my computer and allowed Windows to install a driver for the device--it now works just fine! I now have sound, and am (for the moment) not receiving any messages that any other services have stopped working. The problem appears to be resolved!
Great!!  Hope it stays that way.