Good.....running should alleviate all that pent-up anxiety. When you get back, don't change anything else or we'll never figure this out...

Well Bichur whatever the problem is it's beyond my skills to solve.  yrag might find it.  He knows his way around these sorts of problems a lot more than most that's for sure.  So, if you want to give yrag a go at it while you wait for support it can't hurt.

Anyway good luck Bichur!  I'm sure you'll be a happy Impulse camper before long. 

It's gotten pretty reliable at updating.  You might want to check into its archiving abilities.  I don't use them and a couple of months back they were lacking but now they might be working 100% also.  Just not sure.  I know you use that feature and I didn't want you to run into any surprises there.  So ask about that as well.

I'm back and I touched nothing....

yeah, I like archiving to move to disk for later - much easier on dialup than redownloading...

The error logs show a server side problem. However, the problems noted prior to that indicate the problem is with you.

Notably:

While the Stardock servers' performance and reliability are, for a lack of a better word, atrocious, since no one else has chimed in of a similar problem (at least tonight), I'll go with the latter.

After you try each of the following and attempt to run Impulse without success, return original settings and move on to the next.

Let's first eliminate the obvious: Start/ Run: type: sfc /scannow

If this is an Intel, boot into bios and look for: X D technology setting. You may not have it, but if you do, disable it. Save and boot. 

If the setting is not there; Control Panel/ System/ Advanced/ Performance/ Settings. Check: Turn on DEP for all programs and services except for those I select. Exclude Impulse. Re-boot.
 
The one thing that would produce both sides of the error equation is if your NET 1 & 2 were corrupted. Particularly, since this just started happening. That said, try the easy stuff before you immerse yourself in that project. Do not re-install it or anything else until we've exhausted all other avenues. 

this I can do...

starting now....

Its a neat animation, dont know if its worth all this.

Com 'on John......the fun is in the hunt..........

"The thrill of victory and the agony of defeat" and all that shit.

...I still think that skier is lying dead at the bottom of the ramp.......

sfc /scannow bout 85% done

and if it's not intel?

and if I've never booted to bios?

lol One of the most replayed "ski jumps" of all time.  I think he survived it.  That's why it was played so much to pay for all the medical expenses the poor guy then had to suffer with.

scannow done... now what?

and if it is intel and I've never booted into bios?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vinko_Bogataj

That would be an Intel.... when the post comes up on the boot, hit F5 (that's the usual HP key). Being that it's HP, I doubt it's in there....skip that one and try the DEP exclusion.

going in the other way to DEP

I find

impulse.exe

impulsedock.exe

impulsemini.exe

impulseselfrefresh.exe

and no, I haven't selected anything...

what the hell does CleanImpulse.exe do?

Beats me.....

Go with that one.