What do you mean by 'when there is a problem with w3wp.exe? What problems do you see there?
I've started to see a lot of long hit times, not in WC but in Web Monitor or the client browser. I'm running in File Mode on a 2003 server. The server is hosting five WC applicantions each of which has its own vfp. Each app has it own temp directory.
When it works correctly hit times in WC are around 0.2 - 0.4 seconds and Web Monitor reports about 0.4 to 0.8 second results. But when there is a problem with w3wp.exe (shown by watching in task manager processes), the hit times in WC are the same but Web Monitor shows 15-20 second results.
No known recent changes to anything on the server other than MS monthly Updates. System has been stable for several years.
Any thoughts?