after installing managed_eps.exe bluescreen in aswKbd.sys

[machines]

hello,

i have have a urgent problem because i am sitting on customer side and
after installing the endpoint-client i get a bluescreen in aswKbd.sys.

i am no longer able to log in, even a restart in secure mode is no solution.

can i remove the driver aswKbd.sys manually or what ca i do ... no windows reinstall.

thanks for soon reply.

greetings marco.

[machines]

hello again,

therefore that there is no reaction by now i am going to write down what i did till now:

- booted the system with a pe-cd and renamed the aswkbd.sys in windows, restart > no function
- booted the system again with pe, loaded the system registry and with aswclear.exe made an uninstall > no function
- no chance to get the keyboard running ...

this is really boring, i am on the customer side there is of course no understanding for this ...

greetings marco.

[avast@@dvantage77.com]

I fixed this issue last week.  It is the "upgrade" over exisiting avast!, vs. removal of existing avast, prior to installation of EPS.  I wrote this article to deal with this issue several years ago.  I was hoping that this, or similar process, would be built into the installer (automated removal of previous clients)

This article has been modified for your specific issue

1)            Start Windows in Safe Mode (F8 key before Windows splash screen on a reboot)
 
2)            Open (execute) the uninstall utility aswclear.exe
 
3)            Choose which version of avast! to uninstall. This process will be repeated for each avast! version (4, 5, and 6)  So let’s assume we had all 3 versions of avast! installed at some point. So we choose version 4.8 and proceed.
 
4)            If you installed avast! in a different folder than the default, browse for it. (Note: Be careful! The content of any folder you choose will be deleted!)
 
5)          Click REMOVE, close aswclear, and open aswclear, and remove avast! 5, DO NOT reboot, and repeat this process for all versions of avast
 
6) In Local disk C:, ProgramFiles, delete “avast” and “Alwil” directories if there. Look here for the other A/V vendors, that you will also have to deal with on a similar basis
 
7) In C:\Windows\temp, remove all.
 
Start, run, type “%temp%” and remove all.
 
9) Reboot
 
10) Install avast! and reboot!
 
J.R.  Guthrie
   

[machines]

hello,

this could work if i were able to login ... but without keyboard there is even no
chance to type in a user and a password nor to use ctrl+alt ...

this is really disgusting because we spended so much time in the last few months
fixing such bugs ... but now i think i have to install a clean windows. thanks avast
for 8 hours of work which will not be payed!

greetings marco.

[avast@@dvantage77.com]

That's why you are going into safe mode!

[machines]

also NOT in the safe mode > there are no inputs possible !

[machines]

hello,

after reading and trying i fixed it the following way:

1. i started the system with otl-pe and loaded the registry of the not-working system.

2. started then regedit and searched for "kbdclass.sys"

3. edited all entries with "upperfilters" and removed "aswKbd.sys" in it. be sure that "kbdclass.sys" is not deleted.

4. removed "aswKbd.sys" in windows/system32/drivers.

5. restarted the system and tatatata ... the keyboard is working again.

greetings marco.

[avast@@dvantage77.com]

Thank you for this update.  This is only the 2nd time I have seen this issue.

[HighCaliber]

I've got two systems with the same issue but I am not using managed_eps.exe.  The first system locked on a Windows Update, doing a system restore allowed booting into Windows but left us with not keyboard.  I had to use Ease Of Access and its onscreen keyboard to sign in.  After Sign-in it would promptly BSOD.  I know Avast hates system restore so I removed it and the keyboard came back and no more BSOD.  This was all done on a Windows 7 64 bit machine with no previous version of Avast on it.

The second system I am looking at today, they are telling me the keyboard locks up for no reason and they have replaced it.  My gut is telling me it is a similar problem with aswKbd.sys.  Something with Windows Update or an update Avast is performing causes some sort of glitch with aswKbd.sys...  This system is Windows 7 32 bit and has had old versions of Avast on it, I'm going to use aswclear on it and re-install.  However, doing this I am not conifdent the problem is resolved as it is "spotty".  We'll have to see.   

[1tb]

My gut is telling me it is a similar problem with aswKbd.sys.  Something with Windows Update or an update Avast is performing causes some sort of glitch with aswKbd.sys...  This system is Windows 7 32 bit and has had old versions of Avast on it, I'm going to use aswclear on it and re-install.  However, doing this I am not conifdent the problem is resolved as it is "spotty".  We'll have to see.   

A few of our clients are seeing the same behavior in Win 7 64 (new pc's never had anything but avast on them). They all have lastest build of EPSP client (7.0.1455) managed by SOA.

These computers all have Logitech wireless keyboards. Users will be typing away (in the middle of the day when no scanning is scheduled) and suddenly get a BSOD.

Prior to BSOD, the avast client reports secure and is in contact with the console.

On reboot after BSOD, we can login okay, but avast shields are all down and "THE LICENCE KEY IS MISSING AND WE ARE IN TRIAL MODE" despite being a fully paid for licensed installation. To fix it we just manually insert licence file on the client again- but this is becoming a pain.

Bluescreen Text here and minidump attached. (Zipped and extension changed to .png- to allow posting this very small file)
==================================================
Filename          : aswKbd.SYS
Address In Stack  : aswKbd.SYS+13b5
From Address      : fffff880`02ce5000
To Address        : fffff880`02cef000
Size              : 0x0000a000
Time Stamp        : 0x4fc761f9
Time String       : 31/05/2012 10:20:09 PM
Product Name      :
File Description  :
File Version      :
Company           :
Full Path         :
==================================================
Any of the developers have any clues as to why aswKbd.SYS is causing BSOD? Customers are getting very nervous about the stability of avast!

[sowen222]

I just experienced the same problem. After upgrading to Windows 8 and reading of compatibility issues with Avast Pro v7, I decided to uninstall Avast. After doing so, my keyboard didn't work. In addition, I experienced problems downloading windows updates. Using the on-screen keyboard I was able to use the mouse to login then do a system restore, which re-enabled the keyboard. I then uninstalled Avast again, but before rebooting, I used regedit.exe to search for "upperfilters", which contained two entries for "aswKbd", one before and one following "kybdclass". I deleted the "aswKbd" parts. After rebooting, the keyboard still worked (yay!) and windows update worked again. Afterwards, I ran aswclear.exe, but that did not remove the aswKbd.sys file from the drivers directory, nor did it remove the aswTDI.sys file or registry entries, so I did these things manually. I also ran CCleaner which found lots of other things in the registry which Avast uninstall and aswclear.exe failed to remove. It's a shame, but Avast uninstall is buggy and Avast is moving into the realm of bloatware IMO.

[szakilaci]

My customer just upgraded from free version to PRO yesterday (and payed for it). Win7 SP1 64bit english home prem. version.
After that keyboard non functional, if pulling out > Blue Death.

[REDACTED]

I had a similar problem with keyboard after a routine update of avast antivirus. All key boards (including windows' soft keyboard) stoped working after login. As mouse still worked, I was able to go to devises and to my surprize found that my keyboard driver was Avast's. First I disabled all components of Avast, then uninstalled all the keyboards and restarted the system. That did the trick. All keyboards were back and working fine even with Avast fully active.

[.: Mac :.]

I had a similar problem with keyboard after a routine update of avast antivirus. All key boards (including windows' soft keyboard) stoped working after login. As mouse still worked, I was able to go to devises and to my surprize found that my keyboard driver was Avast's. First I disabled all components of Avast, then uninstalled all the keyboards and restarted the system. That did the trick. All keyboards were back and working fine even with Avast fully active.

I have witnessed this behavior on some systems after the last engine update. We did remote control of the machine and removed reference to the avast keyboard driver in the registry to resolve. Not a great solution but it worked