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Consumer Products => Avast Free Antivirus / Premium Security (legacy Pro Antivirus, Internet Security, Premier) => Topic started by: coge on March 01, 2005, 09:10:45 PM

Title: Is there a way to down Grade to 4.5 due to system reboots and network issues.
Post by: coge on March 01, 2005, 09:10:45 PM
Program: 4.6.603
vps: 0509-2
news:4.6.66
setup:4.6.603
IE: 6.0.2900

First of all, I just want to say that I am sold on avast. It is by far the best anti-virus, fast, stable and easy to use. This has been true up until the automatic upgrade to 4.6.603.

Symptoms:
 Machine Reboots when:
    A:  Accessing large files
    B:  right clicking and choosing the scan option from explorer.
    C: Randomly
 Unable to access network or very slow network access.
    ( I've tried disabling various providers   but the only thing that worked was to
   disable the program entirely.

My currrent system configuration is:

OS Name   Microsoft Windows XP Professional
Version   5.1.2600 Service Pack 2 Build 2600
OS Manufacturer   Microsoft Corporation
System Manufacturer   MSI
System Model   MS-6702
System Type   X86-based PC
Processor   x86 Family 15 Model 12 Stepping 0 AuthenticAMD ~2000 Mhz
BIOS Version/Date   American Megatrends Inc. Version 07.00T, 4/2/2001
SMBIOS Version   2.3
Windows Directory   C:\WINDOWS
System Directory   C:\WINDOWS\system32
Boot Device   \Device\HarddiskVolume1
Locale   United States
Hardware Abstraction Layer   Version = "5.1.2600.2180 (xpsp_sp2_rtm.040803-2158)"
Time Zone   Pacific Standard Time
Total Physical Memory   512.00 MB
Available Physical Memory   140.39 MB
Total Virtual Memory   2.00 GB
Available Virtual Memory   1.95 GB
Page File Space   1.22 GB


Removing the avast is the only thing so far that has restored the stability of my system. However this has left me without protection. Is there a way to get version 4.5 of the software.

Thank you,
 Coge.



Title: Re: Is there a way to down Grade to 4.5 due to system reboots and network issues.
Post by: igor on March 01, 2005, 09:49:52 PM
Computer reboots when accessing large files? I don't think we had any similar reports...
Would you be able for you to supply us with the corresponding dumps (for a start, the files from WinNT\Minidump folder) so that we could check the reason?
Thanks!
Title: Re: Is there a way to down Grade to 4.5 due to system reboots and network issues.
Post by: cehes on March 01, 2005, 10:30:31 PM
Hi

I get exactly the same problem (crash, slow network)...

Win Xp sp2, asus A7v880, 1Go ram, athon 2600+.
Since last update, i got blue screen, talking about problem with aavmker4.

i've just reformated and reinstalled the machine, no SP, only drivers and last version of avast, and exatly the same problem... what a pity i like this soft :(
Title: Re: Is there a way to down Grade to 4.5 due to system reboots and network issues.
Post by: Vlk on March 01, 2005, 10:34:07 PM
Guys, please send me a couple of most recent files from the the \windows\minidump folder.

Thanks
Vlk
Title: Re: Is there a way to down Grade to 4.5 due to system reboots and network issues.
Post by: Vlk on March 01, 2005, 10:38:21 PM
BTW try doing the following and see if it helps with the crashes.
Open the file <avast>\data\avast4.ini, and add the following line to the [Common] section

UserModeScanning=1

save the changes and reboot the machines for the changes to take effect.

BTW - did you send the error report to Microsoft (when the machine crashed)? That would be quite helpful - we have access to that data.

Thanks
Vlk
Title: Re: Is there a way to down Grade to 4.5 due to system reboots and network issues.
Post by: Lisandro on March 01, 2005, 10:55:02 PM
UserModeScanning=1

Vlk, what does it mean?
It's a new setting for the avast4.ini file  :)
Title: Re: Is there a way to down Grade to 4.5 due to system reboots and network issues.
Post by: Vlk on March 02, 2005, 12:25:12 AM
Guys, actually I figured I'd need a FULL crash dump to analyse the problem (I have a couple of minidumps from the MS Error reporting page here but they're not very helpful). Could you please enable generation of full dumps (as described in my post here: http://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=11330.msg96408#msg96408 ) and simulate the problem?

Please note that the problem will probably not be reproducible if you do the ini file modification as described above. So please, do the modification only after simulating the problem with full dump generation enabled.


Technical - it's just a troubleshooting (debugging) setting, nothing normal user would have to worry about... ;)
Title: Re: Is there a way to down Grade to 4.5 due to system reboots and network issues.
Post by: cehes on March 02, 2005, 10:21:55 AM
the problem is that i reformated (once again) my machine and don't want to reinstall avast.
I'll wait that the problem is solved, because i guest that many other people will have the problem.

what is quite odd is that my wife as an asrock k7vt4a+ and a 1.3 athlon with winxp sp2 and the lastest version of avast (a config similar to mine) and has no problem !

If the problem occur on her computer i'll send you the files you requested...

Just to kniow : what is the file "aavmker4" for ?

Many thanks for your quick reply.
Title: Re: Is there a way to down Grade to 4.5 due to system reboots and network issues.
Post by: Vlk on March 02, 2005, 10:29:58 AM
It may actually be a file on the hard drive that's causing the scan to crash.
Maybe you could share your HDD and scan it from your wife's machine, to see if it crashes, too...

The file AavmKer4 holds part of the avast scanner :)
Title: Re: Is there a way to down Grade to 4.5 due to system reboots and network issues.
Post by: igor on March 02, 2005, 10:37:25 AM
I'll wait that the problem is solved, because i guest that many other people will have the problem.

I'm afraid that's not the case.
As far as I know, it's only you two (posters of this thread) having this kind of problems until now. So, we could hardly do anything about it without some help.
Title: Re: Is there a way to down Grade to 4.5 due to system reboots and network issues.
Post by: cehes on March 02, 2005, 12:00:54 PM
vlk> i'll try this and tell you as soon as...

Igor>  :( I've just finished reinstalling my machine, don't want to take any risk again !

One more think : i'm using via raid0 with to hitachi hard drives (7k250, 80go)
Title: Re: Is there a way to down Grade to 4.5 due to system reboots and network issues.
Post by: Vlk on March 02, 2005, 12:29:10 PM
Well you wouldn't be risking anything - you can always easily uninstall avast from the Safe mode. :)
Title: Re: Is there a way to down Grade to 4.5 due to system reboots and network issues.
Post by: cehes on March 02, 2005, 01:44:57 PM
Ok, i'll install it, please tell me what do you want, and where i send it with which reference... ???

I i should send a complete dump, i have 1GB of mem, even if i compress it this should be big, no ?

Many thanks for all these quick reply !

P.S. : i had no problem scanning my computer with the avast on my wife's omputer...
Title: Re: Is there a way to down Grade to 4.5 due to system reboots and network issues.
Post by: igor on March 02, 2005, 02:31:07 PM
Well, yes, the file will probably have something like 200MB after compression. What Internet connection do you have? (i.e. could you possibly upload it to our FTP, for example?)
Title: Re: Is there a way to down Grade to 4.5 due to system reboots and network issues.
Post by: cehes on March 02, 2005, 02:54:12 PM
ok, i had a crash, but when scanning (scanning "minutieux", within archive, i'll try a standard scan), not at startup or while using my computer...

I have a dsl 512/128 connection, i can upload it if you want and if my pc do not crash... :(

The file is 163MB large, if you give me ftp access, i can send it

edit: this is the same problem with standard scan and without scanning archive.
This is a PAGE_FAULT_IN_NON_PAGED_AREA
I tested my memory with memtest and the microsoft test with no problem.
If needed i have a second dump.

Still no problem while using computer as previously...
Title: Re: Is there a way to down Grade to 4.5 due to system reboots and network issues.
Post by: igor on March 02, 2005, 04:21:40 PM
Is/was the aavmker4 driver noticed in the bluescreen?

There's an anonymous FTP: ftp://cat.asw.cz/incoming
(there are no rights for reading, so you won't see anything there - even after you upload the file - but we'll get it).
Title: Re: Is there a way to down Grade to 4.5 due to system reboots and network issues.
Post by: Vlk on March 02, 2005, 04:44:44 PM
Don't forget to pack the file.
Also, it's quite strange its only 163MB - it should be of the size of your RAM. How much RAM do you have?


Thanks
Vlk
Title: Re: Is there a way to down Grade to 4.5 due to system reboots and network issues.
Post by: cehes on March 02, 2005, 06:48:21 PM
Vlk> the size (160Mb for the first and 220 for the second) is after compression !

I send you that, i hope that "privacy" (hope you understand, not sure if it's the exact english term) is important for you, because what i give you is my whole memory (1GB)

Igor> yes, aavmker4 was the program writen by the blue screen
Title: Re: Is there a way to down Grade to 4.5 due to system reboots and network issues.
Post by: igor on March 02, 2005, 07:19:47 PM
OK, thanks.

Of course privacy is very important for us, you don't have to worry. Only the parts related to the problem will be examined (and the dump will be discarded afterwards).

Title: Re: Is there a way to down Grade to 4.5 due to system reboots and network issues.
Post by: cehes on March 02, 2005, 07:44:55 PM
right !

If there is no problem here is what you'll find

 - now : memory1.zip : forget about it, error while transmitting
 - in about 2h30 : memory-1.zip : crash while scanning thoroughly and within archives
 - in about 7 h : memory-2.zip : crash while scanning standard and not within archive

Still no crash during the use of the computer (but i do not do many things !)


edit: I'm obliged to try it again, i had and error at about 55/60 %, there is no quota for size ?
Title: Re: Is there a way to down Grade to 4.5 due to system reboots and network issues.
Post by: igor on March 02, 2005, 08:50:00 PM
I don't think so.
But it may be wise to split the files into smaller archives (e.g. using WinRAR with 10megs multivolume archives) - so that you don't have to resend everything in case of crash (of the upload).
Title: Re: Is there a way to down Grade to 4.5 due to system reboots and network issues.
Post by: cehes on March 02, 2005, 09:48:37 PM
this is what i'm gonna do, because i had a blue screen (win32k.sys). At next start, avast has a crash with debug i sent to MS (my network was frozen  then 1 or 2 minutes after, avast crashed and then network OK). I restarted and all ok.

I have some stability problem other than avast (mainly with games, or when cpu is highly charged) ... maybe my alim is to weak.

I'will go to bed then i'll send files later, sorry for all these problems
Title: Re: Is there a way to down Grade to 4.5 due to system reboots and network issues.
Post by: Vlk on March 02, 2005, 10:02:41 PM
Someone is just uploading dump-1.z08. Is that you? :)
Title: Re: Is there a way to down Grade to 4.5 due to system reboots and network issues.
Post by: cehes on March 03, 2005, 07:58:56 AM
yes  ;D

All dump-1 is now online...
dump-2 is on the way, but now i should go to work, i hope there will be no problem

This was done by izarc a good free zip program, not with winrar, but i think that will be ok !
Title: Re: Is there a way to down Grade to 4.5 due to system reboots and network issues.
Post by: Vlk on March 03, 2005, 08:58:28 AM
Great, I got the file and it seems to be OK. Thanks. :)
Title: Re: Is there a way to down Grade to 4.5 due to system reboots and network issues.
Post by: cehes on March 03, 2005, 12:27:17 PM
dump-2 is also online !
Title: Re: Is there a way to down Grade to 4.5 due to system reboots and network issues.
Post by: cehes on March 05, 2005, 11:30:41 AM
Just one question : how will i know if there is something yo know about this issue ? You'll post here ?

Hope the two dumps were interesting...

tx
Title: Re: Is there a way to down Grade to 4.5 due to system reboots and network issues.
Post by: Vlk on March 05, 2005, 05:07:19 PM
Hi cehes,

I've spent the last two days (and nights) analysing the dumps. I have to say that it's a big mystery... :-\

I even tried completely simulating the problem here (including taking precisely the same data as in the dump) - but it just worked.

I have some questions:
- isn't your machine over-clocked?
- have you ever experienced any blue screens on that machine, prior to installing avast?
- could you run this tool: http://www.sysinternals.com/ntw2k/freeware/rootkitreveal.shtml (the download link is at the bottom of the page) and post its results here?
- does the INI option change I suggested in one of my previous posts help?


Thanks
Vlk
Title: Re: Is there a way to down Grade to 4.5 due to system reboots and network issues.
Post by: cehes on March 05, 2005, 06:24:00 PM
Sorry for these days (and night) working a lot  :-[

Well i have no o/c at the moment (before it was at 2.3ghz/fsb400 and really stable) , but yes i have some stability problem since i crashed my power unit (lc power 420W) and replaced it with a 300W noname (i'm waiting for the lc power coming back from warrantly). I guest 300W is two few for a 2600+, 4 ddr, radeon 9800 (there is a added power connector on it !) and two HD...

the thing is that i had many crashes (freeze or blue screen) these last week, but NEVER with avast...
And since i installed v4.6 quite all my crash are with aavmker4 (sometimes with win32k). As i saw that somebody else (the first that write this post, no news from him ?) has the problem i told me that there was something wrong with avast (added to my other problems !).


but maybe my stability problem are showing a blue screen with avast program for another reason of an avast problem (quite odd sentence, difficult to understand  :o )

Sorry (really  :-\ ) if it gives you more works as i was convincted that there were a problem with avast (one more time : even with my stability problem i had no crash with avast before)


I change the .ini and will tell you....

i uploaded the file generated by your soft as "cehes-RootkitReveal.txt" on your ftp
Title: Re: Is there a way to down Grade to 4.5 due to system reboots and network issues.
Post by: cehes on March 05, 2005, 09:48:52 PM
Well, i think i've something really interresting for you :

When using your .ini modification, i can do a scan with no crash (tested 4 times). When not doing the modification, i alway get a crash after a few minutes, and it is a PAGE_FAULT_IN_NONPAGED_AREA.
I can now use my computer with really fewer crashes (still got some, due to my power supply i supposed, and these are not aavmker4 crashes).


There's really something weird with avast on my computer (remember that i reformated it 3 times !)

Ok i don't know what to do, and what to say....

You did not spend two days for nothing !



A question that has nothing to deal with the problem. I read, but i do not remember where, that "avast"  means something in your "original language" (don't know if it's the appropriate word  ??? ), can you tell me what ? thanks !
Title: Re: Is there a way to down Grade to 4.5 due to system reboots and network issues.
Post by: Vlk on March 05, 2005, 11:14:49 PM
Hi cehes,

first, it doesn't surprise me much that it doesn't crash any more when doing the scan. Unfortunately, that doesn't really mean anything. The thing is, the switch effectively moved the scanning routine from kernel mode to user mode. In kernel mode, every problem results in a blue screen. In user mode, at most the app crashes (but doesn't even have to crash).

It's quite obvious that you have been seeing the crashes to happen in aavmker4.sys - because that's where the avast kernel-mode scanner takes place. And, since an antivirus is usually one of the most CPU intensive tasks in the whole system (unless you're using AutoCAD or 3DStudioMAX on a regular basis :) - or at least playing Doom III) - in fact probably the most intensive - it's no wonder that a hardware problem usually occurs when running avast's (kernel-mode) code. :)

About the etymology of the words alwil/avast, please see e.g. http://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=1358.0 :)


Cheers
Vlk
Title: Re: Is there a way to down Grade to 4.5 due to system reboots and network issues.
Post by: cehes on March 06, 2005, 11:26:35 AM
Hey, you're working the week-end  :o

Thanks for your reply, explanation is OK.
I'll wait to have my computer stable, and then try to put the .ini at normal....

What i could say is that i tested my computer with oct (one on the most intensive cpu burning test) and had no crash... Then i'm not sure that this is the cpu utilization of avast that make it crash ! I have now really fewer crashed since i altered the .ini file.
That would have been good to have news from the one that open this post and that seems to have the same problem...

Well just wait that my computer comes back to normal stability and..... i'll be back  ;D

once again, many, many thanks for all your work !
Title: Re: Is there a way to down Grade to 4.5 due to system reboots and network issues.
Post by: Lisandro on March 06, 2005, 04:14:27 PM
I tested my computer with oct (one on the most intensive cpu burning test) and had no crash...

I tried to Google unsucessfully...
Can you post a link for this test?
Title: Re: Is there a way to down Grade to 4.5 due to system reboots and network issues.
Post by: cehes on March 06, 2005, 04:35:24 PM
http://occt.ocbase.com/

I was talking about occt, not oct, sorry !

This software is really good, because this is not only a burning test, but it also detect computing error, that is why this test sometimes failed where other burning test tells everything is ok.
This is a "must have" for overclocker !
Title: Re: Is there a way to down Grade to 4.5 due to system reboots and network issues.
Post by: Lisandro on March 06, 2005, 04:50:27 PM
Thanks, Cehes... I've tried but unsucessfully again. I can't find the link to download, just text lines...
Is there any english version of it?
Thanks, anyway.
Title: Re: Is there a way to down Grade to 4.5 due to system reboots and network issues.
Post by: cehes on March 06, 2005, 05:34:03 PM
doh !
You never rest at Alwil  :P , always online  :o

Here is a direct link
http://www.ocbase.com/OpenBeta/OCCTv0.91.exe

HTH

P.S. : i'll be out these next days, don't worry if i do not reply quikly...
Title: Re: Is there a way to down Grade to 4.5 due to system reboots and network issues.
Post by: Lisandro on March 06, 2005, 09:33:35 PM
You never rest at Alwil  :P , always online  :o

Did you ever find a best forum to be logged?  ;D ;)
Title: Re: Is there a way to down Grade to 4.5 due to system reboots and network issues.
Post by: cehes on March 06, 2005, 09:45:35 PM
lol !

edit : did you find occt ? If yes, did you try it ?

Really a good tool
Title: Re: Is there a way to down Grade to 4.5 due to system reboots and network issues.
Post by: 99johsmi on April 17, 2005, 06:02:09 PM
I have had the exact same problems, i am uploading you a complete system dump. I have called it Jsmith.zip for you so you know its mine. Same errors exactly. Running on a HP Pavilion ZD7377EA Laptop. XP Home SP2 all updates etc...

I have now removed Avast as i cannot use the laptop it is that bad! So i have put Norton on to keep me going, but a fix would be nice!

John
Title: Re: Is there a way to down Grade to 4.5 due to system reboots and network issues.
Post by: cehes on April 17, 2005, 08:42:25 PM
in fact my problem was due to a bad memory (even if memtest found no errors) and a weak power supply, now that i have a lc power 420w and corsair valueram this is really ok even with overclocking...

HTH
Title: Re: Is there a way to down Grade to 4.5 due to system reboots and network issues.
Post by: 99johsmi on April 17, 2005, 08:48:10 PM
My problems only started when i installed Avast, and then have since stopped since removing it
Title: Re: Is there a way to down Grade to 4.5 due to system reboots and network issues.
Post by: Vlk on April 17, 2005, 09:45:54 PM
Unfortunately, the file (jsmith.zip) did not upload in its entirety. To start, could you send me the newest .mdmp file from the \windows\minidump folder? It should be only 64K in size so you can easily send it to me by email...

Thanks
Vlk
Title: Re: Is there a way to down Grade to 4.5 due to system reboots and network issues.
Post by: 99johsmi on April 17, 2005, 10:42:03 PM
my machine unfortunatly has never been set to make mini-dumps, as a Network Administrator i know that a complete dump is more useful. It crashed with the same error as usual during uploading i have found. I have copied the zip to a different machine and will upload it with that as it is as stable as a rock

John
Title: Re: Is there a way to down Grade to 4.5 due to system reboots and network issues.
Post by: Vlk on April 17, 2005, 10:57:22 PM
Thanks. I see it coming up here right now... ;)
BTW AFAIK a  minidump is always generated by WinXP when a _full_ dump is requested (i.e. both full and a mini dump is generated). Are you sure it's not there?

Thanks Vlk
Title: Re: Is there a way to down Grade to 4.5 due to system reboots and network issues.
Post by: 99johsmi on April 17, 2005, 11:39:27 PM
i am afraid not, no minidumps there, never mind eventually you will get the full one
Title: Re: Is there a way to down Grade to 4.5 due to system reboots and network issues.
Post by: 99johsmi on April 18, 2005, 12:59:30 AM
There you go all 204MB uploaded - thank goodness for Broadband is all I can say!