Avast WEBforum
Consumer Products => Avast Free Antivirus / Premium Security (legacy Pro Antivirus, Internet Security, Premier) => Topic started by: REDACTED on November 03, 2014, 10:27:24 PM
-
Likely this has been asked, but I can't seem to find anything. Well, a few things, but none related to what is going on.
Avast picked something up on a scan on my buddy's laptop (Acer). I went and ran all the scans with Avast + a Root Scan, and after all was said an done Avast wanted to run a Boot Time Scan. I set Avast to run at next boot. But, when I rebooted, all I got was a black screen. Nothing else. The Laptop is running, but I have no idea if a scan is going on or not. I can not boot into Safe or get to the Boot Menu, cause, like I said, just a black screen.
He is running the latest Version of Avast Free (2014.9.0.2012). Is the black screen a normal thing for this Version.
Anyways, any and all help is appreciated. Buddies kinda freaking a bit. As am I.
-
The latest version is 2015.10.0.2026
-
Sorry bout that. Guess he has not updated to the newer Version. Called him, and he is actually running 2014.9.0.2018. And sorry for the double post. Guess my fingers slipped.
-
Your finger didn't slip the forum is acting up.
Have your friend update to v2015.10.0.2026.
Download locations
http://files.avast.com/iavs9x/avast_free_antivirus_setup.exe
http://files.avast.com/iavs9x/avast_pro_antivirus_setup.exe
http://files.avast.com/iavs9x/avast_internet_security_setup.exe
http://files.avast.com/iavs9x/avast_premier_antivirus_setup.exe
-
Not sure what to say.....I'll try to be a bit clearer. Avast set to Boot Scan, reboot Laptop.....nothing. Black screen. Nothing else. No windows. Nothing.
What I'm trying to find is that, even though all there is is a black screen, and the Laptop is on with that black screen, is Avast running the Boot Scan, but it just not showing on the screen, which is black.
-
Not sure what to say.....I'll try to be a bit clearer. Avast set to Boot Scan, reboot Laptop.....nothing. Black screen. Nothing else. No windows. Nothing.
What I'm trying to find is that, even though all there is is a black screen, and the Laptop is on with that black screen, is Avast running the Boot Scan, but it just not showing on the screen, which is black.
I'm not 100% sure but if the HDD light is pounding away I'd let it run/finish.
Your other option is to hit power and I would not do that.....no telling what it could effect.
How long has it being going ?
-
The latest version is 2015.10.0.2026
A little typo there - the latest version is 2015.10.0.2206.
-
I'm not 100% sure but if the HDD light is pounding away I'd let it run/finish.
Your other option is to hit power and I would not do that.....no telling what it could effect.
How long has it being going ?
I want to say an hour or so. The time is out for me on the Board, but I pretty much ran into the issue, hung around staring at his Laptop screen for a bit, then came home and posted here. The Laptop is on, According to my friend the lights that are showing indicate that the drive is running. I'm thinking just let ti sit for a while. Overnight if need be. See what happens. I was just hoping that someone else had seen this before, and could offer some advice or direction. Looking at a Black Screen makes me nervous. Not sure what to think.
-
@Eddy/Paranoid/DavidR, no suggestions unless someone is on latest version ? ???
@YashBlade, if it was me I'd let it run....I've seen successful boot time scans take hours.
I "hope" it finishes and boots to normal windows.......if not then decision to do a hard reboot....never fun.
If so, I'm sure you'll get screen about not normal boot and then choose Last Known Good Config.
If for some reason it gets you in boot loop to boot time scan I'd reboot and hit F8 and get into Safe Mode and uninstall Avast.
At that point get to normal boot and do a clean uninstall with AvastClear...
http://www.avast.com/uninstall-utility?ClickID=anl5zolzwtvv0tyr0llplonklwtsnkrzsoas .....then install latest Avast.
I'd then boot to normal Windows and follow this thread to run & post logs to truly remove virus issues.
There are real experts here whom help on this....trust me the A/V removal experts here are very-very good.
https://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=53253.0
I'm not an expert on this Forum......far from it.....but these would be my steps and hope others will chime in.
-
HEY....another thought !!!!!!!!!!!
Do you have an external monitor ?...........hook it up to the Acer Laptop RGB port while it is still running with black screen.
Anything popup on the monitor ? :)
Also, if your buddy's laptop already has monitor hooked up and it and/or the laptop screen is black disconnect the monitor.
-
@Eddy/Paranoid/DavidR, no suggestions unless someone is on latest version ? ???
<snip>
It is/was nothing to do with a suggestion other than to correct what was the typo in Eddy's post.
That said a black screen on the boot scan isn't good as the screen would generally have at the very least an indication that it is running. Whilst this is an old screen capture it should still be similar and also show a menu of options if something is detected.
A black screen could be an indication of a dead screen - but this I think is unlikely or it wouldn't be working for other computer use either.
So the not being able to boot into safe mode is possibly why it can't get it to run a boot-time scan either.
-
@Eddy/Paranoid/DavidR, no suggestions unless someone is on latest version ? ???
<snip>
It is/was nothing to do with a suggestion other than to correct what was the typo in Eddy's post.
That said a black screen on the boot scan isn't good as the screen would generally have at the very least an indication that it is running. Whilst this is an old screen capture it should still be similar and also show a menu of options if something is detected.
A black screen could be an indication of a dead screen - but this I think is unlikely or it wouldn't be working for other computer use either.
So the not being able to boot into safe mode is possibly why it can't get it to run a boot-time scan either.
Hope OP comes back.........I re-read his first post and did not see he could not get into safe mode.
Does Avast boot time scanner kick in before the F8 option or after ?......perhaps he was not quick enough between logo splash and Avast boot scan kickoff with the "F8" key banging.....I start hitting that key right after I see laptop vendor splash logo. :)
I'm hoping they try the external monitor.....I do recall many moons back with Avast this happened and the system and Avast got mixed up on video port.....I only suggested because he says the machine/HDD is actively working on something....with that much activity I would assume the scanner crunching away.
I guess with your screen capture I'd suggest if it appears to stop banging on HDD try hitting ESC since perhaps that would exit ? Shooting in the dark here.....no pun intended.
If none of this works then I'd suggest OP/Friend go to this topic and down to section If you cannot Boot the computer.
We can ping Essexboy at that point if OP posts logs from those instructions.
https://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=53253.0
-
<snip quotes>
Hope OP comes back.........I re-read his first post and did not see he could not get into safe mode.
Does Avast boot time scanner kick in before the F8 option or after ?......perhaps he was not quick enough between logo splash and Avast boot scan kickoff with the "F8" key banging.....I start hitting that key right after I see laptop vendor splash logo. :)
I'm hoping they try the external monitor.....I do recall many moons back with Avast this happened and the system and Avast got mixed up on video port.....I only suggested because he says the machine/HDD is actively working on something....with that much activity I would assume the scanner crunching away.
I guess with your screen capture I'd suggest if it appears to stop banging on HDD try hitting ESC since perhaps that would exit ? Shooting in the dark here.....no pun intended.
<snip>
Well the user isn't going to be pressing F8 as the boot-time scan does its own thing after selecting it on the next OS restart - I don't know if the boot-time scan is done in a safe mode scenario or just before windows completes its normal boot.
Personally I don't hold out much hope with attaching an external monitor, given the other problem.
Hitting the Esc key whilst in a boot time scan (when shown in the display) exits the scan. It would be hard to tell if it was running in the background but not displayed or as I suspect that it isn't even running.
-
No, the boot-time scan is not started before the moment when you can press F8 - it's later (technically "much" later, but that time frame can be rather short on fast machines). So F8 should be available, no matter if boot-time scanner is scheduled or not.
The boot-time scanner shouldn't be started when booting into safe mode, there's a check for that (exactly because nothing would be visible in that case).
There used to be a similar problem with the "noguiboot" option, but there's a check for that as well.
I guess we would like to know the operating system we are talking about. Plus, it could be helpful to see the aswBoot.log file if present (C:\ProgramData\AVAST Software\Avast\log\aswBoot.log).
-
Thanks for the clarification on the boot-time scan Igor.
-
Igor, thx very much !!!!!!!!!! ....always good to see Avast Team folks.
Hope OP comes back with more info.
-
Well, everyone Thanks for your Help and ideas, and sorry for taking a bit to get back here. We still have no clue as to what happened. He let the Laptop sit till around Midnight that same day. Then, he shut it off, unplugged everything, removed the battery; let it sit for about 20 mins. then restarted it. Booted fine then.
But, again, no idea why this happened. If anyone ever had a thought as to how and why, I'd surely love to find out. Kinda want to know if this a a one time thing with this particular Laptop, or if it's some sort of bug.
Oh, and BTW, I guess I never did say what OS. He's running W7 x86.
One final question. Do you think it might be an idea to completely uninstall this Version of Avast, then do a clean install of the latest and greatest? Or would it be safe just to upgrade to the newer Version.
And Thanks again for everyone's help and suggestions.