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Consumer Products => Avast Free Antivirus / Premium Security (legacy Pro Antivirus, Internet Security, Premier) => Topic started by: T-RHex on September 29, 2010, 07:39:49 AM

Title: [Resolved] BSODs since Avast Pro trial install (w/TrueCrypt)
Post by: T-RHex on September 29, 2010, 07:39:49 AM
Hello,

I recently installed Avast Pro trial and have used it without issues for a few days.  Today, however, I received two BSODs, something I have not seen since for several months (that was an issue with my old firewall, now resolved).  Avast is the only software change I've made within the last couple of weeks, and today was different than the past few days of the trial because it was a "regular" work day where I push my system quite hard (several instances of Visual Studio 2008, several browser windows, several other apps running concurrently and usually building 2 or 3 VS projects frequently).  All of my data drives are encrypted with TrueCrypt -- and have been for over two years (though with latest version of TC for about 6 months).  The volumes I mounted at startup were fine; the BSODs, however, happened when after performing some work in Visual Studio I then tried to mount an additional volume.  It was a different volume both times.

In looking at the minidump with WinDbg, "aswMon2.SYS" came up in both .dmp files.  I have no experience with WinDbg other than following what I've seen recommended on various online forums, so I'm certainly not assuming Avast is the cause of my troubles.  I'm hoping, however, that you can suggest what I do next and perhaps confirm if it is or isn't an issue with Avast.

One item I should mention is that upon installation I have had a "Mail Shield off" message (all other shields are on) and the "Turn on" or "Fix now" buttons do nothing.  I have been unable to find a resolution to that in the forum but now this BSOD issue came up and to me it's more serious.

System details:

Here is the only noteworthy item in the Windows Event Viewer:
Code: [Select]
Event Type: Error
Event Source: System Error
Event Category: (102)
Event ID: 1003
Date: 10/09/28
Time: 7:56:03 PM
User: N/A
Description:
Error code 1000007f, parameter1 00000008, parameter2 b8338d70, parameter3 00000000, parameter4 00000000.

For more information, see Help and Support Center at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.
Data:
0000: 53 79 73 74 65 6d 20 45   System E
0008: 72 72 6f 72 20 20 45 72   rror  Er
0010: 72 6f 72 20 63 6f 64 65   ror code
0018: 20 31 30 30 30 30 30 37    1000007
0020: 66 20 20 50 61 72 61 6d   f  Param
0028: 65 74 65 72 73 20 30 30   eters 00
0030: 30 30 30 30 30 38 2c 20   000008,
0038: 62 38 33 33 38 64 37 30   b8338d70
0040: 2c 20 30 30 30 30 30 30   , 000000
0048: 30 30 2c 20 30 30 30 30   00, 0000
0050: 30 30 30 30               0000   

Thank you.
Title: Re: BSODs since Avast Pro trial install
Post by: SafeSurf on September 29, 2010, 10:14:39 AM
You could try doing a Repair of Avast to fix your Mail Shield issue:

- Go to Control Panel > Add/Remove programs > Avast Antivirus > Remove.
- Then choose Repair function in the pop-up window (Repair).  Reboot.

If this does not help, can you uninstall using the Avast Uninstall Utility Tool in Safe Mode/ boot / install / boot again.  If you need to do the reinstall, make sure the pop-up you get for Avast (should only be one) you say "Trust Always" and "Remember My Decision" so you don't have any future pop-ups.

Also, you are using an outdated OA FW; you probably have your settings to Manual Updates.  The current FW is 4.5.0.234, and the Mail and Web Shields with OA are different from Avast, so you shouldn't need to disable them.  I'd also recommend that you make both software trusted exclusions to avoid conflicts; you should do this with any security software.  It is best to add your exclusions during the Learning period when you first install the software, but you can do it now.
- For OA: Open the GUI > Options > Exclusions > Add > a pop-up will appear...click on C:\Program Files\Awil Software and do the same with any other security software you are using on the machine.
- For Avast: Open the GUI > Settings > Exclusions > Add > a pop-up will appear...click on C:\Program Files\Online Armor* (this includes all files under OA).
- Reboot your machine.

Also, check in OA under Programs > un-tick Hide Trusted so you can see everything...and make sure nothing is Blocked (in red) or Ask (in yellow).  If it is, right click it to change it to Allow or Trust.  Check especially for setting regarding Avast.

Let me know if this resolves your problem or not.  Thank you.
Title: Re: BSODs since Avast Pro trial install
Post by: T-RHex on September 29, 2010, 02:46:13 PM
SafeSurf,

Thanks for your response.
For the Mail Shield issue, I did the repair as you had suggested and it worked.  All shields up!

I know I have an older version of OA ... I had the update set to automatic for over a month after 4.5 was released and never saw an update notification.  Then I read about users having problems after upgrading so I wanted to wait for the version to settle out before updating and switched to manual.  I know there are bound to be fixes etc. but I also know the major reason for 4.5 is Win7 x64 support which wouldn't apply to me anyway.

I did have Avast excluded in OA; I have now excluded OA in Avast.  However, I did not exclude it where you recommended since it says "exclusions specified here will apply only to on-demand scans", so I added the exclusion in the FileSystem Shield's Expert Settings.  I also added TrueCrypt to Avast's FileSystem Shield's exclusion list, just in case.

I checked OA's list of trusted apps and everything related is a vibrant trusted green.

I'll be running my system hard the next few days, so I will likely find out if this made a difference or not.

Either way, thanks very much for your assistance.
0xtr
Title: Re: BSODs since Avast Pro trial install
Post by: pk on September 29, 2010, 04:41:34 PM
please send me those 2 minidumps to kurtin@avast.com
thanks
Title: Re: BSODs since Avast Pro trial install
Post by: SafeSurf on September 30, 2010, 10:34:08 AM
I'm glad my suggestions helped.  BTW, there is an OA version available for 64-bit now.  Please let us  know if you have any problems in the next few days with Avast.  Thank you.
Title: Re: BSODs since Avast Pro trial install
Post by: T-RHex on October 01, 2010, 06:10:08 AM
@pk - minidumps emailed.

@SafeSurf - so far so good, though I've only really tested it hard yesterday, but without any issues.  I'm wondering if Excluding TrueCrypt was key, but I'm not about to try it off.  Yes, the new OA 4.5 is 64-bit.  I'm still holding out with old WinXP 32-bit, though.
Title: Re: BSODs since Avast Pro trial install
Post by: pk on October 01, 2010, 12:16:20 PM
Well, blame XP OS, because it didn't deal with all your four security apps running together (truecrypt, oa, avast, system restore). TrueCrypt issued a simple file OS request, OA captured it, avast captured it as well and system restore with ntfs driver got outta kernel-mode stack space. I think newer OSes handle these cases much better. I've already patched our drivers to minimize such requests. Hope it helps.
Title: Re: BSODs since Avast Pro trial install
Post by: T-RHex on October 01, 2010, 02:35:24 PM
@pk - Thanks very much for looking into it; I know us lingering XP users are a pain to have to support!  I didn't know if the BSODs were related to the software or if I had a drive that was going bad (fairly new drive though). 

Other than excluding Avast from OA, OA from Avast, and TrueCrypt from Avast, are there any other exclusions that would make the process safer?
Title: [Resolved] Re: BSODs since Avast Pro trial install (w/TrueCrypt)
Post by: T-RHex on October 05, 2010, 07:06:13 AM
Well it's been a few days now without any further issues.  Don't know exactly what solved it (TrueCrypt exclusion or OA/Avast exclusions or Avast driver update), but I'll consider this issue resolved.  Thanks all who pitched in.  I'm pretty impressed with the product and the forum so far.
Title: [RESOLVED] Re: BSODs since Avast Pro trial install
Post by: SafeSurf on October 05, 2010, 08:15:29 AM
T-RHex,

If you feel that your issue is now resolved/fixed, please go back to the first open post in this topic, click the modify button in that Post and change the title/subject, add [Resolved] to the beginning of the title so this thread can be closed. 

Feel free to come back any time you need help, to learn something new, or just to ask questions.  We are here 24/7 for your convenience.  Thank you.   :)