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Consumer Products => Avast Free Antivirus / Premium Security (legacy Pro Antivirus, Internet Security, Premier) => Topic started by: Sophora on February 07, 2011, 10:36:44 PM

Title: Weird problem after update to 5.1.889
Post by: Sophora on February 07, 2011, 10:36:44 PM
Normally, when I run into a PC problem, I'm quite capable (or lucky) to solve them.
With the latest Avast Free update, I'm getting stuck because it seems to be a bit weird.

I'm running Avast Free on AMD 64 with XP and SP3 fully updated.
Right after installing the upgrade 10 days ago this is what happens.
The first startup of the day, after exactly 4 minutes, the screen freezes, no mouse response,
 no keyboard response and no disc activity.
The only 'cure' is a hard reset (power switch off and on again), after that the PC runs fine.
When turning on the PC the next day, same thing. First start up, PC freezes
after 4 minutes, hard reset, PC runs fine. The freeze happens regardless whether
a program (i.e. browser, mediaplayer) is running or not.
I looked through the system and Avast logs, nothing there at the time of freezing.
There are entries from MS Defender that avastTestService was detected making changes to the system.
So I disabled Defender, no change.
I also did a repair on Avast, no change
Also ran a full system scan using Avast, both safe mode scan and start up scan, nothing found
(freeze doesn't happen when Avast runs a start up scan only after log in to XP)
Next was Superantispyware, with the same result, nothing.
Then I ran Autoruns (MS), which showed some invalid registry keys and some missing files and repaired those.
Removed all start up programs, only keeping the ones necessary for the system, no change.
Planner is checked for possible hidden task, starting after start up, nothing there.
The only program active (as seen in taskmanager) at the time of freeze is Avastsvc.exe, taking about 3-4 % CPU load.

The only positive at this moment is that my PC is faster than ever before, but
I'm at a loss, so any help would be greatly appreciated.
Title: Re: Weird problem after update to 5.1.889
Post by: YoKenny on February 07, 2011, 10:42:23 PM
What is MS Defender  ???
How much RAM does the system have ???
Title: Re: Weird problem after update to 5.1.889
Post by: Sophora on February 07, 2011, 10:47:20 PM
Sorry, I meant Windows Defender and it's 3 GB of memory
Title: Re: Weird problem after update to 5.1.889
Post by: YoKenny on February 07, 2011, 10:50:32 PM
I do not run Windows Defender on XP as it is un-necessary.
Title: Re: Weird problem after update to 5.1.889
Post by: Sophora on February 07, 2011, 10:54:56 PM
That may be, but it most likely not the cause of my problem either,
since Defender is disabled and the problem persists.
Title: Re: Weird problem after update to 5.1.889
Post by: YoKenny on February 07, 2011, 10:57:14 PM
Even with it disabled its drivers have to load.
Title: Re: Weird problem after update to 5.1.889
Post by: YoKenny on February 07, 2011, 10:59:34 PM
What version of Autoruns are you using ???
Title: Re: Weird problem after update to 5.1.889
Post by: Sophora on February 07, 2011, 11:02:03 PM
It's Autoruns v10.06
Title: Re: Weird problem after update to 5.1.889
Post by: YoKenny on February 07, 2011, 11:17:05 PM
Make sure there is nothing in Applnit
Title: Re: Weird problem after update to 5.1.889
Post by: Sophora on February 07, 2011, 11:22:44 PM
AppInit is empty for system, user and administrator


Some additional info:
AMD Athlon64 3500+ 2.21GHz 3GB, 2 x 160 GB HDD
XP home + SP3, IE8 + Avant Browser, SAS, Avast v5.1 Free
Title: Re: Weird problem after update to 5.1.889
Post by: wtfwtfwtf on February 07, 2011, 11:48:23 PM
Do you have the BITS, Background Intelligent Transfer Service running and set to auto?
Do you have Comodo Firewall 5.3 installed?
Title: Re: Weird problem after update to 5.1.889
Post by: DavidR on February 07, 2011, 11:52:12 PM
The BITS function is required for windows update, no BITS running no updates.
Title: Re: Weird problem after update to 5.1.889
Post by: Sophora on February 07, 2011, 11:56:11 PM
So, yes on BITS  :) and no on Comodo, only the standard windows firewall
Title: Re: Weird problem after update to 5.1.889
Post by: YoKenny on February 08, 2011, 02:52:37 PM
Have you un-installed Windows Defender ???

@ wtfwtfwtf

As you do not know what you are talking about please do not offer advice! ::)
Title: Re: Weird problem after update to 5.1.889
Post by: CraigB on February 08, 2011, 03:08:13 PM
Every other time iv seen this lately uninstalling the behavior shield has helped, control panel/add remove program's, double click avast and scroll to change and untick the BhS, click ok and reboot.
Title: Re: Weird problem after update to 5.1.889
Post by: Sophora on February 08, 2011, 09:23:23 PM
I saw that possible solution in another topic, uninstalled BhS, first start up today and PC still freezes  :'(
Going to uninstall Windows Defender, but have to wait till tomorrow to see whether that's effective or not. I'll be back
Title: Re: Weird problem after update to 5.1.889
Post by: Sophora on February 08, 2011, 11:03:26 PM
Turned out I didn't have to wait. It's update tuesday and, after installing
a bunch of Windows updates and removing Windows Defender, I restarted the PC and
the system froze exactly 4 minutes after login.......aaaarrrgh.
Restarted again, runs as usual. Any idea would be very welcome.
Title: Re: Weird problem after update to 5.1.889
Post by: YoKenny on February 09, 2011, 12:13:30 AM
Please read and follow these directions:
How to invoke memory dump creation?
http://support.avast.com/index.php?_m=knowledgebase&_a=viewarticle&kbarticleid=71
Title: Re: Weird problem after update to 5.1.889
Post by: Sophora on February 09, 2011, 12:47:34 AM
oke, will do
Title: Re: Weird problem after update to 5.1.889
Post by: wtfwtfwtf on February 09, 2011, 10:23:33 AM
Have you un-installed Windows Defender ???

@ wtfwtfwtf

As you do not know what you are talking about please do not offer advice! ::)
YoKenny, as the person is asking a question to anyone on a support forum, I will answer as I see fit.
Please stop telling people what to say.
Title: Re: Weird problem after update to 5.1.889
Post by: Sophora on February 09, 2011, 10:05:57 PM
File has been uploaded, named sophora0209.zip
Title: Re: Weird problem after update to 5.1.889
Post by: Sophora on February 10, 2011, 12:27:40 AM
Since I can't stand having mysterious problems like the one described,
I've been fiddling around to see if I could produce the system freeze
intentionally, and I did manage.
If I start the predefined fast scan from the Avast interface, Avast scans
with no problem. However, if I turn on the PUP option, the system freezes
after a few seconds. And it is reproducable, PUP off - scan's fine,
PUP on - system freezes. Tried it at least 6 times to see whether
it's any particular file causing it, but the freeze happens with different
files although its always one of the .sys files in windows\system32\drivers.
I hope this info sheds some light on the issue.
Title: Re: Weird problem after update to 5.1.889
Post by: Sophora on February 15, 2011, 09:45:39 PM
Or should I just give up  ::)?
Title: Re: Weird problem after update to 5.1.889
Post by: mokkaman on February 16, 2011, 01:35:55 AM
hey goto avast settings -- troubleshooting and enable : load avast after other services.. this is recommended because, even if avast hangs/freezes or watever, your windows wil be working fine , and allow u to repair avast, reinstall..

now press start button- run- type  services.msc  . search for avastsvc.exe.. if its status is started/stopped/starting reply back. i think we have similar problems
Title: Re: Weird problem after update to 5.1.889
Post by: Sophora on February 16, 2011, 09:48:01 PM
Done that, under services Avastsvc.exe is shown as started, which by itself is not unexpected.
Title: Weird problem after update to 5 1 889
Post by: Krisrvftun on February 17, 2011, 06:03:31 AM
I cant say for sure, but I got this problem after running the opera 9.5 beta.  It hasnt happened since I uninstalled it.   Just a suggestion.
Title: Re: Weird problem after update to 5.1.889
Post by: mokkaman on February 17, 2011, 07:56:12 AM
in case u dint find any solution to this problem , u can try this
hope u dint have problems in prev versions of avast. goto safe mode of xp, by pressing f8 while booting, uninstall avast from control panel and install 5.0.677. this build is pretty stable 

http://www.filehippo.com/download_avast_antivirus/8292/

after installation keep prog update as manual

i too had similar problem, the desktop took 5 min to load after booting, which was solved when i kept the xp service named 'eventlog' as automatic in services.msc.. may be it can work for u :)
Title: Re: Weird problem after update to 5.1.889
Post by: Sophora on February 18, 2011, 11:36:33 PM
Haven't installed the older version yet.
All the changes I've made to my system do show some effect,
i.e. instead of freezing 4 minutes after logon, it now freezes
after 8 minutes after logon.
Not sure whether that is a real gain  :-\