Got Blue Screen After Updating to the Latest Avast Version? PLEASE READ!

[Vlk]

Hi all,

some of you reported an instant blue screen (or sudden reboots) after applying the latest avast program update. It turns out that this results from the program not being correctly updated (for whatever reason). To make long story short, the problem is caused by the fact that one component of avast is updated properly and second is not - and while these two components try to talk to each other, bad things start happening.

The solution is to boot into Windows Safe Mode and invoke avast program repair (or, alternatively (if this doesn't work), boot into Safe Mode, uninstall avast and then install it again).

How to boot into Safe Mode
To get into the Windows 2000/XP Safe mode as the computer is booting press and hold your "F8 Key" which should bring up the "Windows Advanced Options Menu". Use your arrow keys to move to "Safe Mode" or "Safe Mode with Networking" and press your Enter key.



Note: With some computers if you press and hold a key as the computer is booting you will get a stuck key message as the computer is booting. If this occurs instead of pressing and holding the "F8 key" tap the "F8 key" continuously until you get the startup menu.



After you successfully boot into Windows Safe Mode, go to Control Panel -> Add/Remove Programs -> avast Antivirus -> Change/Remove.
A dialog box appears, with choices on the left. The last choice is "Repair" (you usually need to scroll down the list to see it). Select it and click Next.

If the Repair procedure succeeds, you should be all set. Otherwise, use the uninstall option to remove avast. After the computer restarts (no need for Safe Mode anymore), you can reinstall avast by downloading the latest version from our web servers.


Thanks,
Vlk

[totts]

I have done F8 and get the the screen you showed.  When I select safe mode, I either go back to the same screen (safe mode options) or to BSOD again!

 :'(

[MFB]

Odd, i didn't get any blue screen appearing, does this problem effect everyone who has updated thier avast?

[Lisandro]

Odd, i didn't get any blue screen appearing, does this problem effect everyone who has updated thier avast?

Of course not... Some systems are in trouble... Thanks God not all of them 
In fact, I never get a BSOD because of avast! 

[Vlk]

totts, can you be a bit more specific? I don't understand what your saying. Are you saying that you can't boot into Safe Mode? That the machine simply restarts while booting into Safe Mode? Because that sounds bad but very unlikely to be caused by avast (because in Safe Mode, none of its drivers get loaded).

[totts]

I cannot even get into safe mode!  I have been advised by colleagues that I need to reformat and then load XP again.   :'(

I think this is what I will have to do, thank you very much for your advice and for taking the time to help 

[Lisandro]

I cannot even get into safe mode!  I have been advised by colleagues that I need to reformat and then load XP again.   :'(
I think this is what I will have to do, thank you very much for your advice and for taking the time to help 

This is sad but, like Vlk, I think it's not related to avast...
You should corrupt the zero track (MBR, etc.) of the hard disk, or mess the boot loader. As you say, you don't receive even an error message...
Did you have another antivirus installed in your computer? Did you use Norton GoBack?

[totts]

I had Norton, but wasn't actually using it.

[r3]

Hi Totts,

Sorry for your troubles, but you may wanna try a few more things before reformatting and starting from scratch.  I agree w/ others that this severe a prob at such an early stage of boot indicates Avast is not the main issue. 

Do you have a boot CD and/or your XP Install CD handy ?  You might want to boot to a dos prompt using a floppy boot disc, then type chkdsk c: /F   This will start a scan of your C: drive (I'm assuming this is the drive or partition you have XP installed on), check for and attempt to fix errors on the drive.  After it's done, if it tells you it has found and repaired errors you might want to try re-boot (with the floppy removed from the A drive) and see if things work any better.  If not, you might want to try and boot up using your XP Install disc.  There is a repair installation option that you will notice after the install program starts and sees that there is an existing install of XP on the disc.  If this works for you it would be a lot faster than reformatting and starting from scratch. . . .

good luck !  Google will point you to plentiful references on these subjects if you desire additional data.

[MFB]

Odd, i didn't get any blue screen appearing, does this problem effect everyone who has updated thier avast?

Of course not... Some systems are in trouble... Thanks God not all of them 
In fact, I never get a BSOD because of avast! 

Fewf I'm sweating like crazy when I saw this topic, thank goodness. But I'm sure I'm not safe just yet     I hope you guys can find someway to resolve this issue. 

[totts]

Will try that, thanks

[carnwath]

Your fix - REPAIR Avast works for me - thanks.

My Win2k system was freezing the mouse today, often when moving over icons in I.E. or VB6  after I installed the  4.6.652 upgrade earlier today.  I had rebooted maybe four times before thinking I had trouble and then defragged my drive. Then I read this forum topic.

Sweated a bit when a soft reboot would not load Windows but a cold start did and then in Safe mode I repaired Avast and restarted.

As I had already tried disk defrag and adding to the size of virtual memory before looking at this forum topic, it now looks like the system is better responsive than it has been in months.

Dell 350Mhz Intel
Win2000
512Mb ram
20Gb disk  85% full which had a lot of fragged files
cablemodem

[mark_f]

I just received an email that says:

You have just been sent a personal message by john lui on avast!WEBforum.

IMPORTANT: Remember, this is just a notification. Please do not reply to this email.

The message they sent you was:

hi y all,

just do it:

start/panel control/system/advanced/performance/configuration/data prevention execution.  set second option and add  ashserv.exe   in the avast directory.
that's all!!!

Is this a genuine email and information or a hoax? Can someone please advise, thanks

[Lisandro]

Is this a genuine email and information or a hoax? Can someone please advise, thanks

At least, it's public in other avast forums: http://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=11945.0;topicseen
You can test it if you have this ashserv.exe error while shutting down.

[DavidR]

Is this a genuine email and information or a hoax? Can someone please advise, thanks

There is every likelihood that it is genuine, but without being able to check the header information of the email no one can be 100%.

In your Profile settings, you can opt to be emailed if you receive a personal message, you can disable this option. One way to check that the email was genuine and sent by the avast forums notification of personal messages and you should see a personal message from the person named in the email. View your personal messages and check.