XP won't start in safe mode, but hangs on aswrvrt.sys

[brokerpeter]

Attached FRST.txt file.
Computer hangs at aswrvrt.sys loading drivers.

The p/s fan was making a horrible racket so I replaced the power supply. It then would not boot at all, so I put in a 3rd p/s. Now it only boots to the "Start windows normally" screen.

Attempting to start windows hangs the system with either a list of drivers ending at aswrvrt.sys or a blank screen.

Any help would be.... quite helpful! Thanks.

[Eddy]

Why did you not clean the psu (fan) and checked if that solved the problem?
Did you check the wattage on the original psu and the ones you have tried to replace it?

[brokerpeter]

Why did you not clean the psu (fan) and checked if that solved the problem?
Did you check the wattage on the original psu and the ones you have tried to replace it?

Is this supposed to fix my problem with startup? 
The 2nd unit which did not work was exactly the same p/s purchased at the same time.
The 3rd unit is another brand but from an identical PC known to work.

[Eddy]

As far as I can tell from the details you have provide, the problem started after you have replaced the PSU.

The 2nd unit which did not work was exactly the same p/s purchased at the same time.

Did you changed any hardware (ram, card(s), hd(s), dvd player(s) etc etc) after purchasing the pc? If so, what?

The 3rd unit is another brand but from an identical PC known to work

That doesn't mean that psu can deliver the same wattage. So again... Did you check the wattage on the original psu and the ones you have tried to replace it?

[brokerpeter]

As far as I can tell from the details you have provide, the problem started after you have replaced the PSU.

The 2nd unit which did not work was exactly the same p/s purchased at the same time.

Did you changed any hardware (ram, card(s), hd(s), dvd player(s) etc etc) after purchasing the pc? If so, what?

The 3rd unit is another brand but from an identical PC known to work

That doesn't mean that psu can deliver the same wattage. So again... Did you check the wattage on the original psu and the ones you have tried to replace it?

Wattage is HIGHER 480W--->550W
I have not changed any other hardware prior or during to this malfunction. The system is identical to how it was yesterday at 5:00 PM. It has worked flawlessly up until now, save the last time the p/s died (was 300W, upgraded to 480W now 550W)
At some point last night there was either a power outage or a windows update which caused the system to shut down.

DOES the log file show anything regarding the Avast driver it hung up on? That is why I am here in the Avast forum.
This morning I started it up and the circus began.

[essexboy]

The file noted is the last one that successfully loaded.  It is the one after that causing the problem

[Eddy]

You should look at the windows boot log file and not at the avast log file.

[brokerpeter]

The file noted is the last one that successfully loaded.  It is the one after that causing the problem

So can you be of any assistance in this? I cannot go further in the boot nor can I access the drive other than through the recovery CD OTLPEN program booting from CD

[essexboy]

Try this from the OTLPE command prompt

chkdsk C:/r

[redwolfe_98]

it sounds like a typical problem that several others have had, where they were unable to boot their computers because the boot-process was hanging on "aswrvrt.sys"..

my thinking is that the problem is caused by a "zeroaccess" malware-infection and whatever it does to prevent files from running..

[brokerpeter]

Try this from the OTLPE command prompt

chkdsk C:/r

When I rebooted into OTLPE the C: drive disappeared... (not in Explorer nor at the cmd prompt)
So I switched some power cables to make sure I didn't have a bad "one" and rebooted to OTLPE after the machine showed hard drive as a boot option again.

note: I ran chkdsk earlier (without /r) and it came up with no errors

on 2nd run chkdsk says "replaced bad clusters" on 1 file, ending log shows 4KB in bad sectors

Tried again to boot to c:, hangs up in the same spot.

[brokerpeter]

it sounds like a typical problem that several others have had, where they were unable to boot their computers because the boot-process was hanging on "aswrvrt.sys"..

my thinking is that the problem is caused by a "zeroaccess" malware-infection and whatever it does to prevent files from running..

Unless a zeroaccess infection was put through an automatic windows update I doubt it.

[essexboy]

Unfortunately there is little I can do as it appears to be a windows problem
You can use the Reatogo desktop to back up your data

[Eddy]

Perform a in-place-repair of XP. That should solve the problem.

[brokerpeter]

OK I give. I had an opportunity to switch up to a Win7 Pro computer so I'll just try to recover the HD data by plugging it into a working computer.
Thanks for trying though.