Win98 Freezing

[RobM]

I'm not 100% convinced this is an Avast problem yet, but evidence is mounting ...

For some time I have been having seemingly random freezes of my system - by freezes I mean that evverything just stops - everything except the mouse that is, which I can still move around the screen, but I can't click on anything and the keyboard does nothing.  When this happens I can usually press ctl-alt-del 3 times and get the system to reboot, but sometimes I need to go to the power switch.  This freeze, obviously, makes it very difficult as it's not possible to start any program to see what's going on.

DrWatson does not generate any information;  I resorted to permanantly running sysinternal's FileMon to see what was being accessed at the time of the hangs, and often (although not always) it was Avast accessing files.

On further investigation, I find in the AvCommEx.txt log (at C:\Program Files\Alwil Software\Avast4\DATA\log) 2 lines like this every time the hang happens:

Wed Oct 05 21:16:53 2005
    CreateConfigStructure: LoadLibrary Aavm4.dll failed:  One of the library files needed to run this application cannot be found.

Wed Oct 05 21:16:54 2005
    ThreadNotification: FindFirstChangeNotification failed: C:\My Documents\Messenger Service Received Files,  The system cannot find the file specified.

I do not have any Aavm4.dll on my system - but I do have Aavm4h.dll (in C:\Program Files\Alwil Software\Avast4)

I've searched through this forum's post, and tried to repair Avast (from add/remove programs in the control panel), but I'm still seeing the problem.

Can anyone suggest whether this is likely to be the cause of my problems, and if so, what I can do to fix it.

System: Win98SE, fuly patched;  320MB Ram, 60% resources free (typically)
Avast: 4.6.691  Vps: 0540-2  VRBD generation disabled   All providers running (except Outlook/Exchange)

Thanks for any help,
Rob.

[TedNelly]

when you attemted the repair where you on line ?? All repairs of Avast reed to be attempted while on line

Run the repaire process and reboot see if this may help you problem

Cheers

[MrBabis]

Update you windows in the first place is you did'nt that yet.

[RobM]

when you attemted the repair where you on line ?? All repairs of Avast reed to be attempted while on line

Run the repaire process and reboot see if this may help you problem

Cheers

Yes, I was on-line (permanent DSL connection), and I did reboot after the repair completed.  I will try repairing again when I get home.

Thanks for your suggestion.

Rob.

[RobM]

Update you windows in the first place is you did'nt that yet.

As stated in my original message, W98SE, fully patched already.

Thanks for your suggestion.

Rob.

[igor]

Do you use any Instant Messenger program? Try to stop the Instant Messaging provider in avast! resident protection - does it help?

[lakrsrool]

RobM posted:

... For some time I have been having seemingly random freezes of my system - by freezes I mean that evverything just stops - everything except the mouse that is, which I can still move around the screen, but I can't click on anything and the keyboard does nothing. ...

Are you using Internet Explorer (IE) as you browser and is this only happening when your browsing the Web ?

If so have you waited for awhile to see if it unlocks (free's up) ?

If so have you updated IE with the Cumulative Security updates available back in middle of June and August of this year as well as the WIN98 Security update also available in June ?

Considering that is all that I had done to my system in the last 3 months before installing Avast and that my WIN98 OS was getting random freezes in IE before I installed Avast I have wondered if it was one of these Microsoft Updates which has been causing the random freezing.  If I wait from anywhere from 30 seconds to maybe as long as 3 minutes it will usually free up.

Regardless I know that it is NOT Avast related since it was happening before I installed Avast on September 3.  At the time I was hoping that the cause was maybe my Norton AV and would go away when I unistall NAV, but it continues to happen now and then.  Since I do recollect that it had started around the time that I installed one of those MS Security Updates, it could be due to this possibly, especially considering MS is no longer supporting WIN98 other than Security Updates.

With this said it is not to say your problem is different, but I have to admit in my case I can't blame Avast... 

I do know that about 18 months ago one of the MS security updates cause all of my Web Mail accounts to work improperly which they denied was the case until an independent source proved MS to be the culprit and they eventually (quietly) fixed the problem on the next update.  It took me so long to find the problem which MS initially denied they had that I just haven't had the energy or time to investigate this latest problem as to whether it could be a MS Security update problem or not especially since in my case it does usually free up in awhile.  I've considered uninstalling the Security Updates, but haven't gotten around to it. 

[RobM]

Do you use any Instant Messenger program? Try to stop the Instant Messaging provider in avast! resident protection - does it help?

OK,  I've been through quite a long-winded process, and I am still not convinced this is avast related at all, but it is still where I am focusing my efforts.

Following previous suggestions in this thread I tried the 'repair' option from the add/remove programs again.  It ran in a very short time (1-2 seconds), and said it had completed successfully.  As far as I can tell it did not try to get out on the net.  Following this I was still having the freezes.

So I decide to go for a complete re-install.  I uninstalled Avast completely, first from add/remove programs, and then using the aswclear.exe program, as suggested in other threads here.  I had been using Norton prior to Avast!, and followed instruction in this forum and from the Norton site to remove the last reminants of Norton from the disk and registry.  I'm pretty sure there's nothing significant of that left any more.  I then downloaded the latest Avast installer and re-installed.   Things seemed good, but then I got a freeze again.

I also recognised the 'missing directory' being reported in the logs as belonging to MSN messenger, and by creating the 'Messanger Service Received Files' directory got rid of one of the previously reported messages in the log file.  I have since stopped both the IM (and P2P and webshield) providers - so I only have Standard shield and  Internet Mail providers running.  I no longer have any messages appearing in the log file, but am still getting hangs, although it seems they are less frequent.  I will turn up the logging level, and see if that reveals any new information.

Thanks for you help.

Regards,
Rob.

[RobM]

Are you using Internet Explorer (IE) as you browser and is this only happening when your browsing the Web ?

I have IE6 installed and patched with the latest updates, although I use FireFox as my main browser.  Freezes seem to happen most when I am using internet-related tools, although I have seen freezes when using ather applications (e..g text editors), but I cannot currently rule out other application that may have been open at the same time doing internet access.

If so have you waited for awhile to see if it unlocks (free's up) ?

I've waited more than 30 minutes on occasions, but certainly not every time!

If so have you updated IE with the Cumulative Security updates available back in middle of June and August of this year as well as the WIN98 Security update also available in June ?

Yes

... snippped text related to IE problems ...

I'm not yet blaming Avast!  I have had this machine running fine since I installed Avast!, and it is only relatively recently that I have started having problems.  It may well be down to something else that I have installed or updated.  At the moment I'm focusing on Avast. as it appears that it is the last thing accessing files when the freeze occurs, but it may well not be the culprit.

If anyone knows of a tool that I can use to record system activity, so that after the freeze I can re-start and find out what was happening I would be glad to try it to attempt to gather more scientific evidence that I currentlly have.

Thanks for your suggestions.

Regards,
Rob.

[snevouk]

RobM,

Sounds very similar to a problem I was having.

Approximately once or twice a day (under moderately heavy usage) I found that my computer froze and using Ctr-Alt-Del I found that Ashwebsv is "not responding".  It happened at various times with no obvious connection to any specific activity.

Clicking "End Task" (against the Ashwebsv task), then running Ashwebsv.exe to restart the provider again gave me another couple of hours operation before the problem would repeat.  I put a direct shortcut to Ashwebsv on the desktop as I need to restart it so often.

I am using Win 98 (First Edition) {I will upgrade some day} with Kerio 2.1.5 Personal Firewall.  Use mostly Firefox but occasionally IE as my browser.

These problems have been occuring ever since the introduction of Ashwebsv into Avast.  Had no problems like this before Ashwebsv.

I have reluctantly had to switch off the Ashwebsv provider (and reset my browsers to connect directly again rather than through the proxy) and my machine is now running trouble free again.

You could try switching of the provider for a few days (rememnering to make the change persist) and see if it gets rid of the problem.

[RobM]

A huge thank you to everyone who made suggestions that I have been trying over the last few days.  Things had become so bad that I couldn't use my machine for more than 10 minutes without the freeze happening.

I think I have it sorted (fingers crossed) - for reasons that I can't explain I thought it might be video card driver related, and have found later drivers for my video card chipset than the ones I was using from the card manufacturer.  A comple uninstall of the original drivers, and installing these new ones, and I've now been 5 hours without a freeze.  That's a major record compared to usual behaviour over the last week.  For the record its a Hercules 4000XT video card, now running with the latest Kyro drivers.

I still don't know which program was causing the problem - I've updated so many things trying to resolve the problem that it's impossible to know.  I think it very likely that this was never Avast! related, so apologies to the Avast! team if I've given that impression.

Once again, thanks to everyone on this very friendly forum.

Regards,
Rob.

[RJARRRPCGP]

Oh noes!! I hope not a lock-up crash bug again, just like with McAfee Virus Scan 6.0!!

Anyone Remember McAfee Virus Scan 6.0? (before 2002) That used to make Windows 98 lock up and I was forced to uninstall it in safe mode!!!

I remembered back before 2002, the incident of McAfee Virus Scan locking up Windows 98 when the desktop was loading. Anyone affected probably was forced to boot Windows 98 in safe mode!!!