XP pro unbootable after Avast automatic restart

[Sylvania]

Running Avast 4 Home on XP Pro.

Avast updated itself recently and presented the "Windows needs to be restarted" dialog - I clicked the Restart Now button. Windows restarted but when the desktop appeared Windows hung indefinitely (no taskbar, no systray, etc.).
I searched this forum and the Web and tried all suggestions I could find - nothing helped and I finally tried a system restore using the XP setup disk. The restore process complained that the inetcomm.dll was corrupted or missing (I can't get at the files to verify this).
Next I attempted a repair install, which seemed to work, but on the first boot after that, I got a blue screen stop error that said there was a page fault in a nonpaged area, and the problem was in Aamker4.sys.
I've searched the Web, Microsoft, and any forums I can find (including this one), but can't find any references to this file, though I've noticed that it seems Avast uses the Aa* naming convention for some of its files.

The machine was running just fine before this Avast update and restart.
If I boot from the XP setup cd I get the stop error, and on a normal boot Windows just hangs at the desktop (no taskbar, etc.).

I'd greatly appreciate any ideas on how to fix this or at least get at file data - I have mission-critical files on that box and I need them right away. Am willing to rebuild/reformat the machine if I can only get at my files!   

Thanks in advance!

-Sylvania

[Lisandro]

Sylvania, do you have any other security program in this computer, specially ProcessGuard, PrevX or any other low level monitoring application?
Can you boot in Safe Mode and uninstall avast from there?

[Sylvania]

Thanks for responding, Tech!

No, no other security programs are installed. Several months ago I reformatted the drive and performed a clean install of XP, and I now use that machine primarily as a file server. There aren't many apps installed at all, just pretty much all of my files (I use a wireless network to access them).

I'd been able to boot into Safe Mode before trying the repair XP install, but ever since it's been ignoring the function keys on boot (it doesn't even give me the boot menu).

I'll try that again though, and try to uninstall Avast.

Thanks again!

[Sylvania]

Nope - can't get a boot menu, and can't get at any shutdown options either.
I have an older box lying around, and I'm going to try pulling this hard drive and installing it as a secondary on that box so that I can look at the files.
Do you know if Aamker4.sys is an Avast file? I'm also running Avast on this machine (the one I'm accessing this forum with), and really like it, but now I'm worried about updates.
Once I can access the files on the corrupted drive, is there something I can look for to verify that the update caused this problem?
Thanks again!
-Sylvania

[Lisandro]

Do you know if Aamker4.sys is an Avast file?

Yes it is.

Once I can access the files on the corrupted drive, is there something I can look for to verify that the update caused this problem?

In fact, I'm looking not only for access but to solve the whole problem 
Let's see what we get...

I'd been able to boot into Safe Mode before trying the repair XP install, but ever since it's been ignoring the function keys on boot (it doesn't even give me the boot menu).

Just let me know if you can, with the other HDD installed, have access (read/write) on the first one.
We can change boot.ini file and we can add a boot option for Safe Mode.

[Sylvania]

Cool.

I won't be able to get into box disassembly until later today, but I'll let you know as soon as I have access to that drive.

I appreciate your quick responses - it's so nice to get such fast responses to problems!   

[Lisandro]

I appreciate your quick responses - it's so nice to get such fast responses to problems!   

Enjoy avast speed 

[Sylvania]

I have the affected hard drive running as a slave on an older box now, and can access the files via Explorer.

I verified that inetcomm.dll is there (though I don't know how to check whether it's corrupted); not sure what to do next.

Let me know what you would like me to try. 

-Sylvania

[Lisandro]

Let me know what you would like me to try. 

Let's try to boot from that HDD using a boot.ini file.

1. Access the old HDD and rename C:\boot.ini to C:\boot.old
2. Open the C:\boot.old in Notepad and save it as C:\boot.ini
3. Add the line:

multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Safe Mode" /fastdetect /safeboot:minimal /sos /bootlog

and your boot.ini file will be almost like this:

[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional Safe Mode" /fastdetect /safeboot:minimal /sos /bootlog

Change the HDD back to master and boot from it choosing the second option.
If it fails, copy the error message
If it works, uninstall avast from there and let's try to manage the drive that, after removing avast, you should have access...