Author Topic: PC sometimes hanging after 4.7.1029 update  (Read 12602 times)

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t_r_davies

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PC sometimes hanging after 4.7.1029 update
« on: August 05, 2007, 11:50:30 PM »
Hi all,

After updating to 4.7.1029 Home a couple of weeks ago, my PC has started hanging at odd times.  Mostly it's happened while I've been downloading files at the command line using either wget or cURL but earlier today it hung while I was copying a load of files between drives and once it happened while downloading a ~30M file in Firefox.  The avast update is the only driver or kernel-related thing that's changed recently, which leads me to suspect that's the cause.  The hangs have been total, requiring a hard reboot; I've been able to use Ctrl-Alt-Del once each time but even forcing logoff or reboot from there hasn't worked.

I've tried disabling avast completely and downloading the same files again but it hasn't hung once.  Of course that doesn't mean avast IS the cause, it may be that my machine has decided to play nicely for a while just out of spite!  I can't find any posts here about major problems with the new update, but has anybody else experienced any problems like this at all?  All advice gratefully received :)

Running: Win2K SP4, wget 1.10.1, cURL 7.16.4, Firefox 2.0.0.5

Edit: added information about hangs requiring hard reboot.
« Last Edit: August 05, 2007, 11:54:27 PM by t_r_davies »

Rafel

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Re: PC sometimes hanging after 4.7.1029 update
« Reply #1 on: August 06, 2007, 12:06:32 AM »
I have the same problem since update.

Offline oldman

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Re: PC sometimes hanging after 4.7.1029 update
« Reply #2 on: August 06, 2007, 01:04:34 AM »
How did you update? A complete install or just the update?

sometimes an update doesn't go quite right and a reinstall of the new version is required.

t_r_davies

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Re: PC sometimes hanging after 4.7.1029 update
« Reply #3 on: August 06, 2007, 02:32:31 AM »
How did you update? A complete install or just the update?

I updated from 4.7.1001, but have never had any problems with updates in the past, and I've done it at least 7 or 8 times before.  I'd rather not have to remove it completely and reinstall from scratch but if that's necessary then so be it, hopefully someone here will be able to help first though!

Offline DavidR

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Re: PC sometimes hanging after 4.7.1029 update
« Reply #4 on: August 06, 2007, 02:51:35 AM »
The regular auto update or manual program update for the most part has no problem, I have never had to do a clean install because of a failed update. Occasionally you left with little option but to reinstall and in this case I feel this would be easier than trying to find out why sour system is hanging. If nothing else, a clean install should eliminate avast from the equation if it continues after a clean install.

However, a clean install really isn't a problem, if you have made any changes in the avast4.ini you can always save that file to another folder and when you are done reinstalling copy it back replacing the default one.

I really can't see why you wouldn't want to install from scratch it really isn't that much hassle ?

Download the latest version of avast http://www.avast.com/eng/programs.html and save it to your HDD, somewhere you can find it again. Use that when you reinstall.

Download the avast! Uninstall Utility, find it here and save it to your HDD.

Now uninstall, reboot, run the uninstall utility, reboot install the latest version, reboot.
« Last Edit: August 06, 2007, 02:53:59 AM by DavidR »
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Offline Dwarden

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Re: PC sometimes hanging after 4.7.1029 update
« Reply #5 on: August 06, 2007, 03:20:59 AM »
i adding my note here as i got some hangs while dling big files too ...
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Offline Vlk

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Re: PC sometimes hanging after 4.7.1029 update
« Reply #6 on: August 06, 2007, 11:04:10 AM »
Strange indeed... And it's a complete system freeze?
In this case, it would be useful to create a memory dump when the problem is simulated.
For instructions, please see here: http://support.avast.com/index.php?_m=knowledgebase&_a=viewarticle&kbarticleid=71

Thanks
Vlk
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t_r_davies

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Re: PC sometimes hanging after 4.7.1029 update
« Reply #7 on: August 06, 2007, 03:47:23 PM »
Strange indeed... And it's a complete system freeze?
In this case, it would be useful to create a memory dump when the problem is simulated.
For instructions, please see here: http://support.avast.com/index.php?_m=knowledgebase&_a=viewarticle&kbarticleid=71

Hi Vlk,

Yes, it's a complete system freeze, something I've never seen happen before on this machine.  I'm going to do a complete uninstall and reinstall from scratch as recommended above and then see if it happens again, I'll use your tip for generating a memory dump.

@DavidR: thanks for the link to aswclear, I'll do as you suggest and see if that solves the problem.

Offline DavidR

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Re: PC sometimes hanging after 4.7.1029 update
« Reply #8 on: August 06, 2007, 05:09:52 PM »
Your welcome, befor you do it you might want to run that memory dump for Vlk it may provide some insight as to why it might have happened.
Windows 10 Home 64bit/ Acer Aspire F15/ Intel Core i5 7200U 2.5GHz, 8GB DDR4 memory, 256GB SSD, 1TB HDD/ avast! free 24.2.6105 (build 24.2.8918.824) UI 1.0.799/ Firefox, uBlock Origin, uMatrix/ MailWasher Pro/ Avast! Mobile Security

t_r_davies

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Re: PC sometimes hanging after 4.7.1029 update
« Reply #9 on: August 06, 2007, 05:17:34 PM »
Your welcome, befor you do it you might want to run that memory dump for Vlk it may provide some insight as to why it might have happened.

Yes, I'll try that first, but of course now I bet any sum you care to name that the damn machine will work fine just when I WANT it to hang! :)

Offline DavidR

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Re: PC sometimes hanging after 4.7.1029 update
« Reply #10 on: August 06, 2007, 05:32:17 PM »
Sod's Law at work ;D
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t_r_davies

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Re: PC sometimes hanging after 4.7.1029 update
« Reply #11 on: August 06, 2007, 07:17:16 PM »
Sod's Law at work ;D

Well I've defeated Sod, unbelievably, it hung first time!

Vlk, I've uploaded the memory dump as requested to the incoming FTP directory, the filename is dump-t_r_davies.zip.

:)

Offline Vlk

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Re: PC sometimes hanging after 4.7.1029 update
« Reply #12 on: August 06, 2007, 09:31:28 PM »
Thanks for the dump. Got it OK.

Well, ...I don't wanna blame anyone, but the dump clearly shows that the machine is stuck in the Comodo driver (cmdmon.sys).
Avast can really hardly be responsible for this, the Comodo driver is simply blocking a number of processes in the system (Explorer.exe including)...

Cheers
Vlk
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t_r_davies

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Re: PC sometimes hanging after 4.7.1029 update
« Reply #13 on: August 06, 2007, 09:48:48 PM »
Thanks for the dump. Got it OK.

Well, ...I don't wanna blame anyone, but the dump clearly shows that the machine is stuck in the Comodo driver (cmdmon.sys).
Avast can really hardly be responsible for this, the Comodo driver is simply blocking a number of processes in the system (Explorer.exe including)...

Cheers
Vlk

Ah, so it's Comodo Firewall causing the problem, that's new, I haven't had a single problem with that since installing it last year; it's obviously just a weird coincidence that it's started hanging after I updated avast.  I'll look around on the Comodo forums to see if anyone's experienced anything similar, probably end up doing a clean install of that as well as avast to see if the problem clears.  I don't like the fact that it's also blocking Explorer, maybe a subtle locking problem or race condition somewhere...

Sorry to waste your time looking at this, but the timing made it genuinely appear to be an avast problem.  Keep up the excellent work (and support!) :)

Offline Vlk

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Re: PC sometimes hanging after 4.7.1029 update
« Reply #14 on: August 06, 2007, 10:00:13 PM »
To start, I'd suggest upgrading Comodo to its latest version.
The driver you're using has a link date of  Jan 28, 2007, while the latest version of CPF (2.4.18.184) was released on February 15th.

I suppose the version your using is 2.4.17.183 (?)

Cheers
Vlk
If at first you don't succeed, then skydiving's not for you.