Author Topic: Avast 5 won't scan memory  (Read 13146 times)

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taffy44

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Avast 5 won't scan memory
« on: January 26, 2010, 02:27:22 PM »
I thought that everything was working fine with Avast 5, until I tried to do a 'Full system scan'.
I had performed a 'quick scan' without any problems, but when I came to do a full scan Avast froze after about 1 minute, having checked only 77,500 files and 12.06GB of data. The icon in the system tray had a red x on it and I could not do anything with the program. The only way out was to manually shut down my computer.
I tried a full system scan again and it stopped at exactly the same place again and once again I had to manually shut down my computer.
By a process of elimination, by using the 'create custom scan' feature and scanning each individual area of a Full system scan (All harddisks, Rootkits, Autostart programs and memory) I have found out that Avast 5 will not (or cannot) scan the memory on my computer. When I set a custom scan to scan memory only, the timer starts ticking away, zero files are being scanned and then Avast freezes and a red x is seen in the system tray icon. I am able to do a 'full scan' without scanning memory by using custom scan and everything works ok.
I realise that this is a trivial problem compared to what other users are having to put up with, but can anyone offer an explanation as to what is wrong?
I installed Avast 5 by first uninstalling Avast 4.8 with 'Add or remove programs' in Safe Mode and also used the Avast uninstall utility before performing a clean install of Avast 5. I have also tried doing a 'repair' but to no avail. I am running Windows 7 64-bit, if that helps.
« Last Edit: January 26, 2010, 03:12:46 PM by taffy44 »

bobo1

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Re: Avast 5 won't scan memory
« Reply #1 on: January 26, 2010, 02:44:14 PM »
Did you have any other antivirus on the computer before putting on Avast 5?

taffy44

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Re: Avast 5 won't scan memory
« Reply #2 on: January 26, 2010, 02:46:34 PM »
Only Avast 4.8, and I did a clean uninstall of that version before installing Avast 5.

bobo1

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Re: Avast 5 won't scan memory
« Reply #3 on: January 26, 2010, 02:49:43 PM »
Having oceans of trouble with avast 5. Reverting back to Avast 4.8 as i am writing this message. As this was a good antivirus and gave me no trouble!

taffy44

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Re: Avast 5 won't scan memory
« Reply #4 on: January 26, 2010, 02:55:26 PM »
Apart from the problem of not scanning memory, I am having no other problems with Avast 5 so far (touch wood). So, I think I will persevere with this version for now and see how it goes  ;)

Offline igor

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Re: Avast 5 won't scan memory
« Reply #5 on: January 26, 2010, 03:27:13 PM »
What area exactly did you put into the custom scan? "Memory" or "Auto-start programs"?
Actually, the Full system scan uses a slightly different internal area - you can get it if you type QuickStartupMem into the "Areas to scan" box.

So, I assume the avast! service crashes when you start such a scan - i.e. the AvastSvc.exe process disappears. Do you have any unpXXXXXX files in
C:\ProgramData\ALWIL Software\Avast5\Log
folder? They could tell us what happened (if the corresponding dump was created during the crash).
Thanks.

taffy44

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Re: Avast 5 won't scan memory
« Reply #6 on: January 26, 2010, 03:46:06 PM »
What area exactly did you put into the custom scan? "Memory" or "Auto-start programs"?

Both (individually). It was able to scan 'Auto-start programs' but would not scan 'Memory' without crashing.

Do you have any unpXXXXXX files in
C:\ProgramData\ALWIL Software\Avast5\Log
folder? They could tell us what happened (if the corresponding dump was created during the crash).
Thanks.


Yes, I have 2...

unp78770045.tmp.mdmp
unp157615041.tmp.mdmp

Offline igor

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Re: Avast 5 won't scan memory
« Reply #7 on: January 26, 2010, 03:49:00 PM »
Can you please upload them to
Code: [Select]
ftp://ftp.avast.com/incomingThanks.

taffy44

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Re: Avast 5 won't scan memory
« Reply #8 on: January 26, 2010, 04:04:32 PM »
Can you please upload them to
Code: [Select]
ftp://ftp.avast.com/incomingThanks.


How do I do that, exactly  ???

All I see, when I enter the link into my browser address bar is a website with a box with the address in it and the words "Name, size, date modified" inside it. That's all, nothing else. How do I upload the files to this page??

spg SCOTT

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Re: Avast 5 won't scan memory
« Reply #9 on: January 26, 2010, 04:22:48 PM »
Hi taffy44,

As far as I'm aware, you simply have to open the link, and drop the file in the window of the browser (it may have to be Internet Explorer IIRC)

I think you(we) have write only access, so you wont be able to see that the file is there, you will probably need confirmation that it is there...

On a side note, this could do with updating to show how to do it : http://support.avast.com/index.php?_m=knowledgebase&_a=viewarticle&kbarticleid=18

-Scott-

Offline igor

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Re: Avast 5 won't scan memory
« Reply #10 on: January 27, 2010, 09:51:12 AM »
I'm afraid those 2 dumps correspond to crashes of avast! UI, not avast! service (which means the dumps were probably not created when the service crashed).
If there anything related in Windows Event Log?

It's probably doesn't matter - but how much RAM do you have in your machine?

taffy44

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Re: Avast 5 won't scan memory
« Reply #11 on: January 27, 2010, 12:18:22 PM »
If there anything related in Windows Event Log?

All I could find in the Windows Event log is the following...

Under the heading 'System' it says...

"The Avast! Antivirus service terminated unexpectedly."

Under the heading 'Application' it says...

Application error :-
Faulting application name: AvastUI.exe, version:5.0.377.0, time stamp: 0x4b559ce0
Faulting module name: ntdll.dll, version: 6.1.7600.16385, time stamp: 0x4a5bdb3b
Exception code: 0xc0000005
Fault offset: 0x000843b7
Faulting process id: 0x978
Faulting application start time: 0x01ca9e780745fda0
Faulting application path: C:\Program Files\Alwil Software\Avast5\AvastUI.exe
Faulting module path: C:\Windows\SysWOW64\ntdll.dll
Report Id: 2382cb40-0a72-11df-8cbe-001731f64e90

It's probably doesn't matter - but how much RAM do you have in your machine?

3GB of RAM. (OS is Windows 7 64-bit, processor is AMD Athlon 64 X2 5,200+)

P.S I tried typing 'QuickStartupMem' into the "Areas to scan" box of a custom scan and when I hit the 'start' button Avast crashed (red x on system tray icon).

Thanks for continuing to help me with this problem, it is much appreciated

Offline igor

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Re: Avast 5 won't scan memory
« Reply #12 on: January 27, 2010, 12:27:08 PM »
OK, please do the following:
- open the Task Manager
- watch the processes AvastUi.exe and AvastSvc.exe
- start the scan (e.g. with the 'QuickStartupMem' area)

Am I right that AvastSvc.exe disappears?

taffy44

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Re: Avast 5 won't scan memory
« Reply #13 on: January 27, 2010, 12:36:35 PM »
Yes, you are right. AvastSvc.exe immediately disappears

Offline igor

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Re: Avast 5 won't scan memory
« Reply #14 on: January 28, 2010, 01:12:17 AM »
But no record about that disappearance (i.e. crash) in Windows Event log?