Latest update crashed my computer

[goldenkey]

Hello Safe surf thanks for the help I did follow all your instructions and at the end of the install process the program still locked up my computer and forced me to do a hard reset. I then booted into safe mode and rand the avast repair and rebooted back in to normal where the program seemed to be working. I then turned the internet back on and rebooted again and my computer locked up when I logged in to my sign on. At this point I will have to wait for Avast to release a patch to fix the issue sense no amount of work on my part will get this to work on my computer.

[vid]

Hi,

Recent update to avast crashed my fathers laptop running Vista.  The machine boots but the login screen never shows up.  The login screen background shows and the spinner mouse cursor is running with the "Please Wait" message which stays on forever.  He lives too far away for me to be there in person.  So, I have to debug/fix these problems over the phone and it is not easy.

I managed to get him to go to the safe mode with a hard reset and uninstall avast from within the safe mode.  This allowed him to reboot into normal mode and login to Vista normally.  I asked him to leave networking off on the laptop to be safe.

Once re-installing avast from within the normal mode, turning on the networking, and running the updates, he rebooted the machine only to have the same problem come back.   The machine hangs just before the login screen is shown with a "Please Wait" message and a spinner mouse cursor running forever.

So, he had to hard reset the machine to safe mode and uninstall avast yet again to make the laptop usable again.  But I am afraid to ask him to connect this machine to the network without any virus protection.

Anyone else have this same problem when using Vista premium 32-bit after upgrading avast on January 15, 2011?

I am going to try and use the aswClear program mentioned on this thread when I get home this evening.  If you had the same problem, did you mange to get it fixed by removing avast 4.8 and 5 using the aswClear program under safe mode?  I am simply trying to find out since it is a slow process to guide my father over the phone to do this.

I hope cleaning avast with aswClear under safe mode fixes the problem or a fixed version of avast gets released soon.

Thank you.

[gumby6131]

Same here.

Followed the steps....downloaded the removal tool, ran it, turned off all other security software except Windows Defender and Windows Firewall.

(You shouldn't have to totally expose your computer during an update should you?)

Anyway,  the only thing that saved me was a Clonezilla backup I did the night before.
System Restore failed.  System was totally hosed.

Been using Avast for some time and never had this happen before.

[redman]

I have to agree that there is something seriously wrong with the current version. Not only did it stall Windows (7 - 64-bit) starting up, but if I did manage to start my computer, the RAM load shot up to almost 100% during bootup and stayed that way for some time or until I used a memory recovery tool. I tried unistalling, reinstalling, using the avast cleanup tool, etc, but nothing worked. I then tried Windows Live Essentials and had no problems with that. I have now put AVG Internet Security (Trial) on my PC and it's working great (much lower RAM usage than even when avast was working properly, ie. instead of about 75%, it's dropped to 35%). When I upgraded the program to the latest build on another PC in my home network, that refused to boot at all (I can't remember how I got it working again, but fortunately I did). Even though I've recently purchased a two-year, three PC licence, I'm now very tempted not to put avast back on my own PC again as everything is running better now than it has for quite a while and certainly since the latest version came out.

[donasp]

I have the same problem...what a mess and what a waste of time. My computer and the computers of my four children away at university all totally destroyed after letting the latest program upgrade execute. My XP Pro came up with no task bar and it killed my carbonite backup system and it killed my remote host software, also made connecting to the internet impossible. I had to uninstall all of those and uninstall Avast. I was able to use Windows uninstall...but my children with Vista, XP multimedia, Vista ultimate, and Windows 7 totally locked up no keyboard control and not able to pick any menus. Those I helped them through safemode boot and uninstalls. I have about 6 hours on the phone and here at home invested in getting rid of this junk. Understandably I hesitate to re-install anything from Avast...what is going on and when will it be fixed.

[CTA513]

You can count me as another person having problems after this update.
My laptop with windows 7 is fine, but my desktop with windows vista is freezing up and giving me a black screen some times instead of loading up like is normally does.

[Lisandro]

You can count me as another person having problems after this update.
My laptop with windows 7 is fine, but my desktop with windows vista is freezing up and giving me a black screen some times instead of loading up like is normally does.

We will need more information to be able to help you:
- Which OS are you using? Is it up to date?
- What avast! version and VPS file (virus database) number?
- Do you use a firewall? Which one?
- Do you have any other antivirus installed in your system?  Did you have in the past?
- Any other security programs that could interfere?

[damsko]

Looks like i'm other guy that has issues with latest Avast! program update.

After update and reboot my system started failing, when clicking a shortcut to start something up i started getting messages that "... could not be started,... you might not have the needed permissions". When i then rebooted with a hard reset my computer no longer was able to start up, it hung on a black screen after the winXP welcome screen. To get my system going again i needed my backup tool Acronis to do a full restore to my latest system drive backup.

My system:

Windows XP Professional Version 2002 Service Pack 3
AMD ATHLON 64 x2 Dual Core 5600+ 2,81 GHz, 2,0GB RAM

It runs Avast! Free Antivirus 5.0.667 + defenitions 110117-1 without problem. Problem starts with latest Avast! Free Antivirus 5.0.889 program update.

Only security system running next to Avast on my computer is Online Armor 4.5.0.234 (as free version) with its Firewall + Webshield enabled and Program Gaurd + Keylogers disabled.

I'm no technical guy but new program version of Avast! overwrites something thats very essential with its update, perhaps you could look what new files it generates other then Avast! Free Antivirus 5.0.667.

Hope you guys can get it sorted, would realy miss Avast! when i could no longer run it. It always served me well!

[HA Nut]

Similar issues here for 2 PCs (major, major startup issues.) Both Vista 32-bit. Any news on if these startup issues are being specifically addressed for a new version very soon??

[pierre-joseph]

had the same with NEW win7/64 computer.
ended up by installing a 4.8 until issue is solved.

[Alexi99]

Crashed my systems every time I ran v 5.1.8xx.
I use XP Pro sp3. I used the uninstall utility, I tried repair, I eventually had to remove it in safe mode, manually removed all registry keys related to ALWIL and avast.
Rebooted, removed the alwil folder from program directory.
Dug out my old 5.1.677, (unplugged from internet) and installed.
Went to settings and turned off the auto update. Rebooted.
rechecked settings (were defaulted back to auto update, so I disabled again)
plugged back into the internet, updated the virus definitions.

This is a serious problem for Avast. Many of my collegues use avast and we are all having the same problem simce 5.1.8xx updates. I'm ready to go back to Avira.

[Bellina]

OMG I am distraught!  The latest updated crashed me too. I have the paid version of antivirus on Windows 7.  Did the update and now I get to the log in screen and it lets me log in but then it freezes.  The only way I can log in is in safe mode.  What's worse is this is on my roommates brand new laptop and he's livid. Needless to say I'm getting rid of Avast.

[Bellina]

Well I logged in safemode and uninstalled avast and thank god it works now.  avast this is a deal breaker.  to the store for me for a different product.

[mario21]

The same problem. With the most recent Avast! (free edition) my computer freezes during start up. My system is Windows XP SP2. Till now everything was OK.

[Lisandro]

More info: other software? firewall? old antivirus?
Did you try a clean installation (from scratch)?