Author Topic: Unable to start Mail Shield on XP  (Read 17324 times)

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Duster6524

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Re: Unable to start Mail Shield on XP
« Reply #15 on: March 08, 2012, 04:41:49 AM »
 ???

Online CraigB

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Re: Unable to start Mail Shield on XP
« Reply #16 on: March 08, 2012, 07:23:02 AM »
The only thing i can see that you shouldn't be doing is installing in safe mode, uninstalling the normal way first then run the removal tool in safe mode to delet leftovers then reboot back into normal mode and install avast.
Make sure to run the removal tool for all versions of avast you have used in the past.

Duster6524

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Re: Unable to start Mail Shield on XP
« Reply #17 on: March 08, 2012, 06:22:17 PM »
The only thing i can see that you shouldn't be doing is installing in safe mode, uninstalling the normal way first then run the removal tool in safe mode to delet leftovers then reboot back into normal mode and install avast.
Make sure to run the removal tool for all versions of avast you have used in the past.

Since you said to not install in safemode I've used my normal account with admin priv. to install. I just tried again (uninstall, boot to safemode, cleaner, boot to normal, ran 2 reg cleaners, searched for remenants, boot to normal, install Avast), the only thing I haven't done yet is to reboot to activate the sandbox. I'll do that and report back.

Duster

Duster6524

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Re: Unable to start Mail Shield on XP
« Reply #18 on: March 08, 2012, 06:45:43 PM »
Prior to  rebooting to activate the sandbox feature all shields on and appear to work, after the reboot the same as before, mail shield off and won't start and web/network shields on but not scanning. Not sure if it means anything or not but I've noticed that when I click to start the shield it says I'm not connected to my account for a couple of seconds then reconnects?

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Duster

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Re: Unable to start Mail Shield on XP
« Reply #19 on: March 08, 2012, 06:58:18 PM »
Well im out of ideas ??? do you have all current windows updates installed?

Duster6524

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Re: Unable to start Mail Shield on XP
« Reply #20 on: March 08, 2012, 07:54:55 PM »
Well im out of ideas ??? do you have all current windows updates installed?

Yep. Just checked and the only things were optionals... root cert and legacy compat......installed them but neither should have anything to do with this.
Thank you very much for you help!!  :)

Will somebody else pick this up or is there something I should do to attract further help? Vlk......maybe? Devs.....maybe?

Duster

p.s. any of the 300+ that have viewed this thread have XP and this or similar problems, please speak up! We might be able to get this worked out.

Duster6524

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Re: Unable to start Mail Shield on XP
« Reply #21 on: March 09, 2012, 08:54:20 AM »
Question for craigb, yokenny, or anybody else.....

After install, is it normal that sandbox needs a reboot to turn on? I'm just spitballin' here, try to figure this out. Is it Avast or my system? ???

Thanks
Duster

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Re: Unable to start Mail Shield on XP
« Reply #22 on: March 09, 2012, 12:03:14 PM »
Question for craigb, yokenny, or anybody else.....

After install, is it normal that sandbox needs a reboot to turn on? I'm just spitballin' here, try to figure this out. Is it Avast or my system? ???

Thanks
Duster
Yes you need to reboot to enable the virtualisation process for the sandbox.

Duster6524

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Re: Unable to start Mail Shield on XP
« Reply #23 on: March 09, 2012, 06:58:36 PM »
I was just browsing the forum and found the following post....http://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=95314.0

I checked my system and found the files here (see attachment). These are not present after cleanup/before reinstall. Are they supposed to be there after a clean install or did Avast do as in the referenced post? If not, then that is probably my problem, yes?

Duster

MAG

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Re: Unable to start Mail Shield on XP
« Reply #24 on: March 09, 2012, 07:10:13 PM »
My problems were all on a windows 7 system - I don't know which version of the driver would be correct for XP I'm afraid.

Do you have both aswRdr.sys and aswRdr2.sys present under C/windows/system32/drivers? That was the configuration I had when I had problems with web shield and mail shield not running (or rather not scanning - they were both shown as running). I had no problem with network shield.

I also had no problems after a fresh install - only after changing individual components.
« Last Edit: March 09, 2012, 07:25:10 PM by mag »

Duster6524

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Re: Unable to start Mail Shield on XP
« Reply #25 on: March 09, 2012, 07:36:57 PM »
Hi mag!

I seen that you run win7 but the problem is similar to mine (I'm running XP sp3). I'm grasping at straws here trying to fix this!  :o
It's been a very frustrating 6 days trying to figure this out!

My thought was that the aswrdr.sys file was 'renamed' in Avast7 and I'm supposed to make sure it's gone before installing the new version. Supposedly if aswrdr.sys is there before install it might cause the web shield to not work. And if Avast reinstalled it and wasn't supposed to maybe that is my problem.

Do you have both aswRdr.sys and aswRdr2.sys present under C/windows/system32/drivers? That was the configuration I had when I had problems with web shield and mail shield not running (or rather not scanning - they were both shown as running). I had no problem with network shield.
No just aswrdr.sys

Duster

MAG

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Re: Unable to start Mail Shield on XP
« Reply #26 on: March 09, 2012, 07:59:15 PM »
I don't know, but I suspect that the problem I described only affects windows 7.

Have a look through this thread (I suspect you probably already have - certainly craigb was aware of it).
http://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=94504.msg754358#msg754358
« Last Edit: March 09, 2012, 08:00:51 PM by mag »

Duster6524

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Re: Unable to start Mail Shield on XP
« Reply #27 on: March 09, 2012, 09:11:17 PM »
I don't know, but I suspect that the problem I described only affects windows 7.

Yup, I was just grasping at straws!  ;)

Have a look through this thread (I suspect you probably already have - certainly craigb was aware of it).
http://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=94504.msg754358#msg754358

Yup, been there, done that. I did re-read it and follow links and checked something on my system. I looked in device manager (hidden devices) and found problem with aswrdr (see attached).
Does this point me in the right direction for a fix? craigb?

Duster

MAG

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Re: Unable to start Mail Shield on XP
« Reply #28 on: March 09, 2012, 10:03:09 PM »
It's got to be interesting.

Wonder how you could reinstall the driver?

Possibly by removing the webshield, mailshield and network shield components through add/remove programs/avast/change and then after rebooting reinstalling them in the same way?

(though I can't really see why that would be any different to reinstalling avast).

Have you always reinstalled using the same avast download? If so I wonder if it is possible that that was a corrupt download in this respect?

Duster6524

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Re: Unable to start Mail Shield on XP
« Reply #29 on: March 09, 2012, 10:58:38 PM »
It's got to be interesting.

Wonder how you could reinstall the driver?

Possibly by removing the webshield, mailshield and network shield components through add/remove programs/avast/change and then after rebooting reinstalling them in the same way?

(though I can't really see why that would be any different to reinstalling avast).

Well, it's worth a try, although at this point it must be something with my system that is causing this because I've not found any other posts from users with XP and a similar problem. I've got several friends and family members whom I've recommend to use Avast and I've gotta check them out to see if they have the problem also. All using XP but with less computer knowledge than me (and I'm no expert!  :)) That is why I'm trying so hard to figure this out before dealing with their systems. I can only hope that theirs are ok or I find a solution so I'll know what to do.

Quote
Have you always reinstalled using the same avast download? If so I wonder if it is possible that that was a corrupt download in this respect?

No. Started with update from 6 to 7. Then clean full reinstalls of each version of 7 offered from Avast, even the R2 beta. All are doing the same.

Duster