Avast prevents Base filtering engine from starting

[jepraatpoep]

Hi,

I just noticed a rather big problem with avast on windows 7 pro 64 bit.  It causes the Base filtering engine to hang while starting up. Thereby making everything network related very slow and also preventing the windows firewall from starting.

Avast version: 7.0.1426

Workaround is to set avast to start after all other services from the troubleshooting menu.

[RejZoR]

You also having this problem? I also got this few times on my laptop but i couldn't isolate the issue in any way with regard to avast!.
However in my case it happened when i installed SSD in my laptop and disabled pagefile completelly. When pagefile is disabled i often get this problem. However if i use just the minimal value for error reporting (200MB pagefile), i still haven't got it with 200MB pagefile.

Maybe someone from avast! team will have an idea how to doublecheck and verify this. But now that you reported the same symptoms i'm curious on what's going on as well. Maybe we'll find out something.

[jepraatpoep]

For what it's worth, I also have a ssd drive.

[wonderwrench]

I have seen similar or same myself and so have others. See this thread http://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=95521.msg761853#msg761853

Bill

[RejZoR]

For what it's worth, I also have a ssd drive.

Which SSD do you have (i'm using Crucial M4 128GB with 0309 firmware)? What is your state of the pagefile? Do you have it disabled? Either way, 1 person can be a fluke, 3 with the same issue seem like a problem.
Probably not a wide one but still a problem non the less.

@wonderwrench
Do you happen to use SSD as well and which one is it if you do?

[jepraatpoep]

I'm using an OCZ vertex 2 with the latest fimware (1.35 i believe). I reinstalled the system about 3 weeks ago and have not altered the page file settings.

It seems the problem is also being reported here:
http://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=95521.0

[RejZoR]

Yes, seems like a similar thing. Can anyone from avast! team give us a suggestion on how to find out the cause of it? Doing the usual event log checking didn't really help for me much apart from seeing that Base filtering thingie failed to initialize and brought down the rest of services which rely on it.

[pk]

Yes, avast! is using Base Filtering Engine (BFE). I assume, BFE will never start, is that correct? Or does it start after several minutes?

Please do these steps to generate dump file (it's the only way how to find out why BFE is in waiting state):
- download & run: http://public.avast.com/~kurtin/osrbang_x64.exe
- press the button

Compress & upload \Windows\memory.dmp file.
Thanks.

[jepraatpoep]

The BFE never starts, or at least not within 30 minutes or so, I've never waited longer before restarting because accessing the internet is painfully slow. Hopefully I can get around to uploading a memory dump tonight.

[RejZoR]

pk, i assume i have to invoke this problem and then run your app right? So it captures that moment?

[pk]

pk, i assume i have to invoke this problem and then run your app right? So it captures that moment?

Yes, it the crash button must be pressed when BFE is hanging (so I can see why from the dump). Note, the downloaded app is fox x64 OS (if you need x86 version, just remove _x64 from the download link).

[RejZoR]

Got it. Since i know disabling pagefile helps to manifest this issue more often (in my case) i think i'll get it rather quickly.

EDIT:
Though on a second thought, if i disable pagefile, it won't capture the dump. Hm...

[RejZoR]

As expected, there is just 1 problem in my case. If i disable pagefile, i can reproduce the scenario in liek 5 minutes. With pagefile enabled, i just can't.
However, when pagefile is disabled, Windows doesn't create any memory dump. Which in my case makes memory dump capture impossible.
Any other idea how should i capture memory dump without crashing the system? Coz only that way i'll be able to provide it to you straight away.

[pk]

However, when pagefile is disabled, Windows doesn't create any memory dump. Which in my case makes memory dump capture impossible.
Any other idea how should i capture memory dump without crashing the system?

If you don't use a pagefile, then set up a dedicated dump (http://goo.gl/ErdVP), set "DedicatedDumpFile"="c:\windows\memory_dedicated.dmp".

[wonderwrench]

For what it's worth, I also have a ssd drive.

Which SSD do you have (i'm using Crucial M4 128GB with 0309 firmware)? What is your state of the pagefile? Do you have it disabled? Either way, 1 person can be a fluke, 3 with the same issue seem like a problem.
Probably not a wide one but still a problem non the less.

@wonderwrench
Do you happen to use SSD as well and which one is it if you do?

One of the two systems I had the problems on is the rig in my sig so yes. The other system did not have an SSD. The rig in my sig only had the problem on about 1 out of every 10 times on boot. I imaged back about 30 days uninstalled AIS 6 did some serious cleaning and installed AIS 7.0.1426 and have not had the problem since. Before imaging back I could work around the problem by loading Avast services after all other services. Must be a timing thing. BTW I have the page file set to 256 megs on C and have an additional page file on a magnetic drive. On the other PC BFE failed to load every time. I got around the problem with some registry mods though I can't remember exactly what they were. Seems to remember it was permissions related?

Bill