Problems with Avast update

[Kman]

Nick

Are you having any problems with the latest Avast update? I did one this evening on my 64 bit CPU with windows XP. It called for a restart, so I just did the restart and went to bed. When I got up a few hours later, expecting to enter my password, there was a warning on the screen. Something to the effect of "running this program can be dangerous" with a file extension to the avast program, and asked if I still wanted to run it. I clicked "No", and then the screen went black.

Now it starts windows, but the screen goes black every time after several attempts. Tried safe mode, but it won't go into that for some reason.

I read a little online (with a different computer) about similar problems when doing the latest update with Avast on XP, seems like I'm not the only one with this problem.

Have you experienced anything like this?

Kevin

 

[ws6owner]

I personally haven't had any issues with it, but I'm on x64 Windows 8.

 

[Nick]

Windows XP 64-bit? That would be the Professional version of WinXP so one would have to be sure to get the 64-bit version of an antivirus program.

What kind of computer? What OS ?

But then a Black Screen at bootup would frequently mean a hardware issue such as a bad HDD or that the boot files for Windows are missing. If one can't even get into Safe Mode it may not be possible to do a System Restore to a previous date. Has the computer been tried with a VGA or DVI monitor instead of the HDMI?

 

[Kman]

When you say "OS", I thought you were referring to Windows. You'll have to explain that to those of us that are technologically challenged.

It's a cyberpower gamer computer.

I haven't tried it with a standard monitor. Since the tv works on everything else I have hooked up to it (XBox, DVD player) and it does at least show that it's trying to start Windows, I don't think it has anything to do with that.

I just thought it would be unusual that it worked fine until I updated Avast, then quit working after that. Hard to believe it could be anything but the update that caused the problem.

Here is just one link to some discussion of others having the same problem:

http://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=144233.0

 

[Nick]

OS [ operating System . Xp , Win 7 , Win 8 .]
I see in your post you are running a 64 bit Xp machine .

Does your screen stay open long enough to do a system restore to a earlier date before you did the update ?

How are you trying to get into safe mode ?

Keep pressing the F8 key at boot up till you hear it beep .

Those other posters don't mention that they can't get into safe mode,

So your problem is a little different .

Humor me ,and try it with a monitor . Your X box , [etc]. may be causing problems from the update . You may at least get into safe mode . then we can go from there .

 

[Kman]

Thanks, I'll try that this afternoon when I get up, and I'll let you know how it goes.

 

[Nick]

Good , Once we can get into safe mode we should resolve the problem.

Don't quite know why you can't get in there . It only loads the basic drivers .

It doesn't load the drivers for avast , or your firewall. That is why it is called safe mode .

I should be home after 3M.

Nick.

You just want safe mode now , not safe mode with Internet Collectivity.

 

[Kman]

I plugged in my old VGA monitor, and can't even get a signal from the CPU on it. It still works on HDMI on the TV, at least up to the point that it starts XP. Then the black screen again.

The old monitor is good, I plugged it into my laptop to check it.

 

[Nick]

The above is very unclear. What is "free essential" to start with?

Then if it was Avast update it sounds strange that Avast itself marked it as dangerous.

Let's see if we can take a look booting from an external source...

Using another working computer....

Download Farbar Recovery Scan Tool and save it to a flash drive. http://api.viglink.com/api/click?fo...00">Farbar Recovery Scan Tool</span></strong>
Download OTLPENet.exe to your Desktop
Ensure that you have a blank CD in the drive
Double click OTLPENet.exe and this will then open ImgBurn to burn the file to CD
Boot your BAD computer using the boot CD you just created.


Note : If you do not know how to set your computer to boot from CD follow the steps here http://api.viglink.com/api/click?fo...dows XP - Smartest Computing&txt=OTLPENet.exe

Your system should now display a Reatogo desktop.
Insert the flash drive with FRST on it
Open My Computer to locate the flash drive and run FRST
The tool will start to run.
When the tool opens click Yes to disclaimer.
Press Scan button.
It will make a log (FRST.txt) on the flash drive. Please copy and paste it to your reply.

 

[Kman]

Free essential, I'm assuming, is the bare bones essential antivirus program that you get for free.

I'll start working on this tonight or in the morning.

Thanks, Nick.

 

[Nick]

Free essential is from Microsoft. You can't run two antivirus programs at the same time . Causes conflicts . You can have two firewalls though.

 

[Kman]

Free essential is from Microsoft. You can't run two antivirus programs at the same time . Causes conflicts . You can have two firewalls though.

I learn something new every day.

 

[Nick]

 

[Nick]

How we making out Kman ?

 

[Floorist]

He's probably patrolling nights.

 

[Kman]

Sorry, Nick. It's been one heckuva week, and I haven't had time to get to it yet.

I'm off til Tuesday night, but we're also replacing about 600 sf of wood with 600 sf of tile. So I've been spending all my free time on that.

I think (hope) tonight after everyone else is in bed I'll have some time to work on the computer.

 

[Nick]

Not a problem Kman .

 

[Kman]

Okay, got the program on the flash drive, got the CD burned. To get to the BIOS utility to boot from disc, I had to hit the escape key. Changed the boot to CD/DVD, then put the CD in and restarted the computer. This is what comes on the screen:

"This computer is already in the process of being upgraded to Microsoft Windows. What do you want to do?

*To continue the current upgrade, press ENTER.

*To cancel the current upgrade and install new version of Microsoft Windows, press F10.

*To exit Setup with installing Microsoft Windows, press F3."

So I hit "Enter" and it does nothing. The disc drive ran for a few seconds then stopped, and now the screen hasn't changed for several minutes.

 

[Nick]

Have the cd in and boot , then hit escape in the beginning , then pick the cd from the boot menu and then

hit enter , you may have to do this a few times , Your mistake was rebooting and the default setting from the bios is in effect then , and not the boot menu from the escape key .

 

[Kman]

I'm sorry, Nick, I've tried every combination of the process I could think of. I re-burned the disc twice to make sure it was done correctly, and I set the boot sequence back and forth between the hard drive and the CD, but I can't get it to boot from the CD.

I'm pretty sure the disc is done correctly, but the computer either goes to Windows and the screen goes black, or it displays the screen I mentioned earlier.

Usually I can stumble my way through this stuff, but I'm just not computer-savvy enough to do this, I guess.