Avast 2014 Free + Comodo Firewall 6 = Black screen at startup

Avast Free Antivirus / Premium Security
1

it happenes once in 1-2 months.
yes i know why i created a new thread, because it seems that although this problem was recently fixed with pfw, users including me report the same problem with comodo and avast, it started for me at august 2013.
i hope that someone from the avast team will see this as it doesnt happen only to me, and everyone says its avast fault.
it only happenes when avast emergency update try to install something at startup using runonce.exe, closing runonce.exe stop avast emergency update also and causes the desktop to start, instead of black screen
with a white cursor.

windows 7 64bit sp1
comodo firewall 6 (custom ruleset + everything is allowed)
avast free 2014

everything is updated, factory settings for both comodo and avast ar applied.
p.s i’ve seen more people having the same issue with avast and comodo and they also use windows 7 64bit sp1, maybe its a conflict.
oh and please dont lock this as the pfw issue has been fixed but it seems like comodo isn’t.

and some links ofcourse 8)
http://195.74.76.34/index.php?topic=143809.msg1053251#msg1053251
http://195.74.76.34/index.php?topic=143809.msg1054079#msg1054079
and more from google if u want i can search for them again…
i’ve seen at least 10-12 people reporting this.

2

Have you tried using CFW v5.12? I do and have had no issues.

http://www.filehippo.com/download_comodo/13662/
http://www.knightwithapc.com/2011/11/download-comodo-firewall/

3

same problem here, using comodo fw 5.12 :stuck_out_tongue:

it happened 2 or 3 times during last month…

Runonce problem…

4

How long did you wait for the startup? I usually go for a little walk or stretch myself a bit if it takes longer, but it has never failed to boot for me since the last two years at least.
Personally, I can’t remember having problems at startup with Avast and I’ve just switched from CF 5 to 6 on my W7SP1x64 laptop in the last couple of weeks.

I’d suggest the following:

  • be patient when it happens or get a SSD if you don’t have one
  • try clean install of both Avast and Comodo
  • check S.M.A.R.T with CrystalDiskInfo and post a screen shot showing every raw value meaning expanding the window
  • if it comes to the worst switch either AV or FW or try a complete clean install of Windows and everything

Also, listing your computer specs like

  • CPU
  • MB
  • RAM
  • GPU (especially with the GPU driver version)
  • PSU
  • HDD/SSD

might help in debugging the issue.

5

If you wait for a long time, the emergency update will eventually complete (or fail).

If you hit Ctrl-Alt-Del and then select Task Manager, you’ll see that the emergency updater is running.

I have been doing some research on this problem, here’s what I’ve found so far.

To better understand the situation, take a look at the log for Comodo Firewall Events.
Change the date range to “Entire Period” and set an application filter for “Avast\Setup”.
In particular, look at the “Action” column.
This will show if the firewall is tripping up on the Avast Emergency Update.
If the action is Ask or Block, then the firewall is blocking access, which makes the update take longer (and it should eventually timeout and fail).

(If the action is Allow, you have weak rules and maybe you don’t really need Comodo? :wink:

Since the emergency update generates a unique filename each time, there’s no way to create an Firewall Application rule.
(There is no way in Comodo to create a rule saying “allow any application in the specified directory”, and for security reasons you wouldn’t really want that.)

I am currently experimenting with a global outgoing rule for an IP address range.
I don’t know how well this will work, and even if it does, it looks like Avast uses at least several address range, so this may be slow discovery process.

Another approach, which I am also experimenting with, is to disable or change the Windows scheduled task that launches the Avast Emergency Updater. If you go to the Windows Task Scheduler, you’ll see the task for the updater. You can try changing this (for example, removing the “At log on of any user” trigger). I don’t know yet if Avast will notice and reset the task.

Avast’s settings for automatic/manual updates don’t seem to apply to the Emergency Updater, and I haven’t yet found anything in their control panel that allows this to be turned off. Presuming that the updater provides a valuable service, an alternative would be to run the updater only when the user is already signed on, and that would avoid the black screen. The updater will occasionally run while signed on (you’ll see this when you look at the task scheduler), it’s the “At log on of any user” trigger that can cause the problem.

Hope this helps…

6

The same again yesterday and this morning - extremely annoying. But more than blank screen at morning (when we hurry) annoying absolute ignorance on the part of developers - they don’t even want to say a word to let users know - is problem considered, or is it by design, or what?

And yes, I have SSD now, the only difference - blank screen appears much faster :wink:

7

What other security software do you now or ever had?
If uninstalled how was it removed?

I am running avast v2014 and CFW v5.12 with MBAM v2.0 beta 2.
I am having no conflicts at all. That is why I’m asking about other
security software. SpyBot S&D is one which create a conflict. There
are others.

8

I’m using only Avast AV and Comodo FW 5.12 for years. It is absolutely right behavior if Comodo stops execution of unknown executable and waits for user input. What is wrong - user can’t do anything since frozen Avast update prevents to load firewall interface, any interface, actually.

9

Have you excluded the Comodo folder in avast?

10

No, but I don’t see how it can help. Anyway I will try this (and also Task Scheduler) trick - will see. Thanks for advice.

UPD
Test failed - blank screen on first reboot. This time I saw logon screen for some seconds - due to disable Avast task in scheduler.

11

It’s a good idea to make mutual exclusions with certain software, mostly firewalls and anti-viruses.

You still haven’t answered one very important question…
What other security software do you have now or ever had?
If uninstalled how was it removed?

I’m thinking along the lines of possible conflicts.
Comodo Firewall and avast have a history of working well together.
Quite a number of forum members use both quite nicely.

12

“I’m using only Avast AV and Comodo FW 5.12 for years.”, - however I know how to get rid of garbage. I had no problems with this pair some years till last november, after that glitch gone, and yesterday started again.
BTW, history of Comodo and Avast marriage indeed is rather complicated - I remember it well since I was active tester from very beginning of Comodo firewall.

13

Which version of avast?
The latest is v2014.9.0.2013

Are using anything like SpyBot S&D?
Again, what other security software do you have now or ever had?
If uninstalled how was it removed.

14

I know, my English is rather poor, but man, you have to learn read!
Only CFP and Avast. Nothing except CFP and Avast. Since W7x64 sp1 installed on qc i5 8gb ram.

Which version of avast? - means I could install old version and disallow updates? Obviously I didn’t, since we talking about glitches in update process. But - to avoid misunderstanding - the latest version.

15

Hi people, I just wanted to provide my own input here,

This black screen problem just happened to me today, first time, and I have no firewall other than the basic windows one. But what I do have, is that, at work, I am behind a proxy, and at home, I don’t have a proxy, and I use the same laptop in both cases. Which means I keep changing my configuration all the time. And usually, to make things faster, I only change it in the browser (Firefox 27.0.1), not in the system internet options, because I’m lazy.

What it does, is that I often see programs, happy to take things in their own hands and wanting to update something at startup (which means - download at startup and then update, let’s be precise for once), and of course, they fail, because they did not let me a few seconds to change these d*mn internet settings, so they can’t access the internet, although they do see a network connection!

And I think this is what happened today, and as I did not know how to invoke the internet settings from the command line from the windows 7 x64 task manager, I just rebooted while cutting all physical connections from my computer. Then, avast understood it could not update, and let me start my system normally…at least I think this is what actually happened.

And what is said elsewhere in this forum about “if this functionality was not present, avast would crash irremediably, as we [avast] won’t be able to fix it from our side”. I never seen avast crash irremediably before…so I wonder, what is actually the core reason for having such a buggy service running at startup.

That’s all I wanted to say!

16

I have a paid version of avast with windows 7. The last update caused all kinds of problems, freeze ups, touchpad problems, IE not responding… Had to do a system restore to a point before the update and it works well, but am I protected? I called support and they wanted to charge me about $200.00 to clean computer, something I just had done in December. I will be looking into new virus protection!

17

There are malware removers in this forum and they work for free.