My computer reset just today. When the computer booted back up, a window said that Windows recovered from a serious error. The webpage it brought up said that there had been an error with the hard drive. Windows couldn’t read a certain part of it.
The error, according to M$, is very general, but it probably happened because of a hard drive “lag”. Different causes of such a lag were listed. Among the causes was a “filter driver”, or antivirus program.
So I did a disk scan to be sure there weren’t any errors on the hard drive. Then Windows reset again! Same cause/solution!
This time I turned off avast antivirus, and did another scan. The scan completed successfully.
Suspicious? I think so.
Any ideas? I’ve had performance issues before with avast, and this could be the nail in the coffin.
Will that cause this? I’m here for the exact same reason. The computer locks up frequently after buying and installing Pro. Uninstalling it makes the computer work fine. Reinstalling it brings the problem back.
We used to run Norton here at work, but now have moved to avast! as I’ve been using it at home for a while and like it. This problem only happens on one computer. All of them used to have Norton installed and it was removed the same as the problem computer.
Assuming this is the case, how do I proceed from here? I don’t want to hijack the thread, so if this needs a new thread I’m good with that.
Yes, the entire computer crashes complely. No mouse activity, CTRL+ALT+DEL does nothing, no flashing LEDs anywhere. It is running Windows XP Professional with Service Pack 2.
Run the three files that you just downloaded
a) On the Windows desktop, double-click the MSIFIX icon.
Click Run.
A black window may appear very briefly.
b) On the Windows desktop, double-click the SymNRT icon.
Click Run.
Click Next.
Click I accept the License Agreement, and click Next.
Type the letters and numbers that you see in the white box, and then click Next.
Click Yes or OK at each prompt.
You may need to click more than once. Your computer may be restarted for you more than once.
You may be asked to repeat some steps after the computer restarts.
c) On the Windows desktop, double-click the SYMMSICLEANUP icon.
Click Run, and then click Yes.
Click OK.
If the computer locks up such that even the mouse pointer doesn’t move (but it doesn’t crash into a bluescreen), it sounds like a hardware problem to me. If you are saying that the lockups are basically random, it only supports that.
I’d suggest to check the computer cooling, for example (CPU, graphics adapter, memory modules); possibly run MemCheck for a while to see if any problems pop up.
I encountered also the same problem, my computer booted up, in 2 different occassions, the first time, when i am using MS outlook, and the the other one, when i am using MS Word 2003. and I saw blue screen that alarm me that there is serious error cause by software or hardware recently installed. I am using Windows XP Service Pack 2. :
Well, you should have anything messing avast behavior in background: another antivirus (poorly uninstalled, maybe…), other security program, etc.
Did you install, even in the past, other antivirus?
Although there is a new removal tool for Symantec products, the old link for SymNRT information and on-line uninstall routine still works Removing your Norton program using SymNRT.
I have previously intalled norton antivirus 2005, and after it expires, i recently installed norton antivirus 2006, i decided to remove norton antivirus 2006 because it makes the performance of my PC slow.
Anyway, i assumed there are still traces of norton program still on my PC not completely remove. Other security software i am using is the Spyware Terminator.
Tech, that’s the 2nd time in this thread you’ve told me I “poorly” uninstalled Norton. I didn’t “poorly” do anything.
I removed Norton as per the instructions higher in this thread posted by Tech (So if it was poorly done then blame him) and did everything it said to do. I downloaded and ran the files. After reinstalling avast! it worked fine for a short time, then began locking up again.
This is NOT random. It is avast! causing it. Removing avast! makes the PC work perfectly fine all day long, while reinstalling it makes it lock up frequently.
The programs that are open are: MS Word, MS Outlook, Quickbooks 2003, Firefox web browser. It locks up when switching between the MS Office programs.
Let’s try another way. Please check the folder \data\log
Are there any files called unpXXXX there (where XXXX is a random number)?
If so, send them to vlk@avast.com
They may contain more information about the problem (maybe a link to this thread).
Other option is download and run http://cat.asw.cz/~vlk/hangrep.exe . In the list of processes select ashSimpl.exe and use the Save button. This generates a file which you can either send to my email address (if it’s smaller than e.g. 1 MB, ZIPed), or upload to ftp://cat.asw.cz/incoming
If the whole computer is frozen, no unpXXX files will be created, and you also won’t be able to run hangrep.exe.
So, the only option would be trying to invoke the bluescreen, as decribed here.
