Can't open program, "CREATE DATABASE failed (14)".

Avast Free Antivirus / Premium Security
1

When I try to open !avast (2nd item in the tray icon right click menu), I get an error messagebox saying (translated from Italian) “IMPOSSIBLE TO OPEN THE DEVICE - The Simple User Interface cannot load the configuration”.

See attached screenshot (I also kept Setup.log).

Error.log says “CREATE DATABASE failed (14)” but I don’t know what the error code 14 means.

This is the whole Error.log:

28/10/2007	12.47.54	1193572074	Pippo	516	Storage query "C:\Programmi\Alwil Software\Avast4\DATA\Avast4.db" failed. Error description: "CREATE DATABASE failed (14) [14]".  
28/10/2007	12.47.54	1193572074	Pippo	516	Storage query "C:\Programmi\Alwil Software\Avast4\DATA\Avast4.db" failed. Error description: "CREATE DATABASE failed (14) [14]".  
28/10/2007	12.47.54	1193572074	Pippo	516	Storage query "C:\Programmi\Alwil Software\Avast4\DATA\Avast4.db" failed. Error description: "CREATE DATABASE failed (14) [14]".  
28/10/2007	12.47.54	1193572074	Pippo	516	Storage query "C:\Programmi\Alwil Software\Avast4\DATA\Avast4.db" failed. Error description: "CREATE DATABASE failed (14) [14]".

Then I disinstalled the program, re-downloaded, re-installed and re-updated, but the problem is still there.

I don’t know when did this problem start, however it wasn’t always there: up to some days ago I was able to open the program without problems.

Currently, due to this problem, I’m unable to launch scans.

I’ve also Spyware Doctor and Comodo Firewall Pro installed, but shutting them down doesn’t affect, the problem occurs anyway. Furthermore I have SD and CFP active since months, while this problem started just a few days ago.

My !avast installation details:

!avast 4.7 Home Edition, version: “Sep2007 (4.7.1074)”
Xtreme Toolkit version 1.9.4.0
ActiveSkin 4.2.7.3

My system: Windows 2000 Pro v. 5.00.2195 SP4, Pentium 4 2.26 GHz, 512 MB RAM, ~8 GB free disk space.

Any suggestion would be appreciated.

2

I don’t know, it seems that the problem is solved now. Here is what I did:

  1. I uninstalled avast using aswclear.exe instead of using control panel.

  2. After reboot, I went to Control Panel / System / Hardware / Devices Manager / View / Show Hidden Devices / Non Plug-and-Play Devices and I removed all the “devices” related to avast.
    While I was there, I also removed drivers that other programs had left there after I uninstalled them: AVG, BOClean, NAV and many others; it seems it’s common practice for applications to install drivers there and not clean after themselves, even aswclear.exe .

  3. After reboot, I manually deleted the empty installation folder where avast was (the folder hadn’t been removed by aswclear.exe , just left there empty, with an empty subfolder).

  4. I reinstalled avast and all is fine. A full scan is running right now.

I don’t know whether all the above steps were necessary, because I did them at once. For example I suspect the #2 didn’t matter, but who knows.

3

Thanks for the feedback, it is likely to have been a clash of remnants ‘virtual drivers’ you found whilst cleaning the registry. Norton is notorious at not cleaning up after itself and causing issues for software following it.

If they are as suspected Legacy Registry Keys, I’m not sure if it isn’t windows that is meant to clean up these or the application, but they do on occasion cause problems.

Welcome to the forums.

4

Thanks David :slight_smile:

Unfortunately the problem is back. It seems just like the first time, and it seems to indicate that the cleanings I described in my last post didn’t help that much, even though I think they allowed me to temporarily solve the problem that time.

The error dialogs are 2 this time, and the 1st one talks about Splash Screen; the 2nd one is more like the one of the first time I had the problem. See them attached. The 2nd one appears just after I click OK on the 1st one.

This is the Error.log:

30/10/2007	23.19.10	1193782750	Pippo	2168	Storage query "C:\Programmi\Alwil Software\Avast4\DATA\Avast4.db" failed. Error description: "CREATE DATABASE failed (14) [14]".  
30/10/2007	23.19.10	1193782750	Pippo	2168	Storage query "C:\Programmi\Alwil Software\Avast4\DATA\Avast4.db" failed. Error description: "CREATE DATABASE failed (14) [14]".  
30/10/2007	23.19.10	1193782750	Pippo	2168	Storage query "C:\Programmi\Alwil Software\Avast4\DATA\Avast4.db" failed. Error description: "CREATE DATABASE failed (14) [14]".  
30/10/2007	23.19.10	1193782750	Pippo	2168	Storage query "C:\Programmi\Alwil Software\Avast4\DATA\Avast4.db" failed. Error description: "CREATE DATABASE failed (14) [14]".  
30/10/2007	23.19.19	1193782759	Pippo	2168	ASWSIMPLE Application error. Error details: CaswSimpleDlg::SaveParameters() - Initialization of storage functions is wrong!.

I hope someone has some hints :slight_smile:

5

I’m at a loss as to the possible cause, I just hope one of the Alwil team can have a look at this.

6

I bet on this…

  1. Remove NAV through Add/Remove programs from Control Panel. Boot.
  2. Use Norton Removal Tool for Windows 2000/XP/Vista 2008.0.0.21.
  3. Boot.
  4. Install avast! Boot.
  5. See what you get.

Full SymNRT info:

  1. Download and save these three files to the Windows desktop:
    a) ftp://ftp.symantec.com/public/english_us_canada/linked_files/tsgen/MSIFIX.bat
    b) ftp://ftp.symantec.com/public/english_us_canada/linked_files/tsgen/SymNRT.exe
    c) ftp://ftp.symantec.com/public/english_us_canada/linked_files/tsgen/SYMMSICLEANUP.reg

  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.

  3. Boot.

7

Thanks, I just did as you suggested. For now the problem isn’t there. Let’s see how it goes.

8

Good old NAV, harder to get rid of that many viruses.

9

Good to know. Please, post back if anything get wrong (again).

10

Of course. Thanks again.

11

Guess what… Back to square one. The problem is here again, after just a few days of truce. The Error.log,

02/11/2007	21.06.50	1194034010	Pippo	956	Storage query "C:\Programmi\Alwil Software\Avast4\DATA\Avast4.db" failed. Error description: "CREATE DATABASE failed (14) [14]".  
02/11/2007	21.06.50	1194034010	Pippo	956	Storage query "C:\Programmi\Alwil Software\Avast4\DATA\Avast4.db" failed. Error description: "CREATE DATABASE failed (14) [14]".  
02/11/2007	21.06.50	1194034010	Pippo	956	Storage query "C:\Programmi\Alwil Software\Avast4\DATA\Avast4.db" failed. Error description: "CREATE DATABASE failed (14) [14]".  
02/11/2007	21.06.50	1194034010	Pippo	956	Storage query "C:\Programmi\Alwil Software\Avast4\DATA\Avast4.db" failed. Error description: "CREATE DATABASE failed (14) [14]".  
02/11/2007	21.07.03	1194034023	Pippo	956	ASWSIMPLE Application error. Error details: CaswSimpleDlg::SaveParameters() - Initialization of storage functions is wrong!.

and for the error message see 02b.jpg in reply #3. I’m starting to get discouraged, especially because I don’t have a clue as to how can I investigate this. Can someone point me to where I can find some docs about what on Earth error 14 is ? Or Just tell me that ?

I should have no viruses because in the last days I ran several full scans with avast! up to date, and the very same for spyware (with Spyware Doctor).