Com Surrogate not responding

Avast Free Antivirus / Premium Security
1

On Windows 7 Pro pc, had to system restore 4 times; twice uninstalled Avast version 5.1.889. I kept getting a com surrogate error and many of my programs stopped working: WordPerfect X4, OpenOffice 3.2, AverMedia, Firefox 3.6.13, etc. I reinstalled to version 5.1.677, which works fine and all programs working. I checked on Microsoft Answers forum and it seemed some AV had issues with this com surrogate in Windows 7.

I used the direct program update thru AVAST UI. I reinstalled version 5.1.677 from a download from download.cnet.com.

My pc is Windows 7 Pro, 64 Bit, AMD Athlon 7850 Dual core, 4 GB RAM, 500 GB HD, NVidia GEForce 8600 GT. I also use Comodo Firewall, ThreatFire, and Secunia PSI.

Any other people with this type of issue in Windows 7? My Avast Version 5.1.889 on my Windows XP Pro pc is working just fine. All programs working normal. Thanks for any input.

2

:wink:
Hi,

Yes, sames issues on my hardware.
Win7 Ult. Ed. Com “Surrogate not responding” (Rundll.exe with ntdll.dll crashed). I’ve make some system restor (badly thing, I’m not very happy) and since à uninstall Avast v5.1.889, all is right.
I also use comodo Personnal Firewall v4.1.15… And since 2 last update, Avast make lots of “noise” on my system.

3

Hi,

those problems of you guys sound very similar to my problems I did get after updating from 5.0.677 to later versions.

http://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=69384.0

It’s nice to hear I’m not the only one. :wink: Seriously, hope it will be sorted out soon.

4
Hi,

those problems of you guys sound very similar to my problems I did get after updating from 5.0.677 to later versions.

http://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=69384.0

It’s nice to hear I’m not the only one. Wink Seriously, hope it will be sorted out soon

Thank you so much! I was nearly tearing my hair out with this problem today. I registered just to say thanks. I am running Windows 7 x64 and was getting COM surrogate errors and memory reference errors every few seconds. I updated to version 5.1.889 this morning and then installed a new program that I had never used before immediately afterward, so I spent hours troubleshooting the new program until I googled “COM surrogate” error and found this thread. It never even occurred to me that it was the Avast update, but when I went to “Programs and Features”, highlighted Avast and clicked “Remove/Change” and unchecked the “Behavior Shield”, the COM Surrogate errors and other memory reference errors went away!

:slight_smile:

5
... unchecked the "Behavior Shield", the COM Surrogate errors and other memory reference errors went away!

:smiley:
Yes, it’s working for me. I reinstall Avast antivirus Free on my system without the “Behavior shield” and all is good.

+1 for smilecitrus
Many thanks guy

6

I had never heard of these COM Surrogate errors before so I went googling and it appears these aren’t that uncommon and pre-date the avast update, http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=COM+surrogate+error.

Whilst this is not saying avast isn’t involved (I don’t know) or that this is an unhappy coincidence. But you might want to check out this fix that I found (first google search hit) and see if that helps, it is an old article and the divx versions are obviously later now.

http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/windows-vista/fix-for-com-surrogate-has-stopped-working-error-in-vista/

Or

http://wiki.phoenixlabs.org/wiki/Com_Surrogate_error

These may allow you to be able to use the behaviour shield whilst this is resolved.

7

Hey,

at least I have the very latest K-Lite Codec Pack installed, making no difference here… But with fresh os install even before installing any additional codecs than those that may come with Vista the nagging started as soon as avast! 5.1… was installed.

Also have the latest available (well not that new any longer as newer versions keep coming very fast, now it’s version 10 they sell, but Vista compatible anyway) Nero 8 version installed. And yes, like I Said I even did a clean os install and as soon as I had installed newer avast! than 5.0.677 the errors started to bombard my screen… :stuck_out_tongue:

Well, yes, sure can be something like a unhappy coincidence that it’s coming up right now, computers are sometimes more like witchcraft things, have seen that myself in my work as software designer… ;D

8

Thank god for this info with the behavior shield! removed it and now everything seems to work normal again.

now i’m using threatfire for behavior protection :slight_smile:

9

OMFG I’ve been tearing my hair out, chasing down windows hotfixes, direct X updates, changing DEP setting etc.

Behaviour shield off… fixed!

10 seconds after maybe 4 hours of mucking around. I really like avast and will continue to use it, but (it goes without saying) this kind of thing is fairly unfavourable.

Anyway, thanks guys - and thank whichever deity you choose for online forums.

Now…if only all those other pages on “Com surrogate has stopped working” linked to here! I must have read around 50 (without overstatement).

10

If we all agree, maybe continue the topic at: http://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=69384.0

11

Thanks for the support and ideas. I had earlier found the fix from the howtogeeks; but since I wasn’t using any type of media player at the time, I did not think it was directly related. I had not installed any codecs. I may try disabling the behavior shield if I update to the .899 version; see how that works.

Thanks for the link to the other post. Hopefully there will be a fix soon. I also have ThreatFire on the Win 7 pc; as time permits I will try disabling the behavior shield. Thanks again.