I’m running Avast 4.7 Home edition Build:May2006 (4.7.827) on a XP Pro SP2 system using a windows account with admin privileges. Its configured for two providers (I use the web shield). My system has a 3000+ Athlon64 with 1GB memory and over 50GB free disk space.
I ran Windows Update Tuesday, May 09, 2006. Ever since Avast doesn’t load the providers when I do a cold boot. The blue ‘i’ icon in the system tray looks normal. The blue ‘a’ icon has a red circle with a slash next to it and if I hover the mouse over it, it states 0 providers total, 0 running. I normally have two providers running. The Avast log viewer reports errors which look like:
5/9/2006 9:03:45 AM SYSTEM 1524 AAVM - initialization error: AavmStart: Cannot load core driver!!!, 00000002.
If I use the Windows start → shutdown command to restart my computer it will load the providers. If I shutdown the computer normally and then boot it will fail. This problem is repeatable.
Using the “Start avast antivirus” or the “Start on-access protection” menu command in the blue ‘a’ icon in the system tray doesn’t start the providers. I have no problem running the update for the program and the virus definitions. The “pause provider”, “resume provider” and the “stop provider” menu commands are grayed out.
I had used the custom button in windows update to install the following: Security Update for Windows XP (KB913580)
Security Update for Flash Player (KB913433)
Update for Windows XP (KB900485)
I am not running any version of Microsoft’s “Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool”.
I used a copy of the process explorer from www.sysinternals.com to copy and paste a list of the files loaded by the Avast process while this problem occured.
Name Description Company Name Version Size MM
Aavm4h.dll avast! Asynchronous Virus Monitor (AAVM) ALWIL Software 4.07.0824.0000 0x2B000
AavmRpch.dll avast! AAVM Remote Procedure Call Library ALWIL Software 4.07.0824.0000 0x8000
advapi32.dll Advanced Windows 32 Base API Microsoft Corporation 5.01.2600.2180 0x9B000
apphelp.dll Application Compatibility Client Library Microsoft Corporation 5.01.2600.2180 0x22000
ashBase.dll Basic Functionality Module ALWIL Software 4.07.0824.0000 0x3B000
ashDisp.exe avast! service GUI component 4.07.0817.0000 0x19000
ashTask.dll Task Handling Module ALWIL Software 4.07.0817.0000 0x1A000
aswAux.dll avast! Auxiliary Library ALWIL Software 4.06.0763.0000 0xA2000
aswCmnB.dll High level portable functions ALWIL Software 4.07.0817.0000 0x1D000
aswCmnOS.dll Antivirus HW dependent library ALWIL Software 4.06.0763.0000 0x10000
aswCmnS.dll Common non-portable functions ALWIL Software 4.07.0800.0000 0x27000
Base.dll avast! English Basic Module ALWIL Software 4.07.0800.0000 0xF000
comctl32.dll User Experience Controls Library Microsoft Corporation 6.00.2900.2180 0x102000
ctype.nls 0x3000 *
dbghelp.dll Windows Image Helper Microsoft Corporation 5.01.2600.2180 0xA1000
gdi32.dll GDI Client DLL Microsoft Corporation 5.01.2600.2818 0x47000
kernel32.dll Windows NT BASE API Client DLL Microsoft Corporation 5.01.2600.2180 0xF4000
Lang.dll avast! Main English Module ALWIL Software 4.07.0824.0000 0x259000
locale.nls 0x3D000 *
MFC71.dll MFCDLL Shared Library - Retail Version Microsoft Corporation 7.10.3077.0000 0x103000
MSVCP71.dll Microsoft® C++ Runtime Library Microsoft Corporation 7.10.3077.0000 0x7B000
MSVCR71.dll Microsoft® C Runtime Library Microsoft Corporation 7.10.3052.0004 0x56000
msvcrt.dll Windows NT CRT DLL Microsoft Corporation 7.00.2600.2180 0x58000
ntdll.dll NT Layer DLL Microsoft Corporation 5.01.2600.2180 0xB0000
ole32.dll Microsoft OLE for Windows Microsoft Corporation 5.01.2600.2726 0x13D000
oleaut32.dll Microsoft Corporation 5.01.2600.2180 0x8C000
riched20.dll Rich Text Edit Control, v3.0 Microsoft Corporation 5.30.0023.1221 0x6C000
rpcrt4.dll Remote Procedure Call Runtime Microsoft Corporation 5.01.2600.2180 0x91000
secur32.dll Security Support Provider Interface Microsoft Corporation 5.01.2600.2180 0x11000
shell32.dll Windows Shell Common Dll Microsoft Corporation 6.00.2900.2869 0x815000
shlwapi.dll Shell Light-weight Utility Library Microsoft Corporation 6.00.2900.2861 0x76000
sortkey.nls 0x41000 *
sorttbls.nls 0x6000 *
unicode.nls 0x16000 *
user32.dll Windows XP USER API Client DLL Microsoft Corporation 5.01.2600.2622 0x90000
uxtheme.dll Microsoft UxTheme Library Microsoft Corporation 6.00.2900.2180 0x38000
version.dll Version Checking and File Installation Libraries Microsoft Corporation 5.01.2600.2180 0x8000
ws2_32.dll Windows Socket 2.0 32-Bit DLL Microsoft Corporation 5.01.2600.2180 0x17000
ws2help.dll Windows Socket 2.0 Helper for Windows NT Microsoft Corporation 5.01.2600.2180 0x8000
wsock32.dll Windows Socket 32-Bit DLL Microsoft Corporation 5.01.2600.2180 0x9000
that looks like a very well known moderator name from another forum - welcome to the avast forum.
Searching shows no immediate answer to the problem you are experiencing. While you are waiting for more knowledgeable assistance (hopefully a member of the avast team) might I suggest the “Repair” option of avast (just in case something has become damaged) to be found in:
Control Panel > Add/Remove Programs > Avast > Repair
That Username looks familar as well, but it could not be
from MozillaZine forums since I do not recall ever being
there !?
You mentioned Microsoft Update KB 900485; however, I
find no mention of this in their May 06 "Announcement"
of their "Releases" and definitely was not "offered" in my
What do you know about KB 900485 ? Could this possibily
be the "problem", especially since your Avast "problem"
started right after installing this Update !? I have already
seen some reports of problems with KB 913433 .
“Update for Windows XP (KB900485)
Install this update to prevent an issue in which you may receive a “stop 0x7e in AEC.SYS” error message on a computer that is running Windows XP Service Pack 2. The error may occur during startup, or after the system has started. AEC.SYS is the acoustic echo canceling driver. After you install this item, you may have to restart your computer.” Acoustic echo cancellation (AEC) appears to be a feature of Microsoft DirectSound .
The update in the download center was published 4/25/2006 and my update history shows that the next to last time I installed software was on Tuesday, April 11, 2006. The hotfix was listed as a critical error when I ran windows update and pressed the custom button. I normally check the checkbox to tell windows update to never show me a fix again if I see it and don’t want to install it. That appears to work for everything except the “Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool” .
I don’t listen to music on my PC so I’ll try uninstalling that patch and see if its listed again in my custom info.
I thought things had returned to normal after removing that hotfix. However, occasionally when I reboot none of the providers are running. The Avast log file shows the same error message as before and all of the symptoms seem identical.
When you tried the "Repair" option that was suggested,
did you do it while ONLINE !?
I had mentioned seeing some problems reported with
Microsoft Update KB 913433, which is for "Flash Player";
do you have this "active" on your machine ? If not, perhaps
you could uninstall it as you have done with KB 900485 !?
I had Microsoft "offer" me their KB 905474, which is their
"Genuine Advantage Notification" between Apr 11 & May 9;
have you had a similar "offer", and if yes, what have you
done regarding it ?
Yes, I tried the repair while connected to the internet. Or did you mean something else by online?
I had installed the flash player patch but I can’t figure out how to uninstall it as its not listed in the add or delete programs control panel (I checked the updates checkbox), and unlike the other one there is no C:\WINDOWS$NtUninstallKB913433$ subdirectory.
No, I didn’t install the “Genuine Advantage Notification”. My recent update history is:
Windows XP Security Update for Windows XP (KB913580) Tuesday, May 09, 2006 Microsoft Update
Windows XP Security Update for Flash Player (KB913433) Tuesday, May 09, 2006 Microsoft Update
Windows XP Update for Windows XP (KB900485) Tuesday, May 09, 2006 Microsoft Update
Windows XP Security Update for Windows Media Player 10 for Windows XP (KB911565) Tuesday, April 11, 2006 Microsoft Update
Windows XP Security Update for Windows XP (KB911562) Tuesday, April 11, 2006 Microsoft Update
Windows XP Update for Windows XP (KB904942) Tuesday, April 11, 2006 Microsoft Update
Windows XP Cumulative Security Update for Internet Explorer for Windows XP (KB912812) Tuesday, April 11, 2006 Microsoft Update
Windows XP Security Update for Windows XP (KB908531) Tuesday, April 11, 2006 Microsoft Update
Windows XP Cumulative Security Update for Outlook Express for Windows XP (KB911567) Tuesday, April 11, 2006 Microsoft Update
Windows XP Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0: x86 (KB829019) Wednesday, March 08, 2006 Microsoft Update
Windows XP Windows Genuine Advantage Validation Tool (KB892130) Wednesday, March 08, 2006 Microsoft Update
We have a similar Microsoft Updates "history", except I
have made it a point NOT to download/install any
"Net. Framework" updates because I have heard this is for
"Developers" !? And since I have "retained" SP1, I was not
"offered" KB 904942; I found the following on the Microsoft
site : "Update for Windows XP (KB904942)
Brief Description :
Install this update to resolve HTTP authentication issues in Windows-based systems that do not appear until Microsoft Internet Explorer 7 is installed. "
Do you need this and/or does it apply to your computer ?
P.S. By ONLINE, I did mean while connected to the internet .
We have different philosophies. Rather than trying to minimize all Microsoft updates I prefer to keep update for anything that I expect to use some time. My Messenger and remote desktop software for example is out of date since I never use it.
I don’t need KB904942 at this time but it hasn’t caused any problems for 2 months. While I prefer to use Firefox I find it usefull to keep IE uptodate (if only because Microsoft unnecessarily integrates too much stuff) and I expect I’ll upgrade to IE7 when its available. The beta2 has been available for some time. I installed KB829019 because I do plan on doing some C# based development at some time. It also hasn’t caused any problems for 2 months.
Do you have any suggestions on how I could remove the flash player patch? I don’t think it makes sense for me to remove anything except for one or more of the patches that I installed May 9th.
