This has perplexed me for months now…and there is nothing on the internet about it. I have FOUR pc’s that do this…two laptops and two desktops. They are running XP SP-3. When I shut the system down, the system gets to “Windows is shutting down…”, then I get an error: "The instruction at “0x636f2395” referenced at “0x00000000”. The memory could not be “written”. Click OK to terminate the program. Click on CANCEL to debug the program.
Clicking on cancel does nothing. Clicking on OK allows three of the systems to shut down, the other one just locks up at “Windows is shutting down…”
I have found nothing about this error online, but what I HAVE found is…if I uninstall Avast, the error stops occurring.
Is there any useful information into Control Panel > Administrative Tools > Events, specially ‘Errors’?
Do you use a firewall? Which one?
Do you have any other antivirus installed in your system? Did you have in the past?
Any other security programs that could interfere?
I use a hardware firewall. The only other “security program” is Spyware Doctor which I have been using with Avast before the errors started occuring (which doesn’t necessarily mean an update didn’t change their relationship). I have all the running processes of Avast as exceptions in Spyware Doctor, and all the running processes of Spyware Doctor as exceptions in Avast. There are NO errors in the event viewer. Only error that occurs is the one I mentioned in the original post. Only other a/v I’ve had on any of these systems was BitDefender and I removed it a LOOOOONG time ago. Even with their removal tool, it leaves registry keys, folders, non-present drivers (in device manager), etc. Every bit of trash bit defender left has been removed AND this hasn’t been a problem until about 2 months ago. I’ve had Avast working on the four systems for about six months now. Because it started appearing on ALL four systems about the same time, I’m suspecting an update did it…that could be Microsoft, Avast, or Spyware Doctor. All I know is…if Avast is uninstalled, the error and shutdown problems stop occuring.
I believe I’ve solved this. It has to do with a conflict between Spyware Doctor and Avast apparently. IF (after uninstalling both) I load Avast first then Spyware Doctor…I have the no shutdown/or error condition. IF I load Spyware Doctor first then Avast, I’ve not had the problem re-occur. Avast must interfere with the Spyware Doctor install somehow and result in what I was getting. Have tried this on SIX total computers now…4 desktops and 2 laptops and it’s worked perfectly on every one of them.