Ver. 5.1.889 cannot connect to server

Avast Free Antivirus / Premium Security
1

Program is registered. Attempted repair. All executables in Avast folder marked ‘Trusted’ in Comodo Firewall, no blocking observed.

My current database is 110120-2 and last update is shown as 1/20/11 though auto and manual updates have been attempted daily.

I haven’t attempted uninstall/re-install yet as I am keen to figure out the problem. Running on Win7x64, seems to work just fine except for updates.

Ideas?

bem

2

Try: Direct Connection (No Proxy)
asyn

3

No help. Still won’t connect, though it gives it a good long go.

bem

4

Unfortunately the file responsible for the updates isn’t in the avast5 folder, it is avast.setup and when created is in the avast5\setup folder.

5

Other security related software installed…??
asyn

6

AdAware and WinPatrol. AdAware logs show only one blocked IP, for an incident that I’m aware of. Scotty isn’t capable of such. All others are on-demand only, nothing else runs.

bem

7

Also tell us the on-demand programs.
Which avast…? (free/pro/is)
asyn

8

AdAware Pro Ver. 9.02

Other proggies are A2Free, Spybot S&D, Rootkit Revealer, Win Defender, maybe a couple not in my link folder. NONE have an active presence, none run in several months, before install (getting sloppy).

Checked hosts file, by name, nothing found.

I have never been able to get an update, just took awhile to deal with it.

9

Have you read my reply and does comodo allow avast.setup marked as trusted ?
If so delete the entry for it and do a manual update, comodo should ask permission.

10

Sorry, David. I’ve been madly wrestling another issue all day, overlooked your reply.

I have no exe files in the setup folder, but do have AshUd.exe which was previously put into Comodo. Did it again anyway. No change. Also, as noted, Comodo log shows only two events as blocked, none Avast.

Thanks,
bem

11

It isn’t an exe file, but avast.setup and it isn’t always there when an update takes place the avast.setup file is created, so it may not be present.

You could try manually creating an entry for it in comodo, entering the path to c:\Program Files\avast5\setup\avast.setup and see if that works.

12

I believe this is a win7x64/avast problem - I’m similarly afflicted, while my 2 winxp(32-bit) computers are updating normally. Btw, I only do manual updates. Here’s a way I managed to surmount the problem:

  1. I attempt a manual update and get the ‘cannot connect to server’ message.
  2. I go to Settings->Updates->Proxy Settings.
  3. If it’s set to ‘Auto detect’ switch to "Direct connection.’ If it’s set to ‘Direct connection’ switch to ‘Auto detect.’
  4. Restart the computer and immediately do the manual update. It always works! The one time when I didn’t immediately update after restart but did some other work first, the update didn’t work. Bizarre.

Of course, the next time I try an update, it again fails, and I have to switch the proxy setting, restart, etc. My patience is running low. I think it’s clear from the above scenario that this isn’t a firewall or 3rd party issue.
Regards,
praimon

13
  1. Uninstall Spybot.
  2. Try again.
    Solved…?
    asyn
14

Okay, despite having no running process or loaded dll I have uninstalled S&D and rebooted: no change.

I tried alternating the proxy: no change

I have monitored ports while running update. The updater loads right up and starts calling for every Avast address in its database one at a time. Pings go out, nothing comes back. Could be irrelevant but I noticed the updater was ver. 5.0.0 while all else is 5.1.889

I enjoy a good puzzle, but I’m out of time for this one. Uninstall, clean and reinstall coming up…

bem

15

You’re right. :wink:

  1. Download avast here:
    avast! 5.1.x Free Antivirus: http://files.avast.com/iavs5x/setup_av_free.exe
    avast! 5.1.x Pro Antivirus: http://files.avast.com/iavs5x/setup_av_pro.exe
    avast! 5.1.x Internet Security: http://files.avast.com/iavs5x/setup_ais.exe
  2. Follow the instructions here: http://www.avast.com/uninstall-utility
  3. Reinstall avast.
    Solved…??
    asyn