Windows 7 can't boot - aswVmm.sys is corrupted

Avast Free Antivirus / Premium Security
1

Hello guys!
I have a big, but obviously not an uncommon problem. After a restart I couldn’t boot my win7 64x and all my tries to fix it didn’t help. Startup restore indicated the problem is in a corrupt aswvmm.sys file.
I have searched this forum for the solution of the problem and found the great solution by essexboy. I have run FRSTx64 and used one fixlist.txt that was provided in one similar topic. Unfortunately I don’t fully understand what it does and what it did (i acted to fast) and now I still can’t get my win7 to start. Now they get past the startup screen but get stuck on blank, black desktop (only thing I can se is the pointer). Safe mode acts the same way.

I ran FRST x64 scan again and attached the file here so that someone (and that someone is probably essexboy) can help me by writing a new fixlist.txt

Many times thank you for your help … in advanced!

Kristijan

2

Hi you will need to repair Avast on completion as I am removing the service entries and the corrupt file

Download the attached fixlist.txt to the same location as FRST
Run FRST as before and press fix
On completion reboot

3

Thanks essexboy for your fast answer and help!
I ran your fixlist.txt and it did it’s job well but after restarting windows still don’t boot compleatly … the same blank screen with the pointer is the result.
I 'm attaching the fixlog and the new scan log that I have done after the attempted repair.
Please help :frowning:

4

Hmm FRST stated that it removed the service keys yet they are still appearing… Prior to this did you manually delete any Avast files ?

Once more with a fixlist
Download the attached fixlist.txt to the same location as FRST
Run FRST and press fix
Try a reboot now

5

I have tried to use the new fixlist.txt … again the same thing :frowning:
Again I am attaching the fixlog and new scan log after the new attempt.

I haven’t, prior to this manually deleted any avast files, but as I expalined in my first post I have used FRST and one of your commands (it was the one from this post: http://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=131136.msg970410#msg970410 )

6

Ahh that one had an infection and the fix was not applicable to your system as it changed a few other things

Are you able to access the command prompt on the recovery console ?

If so then run the following command

chkdsk c: /r

7

chkdsk has finished, the problem is still the same …

8

Hmm I cannot understand why FRST is not removing the service keys … I will need to check this out

9

if you need any additional info about the system i will do my best to provide it so you can figure this thing out.
thanks for your help so far!

10

I can see what needs to be done but I am at a loss as to why it is not working

11

Is there a possibility to manually delete/uninstall avast … file by file or folder by folder?

Maybe any other ideas how to startup windows since I would very much like to avoid the huge work of installing windows and setting up everything from scratch

12

It is not the files that are the problem but the service keys, as they will try to start Avast

Try this, no guarantee it will work

Run this fixlist as before

13

It’s always the same thing … the frst says it has done it’s job, but actually nothing happens, and a new frst scan shows no changes.
I am accessing the cmd for system recovery options before the system boots. I guess that is ok?
Is it possible that it doesn’t have proper administrator privileges (but my account is the admin)?

I can boot linux (backtrack) from a usb … can something more be done from there (I have very limited linux experience)?

Again … thank you for your continuous support!

14

The alternative is to manually delete the files within the fixlist using either the command prompt or Linux

15

It seem that the files have been deleted by FRST … I check all the locations and they were not there.
Is there a way to rebuild/rewrite a boot file(s) so that the avast drivers are not needed?
I don’t know (at all) how win 7 boota and starts up but I am concluding that during boot they are looking for drivers that are not there (deleted avast drivers or any other drivers) and they come to a certain point and then stop the startup sequence (they come to a black desktop, full resolution, but no icons, no windows).

16

There is no way to access the registry from the recovery console that I am aware of

Have you tried the repair my computer option > Start up repair, or the system restore option

17

I have … several times, with no luck.
In the first run it identified aswVmm.sys as corrupted, and later it just said that it couldn’t repair anything.
I can, and I will try to run startup repair from the win 7 dvd … but I don’t expect any results.

Are there maybe other boot time tools/software that could help in repairing it? Could I accses registry/boot info form linux?

18

If you are looking to edit the registry offline, you can do it with freeware PC Regedit which is a Linux Live CD. I would let Essexboy determine if this program will work for you and if so follow his instructions because editing the registry can lead to serious problems if you are not familiar with it.

http://www.pcregedit.com/

19

I have typed regedit in cmd and regedit i got … I just don’t know what can and what should I do with it to fix the startup problem

20

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Services is the registry key where the services are located