Avast updated itself recently and presented the “Windows needs to be restarted” dialog - I clicked the Restart Now button. Windows restarted but when the desktop appeared Windows hung indefinitely (no taskbar, no systray, etc.).
I searched this forum and the Web and tried all suggestions I could find - nothing helped and I finally tried a system restore using the XP setup disk. The restore process complained that the inetcomm.dll was corrupted or missing (I can’t get at the files to verify this).
Next I attempted a repair install, which seemed to work, but on the first boot after that, I got a blue screen stop error that said there was a page fault in a nonpaged area, and the problem was in Aamker4.sys.
I’ve searched the Web, Microsoft, and any forums I can find (including this one), but can’t find any references to this file, though I’ve noticed that it seems Avast uses the Aa* naming convention for some of its files.
The machine was running just fine before this Avast update and restart.
If I boot from the XP setup cd I get the stop error, and on a normal boot Windows just hangs at the desktop (no taskbar, etc.).
I’d greatly appreciate any ideas on how to fix this or at least get at file data - I have mission-critical files on that box and I need them right away. Am willing to rebuild/reformat the machine if I can only get at my files! ???
Sylvania, do you have any other security program in this computer, specially ProcessGuard, PrevX or any other low level monitoring application?
Can you boot in Safe Mode and uninstall avast from there?
No, no other security programs are installed. Several months ago I reformatted the drive and performed a clean install of XP, and I now use that machine primarily as a file server. There aren’t many apps installed at all, just pretty much all of my files (I use a wireless network to access them).
I’d been able to boot into Safe Mode before trying the repair XP install, but ever since it’s been ignoring the function keys on boot (it doesn’t even give me the boot menu).
I’ll try that again though, and try to uninstall Avast.
Nope - can’t get a boot menu, and can’t get at any shutdown options either.
I have an older box lying around, and I’m going to try pulling this hard drive and installing it as a secondary on that box so that I can look at the files.
Do you know if Aamker4.sys is an Avast file? I’m also running Avast on this machine (the one I’m accessing this forum with), and really like it, but now I’m worried about updates.
Once I can access the files on the corrupted drive, is there something I can look for to verify that the update caused this problem?
Thanks again!
-Sylvania
In fact, I’m looking not only for access but to solve the whole problem ;D
Let’s see what we get…
Just let me know if you can, with the other HDD installed, have access (read/write) on the first one.
We can change boot.ini file and we can add a boot option for Safe Mode.
[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS=“Microsoft Windows XP Professional” /noexecute=optin /fastdetect
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS=“Microsoft Windows XP Professional Safe Mode” /fastdetect /safeboot:minimal /sos /bootlog
Change the HDD back to master and boot from it choosing the second option.
If it fails, copy the error message
If it works, uninstall avast from there and let’s try to manage the drive that, after removing avast, you should have access…
