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From: BillBled on 28 Oct 2007 21:07
Hi,
I have a computer that I built that won't boot after the latest Avast
update. I updated Avast late Thurs (10/25/07) night and when it said that I
needed to restart the computer, I pushed OK for it to restart and went to
bed. I got up Friday morning and it was on a solid blue (not BSOD) screen.
Now, it won't boot at all. I get thru the POST, and when it gets to launching
the Windows x64 logo, it freezes on a black screen. No text.

I also:
- cannot get into any of the safe mode options, with one exception - when I
launch into "Safe Mode" - I can see the lines "multidisk, rdisk, etc etc"
coming across the screen and it stops on a line that ends in
\windows\inf\biosinfo.inf - so it appears that this is where it freezes.
- cannot boot to my original XP CDrom.
- cannot get into the recovery console.

Everything freezes to a black screen before I can get to any options that
may allow me to work on this drive.

I have slaved the drive to another x64 computer. I have full access to all
of the data and files. Nothing is lost.

So I'm thinking that when Avast did it's update on Thursday night, it
corrupted one of the Windows boot files.
Does anyone have any ideas?
Do you need more information?
Thanks in advance for any help you can offer.
--Bill
From: "Tony Sperling" tony.sperling on 28 Oct 2007 21:33
Hi Bill,

I have been running Avast myself for more than two years now, I think. My
machines are updating automatically, sometimes several times a day, never
had a problem. Something can easily have been corrupted in that update, but
I am positive it is not Avast that did it. Anything you download may be
corrupted along the 'line' at any time and these updates are not trivial, in
a running system.

On the other hand, it doesn't sound to me as something that HAS to be
software related - how old is the system you've built? How long since Avast
was installed? Are you 'Dual-Booting'? How many HD's? IDE, SCSI, RAID or
SATA?

If nobody else here objects, I would probably first try and remove the CMOS
battery for a few minutes (maybe ten?) - this will reset the BIOS and
[should] be harmless.


Tony. . .


"BillBled" <BillBled(a)discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:3DE47E52-F482-48B3-A242-C9DB3FA8E75E(a)microsoft.com...
> Hi,
> I have a computer that I built that won't boot after the latest Avast
> update. I updated Avast late Thurs (10/25/07) night and when it said that
> I
> needed to restart the computer, I pushed OK for it to restart and went to
> bed. I got up Friday morning and it was on a solid blue (not BSOD) screen.
> Now, it won't boot at all. I get thru the POST, and when it gets to
> launching
> the Windows x64 logo, it freezes on a black screen. No text.
>
> I also:
> - cannot get into any of the safe mode options, with one exception - when
> I
> launch into "Safe Mode" - I can see the lines "multidisk, rdisk, etc etc"
> coming across the screen and it stops on a line that ends in
> \windows\inf\biosinfo.inf - so it appears that this is where it freezes.
> - cannot boot to my original XP CDrom.
> - cannot get into the recovery console.
>
> Everything freezes to a black screen before I can get to any options that
> may allow me to work on this drive.
>
> I have slaved the drive to another x64 computer. I have full access to all
> of the data and files. Nothing is lost.
>
> So I'm thinking that when Avast did it's update on Thursday night, it
> corrupted one of the Windows boot files.
> Does anyone have any ideas?
> Do you need more information?
> Thanks in advance for any help you can offer.
> --Bill


From: BillBled on 28 Oct 2007 22:02
Hi Tony,
Thanks for taking the time to reply.
To answer your questions:
1- The system was built in June 2006.
2- It is not a dual boot box. Only boots to x64 Windows.
3- Avast was installed from the beginning.
4- One HD. Seagate, 320GB, SATAII - no RAID
5- I have flashed the BIOS to the latest one. No difference. Flashing resets
the BIOS just like removing the battery (I think). At any rate, it didn't
help.

Motherboard is ASUS A8N32-SLI Deluxe, BIOS 1303
Processor is AMD Athlon 64 x2 at 4200+ Dual Core (socket 939)
RAM is 2GB Corsair XMS RAM
HD is Seagate ST3320620AS
Video card is Matrox Quad card, QID-E128-LPAF
Power supply is Antec 550w TruePower 2.0

This system has been rock solid from the time it was built until the Avast
update Thursday night.
Thanks again for your responise.
--Bill


"Tony Sperling mail.dk>" wrote:

> Hi Bill,
>
> I have been running Avast myself for more than two years now, I think. My
> machines are updating automatically, sometimes several times a day, never
> had a problem. Something can easily have been corrupted in that update, but
> I am positive it is not Avast that did it. Anything you download may be
> corrupted along the 'line' at any time and these updates are not trivial, in
> a running system.
>
> On the other hand, it doesn't sound to me as something that HAS to be
> software related - how old is the system you've built? How long since Avast
> was installed? Are you 'Dual-Booting'? How many HD's? IDE, SCSI, RAID or
> SATA?
>
> If nobody else here objects, I would probably first try and remove the CMOS
> battery for a few minutes (maybe ten?) - this will reset the BIOS and
> [should] be harmless.
>
>
> Tony. . .
>
>
> "BillBled" <BillBled(a)discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> news:3DE47E52-F482-48B3-A242-C9DB3FA8E75E(a)microsoft.com...
> > Hi,
> > I have a computer that I built that won't boot after the latest Avast
> > update. I updated Avast late Thurs (10/25/07) night and when it said that
> > I
> > needed to restart the computer, I pushed OK for it to restart and went to
> > bed. I got up Friday morning and it was on a solid blue (not BSOD) screen.
> > Now, it won't boot at all. I get thru the POST, and when it gets to
> > launching
> > the Windows x64 logo, it freezes on a black screen. No text.
> >
> > I also:
> > - cannot get into any of the safe mode options, with one exception - when
> > I
> > launch into "Safe Mode" - I can see the lines "multidisk, rdisk, etc etc"
> > coming across the screen and it stops on a line that ends in
> > \windows\inf\biosinfo.inf - so it appears that this is where it freezes.
> > - cannot boot to my original XP CDrom.
> > - cannot get into the recovery console.
> >
> > Everything freezes to a black screen before I can get to any options that
> > may allow me to work on this drive.
> >
> > I have slaved the drive to another x64 computer. I have full access to all
> > of the data and files. Nothing is lost.
> >
> > So I'm thinking that when Avast did it's update on Thursday night, it
> > corrupted one of the Windows boot files.
> > Does anyone have any ideas?
> > Do you need more information?
> > Thanks in advance for any help you can offer.
> > --Bill
>
>
>
From: Dominic Payer on 29 Oct 2007 03:34
Re 5: Flashing does not reset the CMOS data holding the BIOS settings unless
you set the flashing program parameters to do so. This is never done by
default.

Sometimes the updated BIOS uses a different structure for the CMOS data and
in such cases the release notes warn to clear the CMOS and set optimal
defaults before any customisation you may prefer. Failure to do this when
needed can result in the BIOS doing strange things.




"BillBled" <BillBled(a)discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:2F343F93-2C7B-4649-9D78-A44760AE8ADE(a)microsoft.com...
> Hi Tony,
> Thanks for taking the time to reply.
> To answer your questions:
> 1- The system was built in June 2006.
> 2- It is not a dual boot box. Only boots to x64 Windows.
> 3- Avast was installed from the beginning.
> 4- One HD. Seagate, 320GB, SATAII - no RAID
> 5- I have flashed the BIOS to the latest one. No difference. Flashing
> resets
> the BIOS just like removing the battery (I think). At any rate, it didn't
> help.
>
> Motherboard is ASUS A8N32-SLI Deluxe, BIOS 1303
> Processor is AMD Athlon 64 x2 at 4200+ Dual Core (socket 939)
> RAM is 2GB Corsair XMS RAM
> HD is Seagate ST3320620AS
> Video card is Matrox Quad card, QID-E128-LPAF
> Power supply is Antec 550w TruePower 2.0
>
> This system has been rock solid from the time it was built until the Avast
> update Thursday night.
> Thanks again for your responise.
> --Bill
>
>
> "Tony Sperling mail.dk>" wrote:
>
>> Hi Bill,
>>
>> I have been running Avast myself for more than two years now, I think. My
>> machines are updating automatically, sometimes several times a day, never
>> had a problem. Something can easily have been corrupted in that update,
>> but
>> I am positive it is not Avast that did it. Anything you download may be
>> corrupted along the 'line' at any time and these updates are not trivial,
>> in
>> a running system.
>>
>> On the other hand, it doesn't sound to me as something that HAS to be
>> software related - how old is the system you've built? How long since
>> Avast
>> was installed? Are you 'Dual-Booting'? How many HD's? IDE, SCSI, RAID or
>> SATA?
>>
>> If nobody else here objects, I would probably first try and remove the
>> CMOS
>> battery for a few minutes (maybe ten?) - this will reset the BIOS and
>> [should] be harmless.
>>
>>
>> Tony. . .
>>
>>
>> "BillBled" <BillBled(a)discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
>> news:3DE47E52-F482-48B3-A242-C9DB3FA8E75E(a)microsoft.com...
>> > Hi,
>> > I have a computer that I built that won't boot after the latest Avast
>> > update. I updated Avast late Thurs (10/25/07) night and when it said
>> > that
>> > I
>> > needed to restart the computer, I pushed OK for it to restart and went
>> > to
>> > bed. I got up Friday morning and it was on a solid blue (not BSOD)
>> > screen.
>> > Now, it won't boot at all. I get thru the POST, and when it gets to
>> > launching
>> > the Windows x64 logo, it freezes on a black screen. No text.
>> >
>> > I also:
>> > - cannot get into any of the safe mode options, with one exception -
>> > when
>> > I
>> > launch into "Safe Mode" - I can see the lines "multidisk, rdisk, etc
>> > etc"
>> > coming across the screen and it stops on a line that ends in
>> > \windows\inf\biosinfo.inf - so it appears that this is where it
>> > freezes.
>> > - cannot boot to my original XP CDrom.
>> > - cannot get into the recovery console.
>> >
>> > Everything freezes to a black screen before I can get to any options
>> > that
>> > may allow me to work on this drive.
>> >
>> > I have slaved the drive to another x64 computer. I have full access to
>> > all
>> > of the data and files. Nothing is lost.
>> >
>> > So I'm thinking that when Avast did it's update on Thursday night, it
>> > corrupted one of the Windows boot files.
>> > Does anyone have any ideas?
>> > Do you need more information?
>> > Thanks in advance for any help you can offer.
>> > --Bill
>>
>>
>>

From: "Tony Sperling" tony.sperling on 29 Oct 2007 05:47
Well, this is close to what I am having. In addition to the BIOS thing, I
want to draw attention to the SATA cables as one possible weak point. They
are rather stiff and routing them around the case could result in them
having tension that wants to pull them out of their sockets. They aren't
snapping on very tightly in their sockets anyway and I had to apply a
half-turn sideway twist before looping them around between the HD and the
MB. This is hard to explain in graphical language, but I think you'll
probably see what I'm driving at.

While you are inside, you might as well reseat everything else too, just
unfasten and give everything a gentle 'wiggle' and fasten it again. Then
let's see how it behaves. You should at least be able to boot from a CD/DVD.
Hopefully!

Oh - and flashing the BIOS, was that after the Avast upgrade?


Tony. . .



"BillBled" <BillBled(a)discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:2F343F93-2C7B-4649-9D78-A44760AE8ADE(a)microsoft.com...
> Hi Tony,
> Thanks for taking the time to reply.
> To answer your questions:
> 1- The system was built in June 2006.
> 2- It is not a dual boot box. Only boots to x64 Windows.
> 3- Avast was installed from the beginning.
> 4- One HD. Seagate, 320GB, SATAII - no RAID
> 5- I have flashed the BIOS to the latest one. No difference. Flashing
> resets
> the BIOS just like removing the battery (I think). At any rate, it didn't
> help.
>
> Motherboard is ASUS A8N32-SLI Deluxe, BIOS 1303
> Processor is AMD Athlon 64 x2 at 4200+ Dual Core (socket 939)
> RAM is 2GB Corsair XMS RAM
> HD is Seagate ST3320620AS
> Video card is Matrox Quad card, QID-E128-LPAF
> Power supply is Antec 550w TruePower 2.0
>
> This system has been rock solid from the time it was built until the Avast
> update Thursday night.
> Thanks again for your responise.
> --Bill
>
>
> "Tony Sperling mail.dk>" wrote:
>
>> Hi Bill,
>>
>> I have been running Avast myself for more than two years now, I think. My
>> machines are updating automatically, sometimes several times a day, never
>> had a problem. Something can easily have been corrupted in that update,
>> but
>> I am positive it is not Avast that did it. Anything you download may be
>> corrupted along the 'line' at any time and these updates are not trivial,
>> in
>> a running system.
>>
>> On the other hand, it doesn't sound to me as something that HAS to be
>> software related - how old is the system you've built? How long since
>> Avast
>> was installed? Are you 'Dual-Booting'? How many HD's? IDE, SCSI, RAID or
>> SATA?
>>
>> If nobody else here objects, I would probably first try and remove the
>> CMOS
>> battery for a few minutes (maybe ten?) - this will reset the BIOS and
>> [should] be harmless.
>>
>>
>> Tony. . .
>>
>>
>> "BillBled" <BillBled(a)discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
>> news:3DE47E52-F482-48B3-A242-C9DB3FA8E75E(a)microsoft.com...
>> > Hi,
>> > I have a computer that I built that won't boot after the latest Avast
>> > update. I updated Avast late Thurs (10/25/07) night and when it said
>> > that
>> > I
>> > needed to restart the computer, I pushed OK for it to restart and went
>> > to
>> > bed. I got up Friday morning and it was on a solid blue (not BSOD)
>> > screen.
>> > Now, it won't boot at all. I get thru the POST, and when it gets to
>> > launching
>> > the Windows x64 logo, it freezes on a black screen. No text.
>> >
>> > I also:
>> > - cannot get into any of the safe mode options, with one exception -
>> > when
>> > I
>> > launch into "Safe Mode" - I can see the lines "multidisk, rdisk, etc
>> > etc"
>> > coming across the screen and it stops on a line that ends in
>> > \windows\inf\biosinfo.inf - so it appears that this is where it
>> > freezes.
>> > - cannot boot to my original XP CDrom.
>> > - cannot get into the recovery console.
>> >
>> > Everything freezes to a black screen before I can get to any options
>> > that
>> > may allow me to work on this drive.
>> >
>> > I have slaved the drive to another x64 computer. I have full access to
>> > all
>> > of the data and files. Nothing is lost.
>> >
>> > So I'm thinking that when Avast did it's update on Thursday night, it
>> > corrupted one of the Windows boot files.
>> > Does anyone have any ideas?
>> > Do you need more information?
>> > Thanks in advance for any help you can offer.
>> > --Bill
>>
>>
>>


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