AVG Free 8.5 & BSOD

I hope that someone here can help me.

I have been running AVG Free 7.5 w/o problem until just recently when updates were no longer being made available and was prompted by the program to update to their current version (v 8.5).

I followed the program prompts to install the newer version (during the install it said it was uninstalling the previous version). The program appeared to install w/o error, and at the end of the install I was prompted to restart the systerm, which I did.

During the restart, it appeared to hang for a bit on the "loading your personal settings" and then it started to load my desktop and then went to a blue screen with the following error message:

Stop: 0x0000007e (0xc0000005, 0xA8cc72cc, 00xF78DAA40, 0xF78DA73c)

tmcomm.sys - Address A8cc72cc base at A8cc1000, Date Stamp 44cda60b

Beginning physical dump of memory.

I had to go into Safe Mode and do a System Restore to be able to boot my computer.

I tried to get help on the AVG Free forum ( http://freeforum.avg.com/read.php?13,182099,182740#msg-182740 ) but after several attempts to uninstall/reinstall, I still get the same BSOD every time I install the program and then restart my system.

Any help you can give me would be greatly appreciated.

I am running WinXP Pro (SP2)

 

Are you running both Trend Micro and AVG at the same time?
Possibly conflicting with each other and one should not run 2 anti-virus products at the same time.

 

Thank you for your reply, elbiatcho1.

No, I do not have TrendMicro installed. The only time I have ever used is was during an online scan, so there is a housecall65.trendmicro.com folder in C\Docs & Settings\UserName\Housecall6.6\Update\AU_Cache

 

Hmm, I wonder if you have some bad stuff... that tmcomm.sys could be malware. Is that file located in the Windows\System32\Drivers folder?
I'd go through the Malware Guide.

 

I suppose it's possible that I have some sort of malware, however, I keep a pretty safe system (AV program updated daily, Spybot, AdAware, SpywareBlaster, software & hardware firewall, WinPatrol, SUPERantispyware - and I use Firefox instead of IE).

I don't understand anything about stop errors, so I don't understand why I only get it after installing the latest version of AVG.

I did a search for tmcomm.sys and found two instances - one in the housecall6.6 folder that I mentioned earlier, and the other is in C\Windows\System32\drivers. Don't know if it's suppose to be there or not.

 

Old version of tmcomm.sys had a vulnerability.
I'd try preventing that from loading up on boot.

 

Thank you for your reply, gloozit.

I am only moderately computer literate, so the instructions regarding reading the dump file seem awfully confusing to me. Since I already know that tmcomm.sys is the problem, I am wondering if I really need to go through trying to read the dump file?

I attempted to use the link that you gave me to Trend Micro's site, but when I get there, it looks like a main page, but doesn't seem to completely load (there is a blank aread in the center near the top of the page with a spinning icon like it is still loading).

I checked the properties of the two tmcomm.sys files that I found on my system, and they both have Trend Micro signatures.

I am wondering if I can just delete the file in C\WINDOWS\System32\Drivers and the entire housecall folder in C\Docs & Settings\UserName\.housecall6.6 ? I can't seem to find any other way to uninstall it. I am pretty sure the files are from using Trend Micro's online Active X/Java scanner a long time ago.

 

I noticed that when I Googled tmcomm.sys.
Can you explain how to prevent it from loading on boot?
As I asked gloozit, I am wondering if it is OK to just delete the files?

Thank you for your time.

 

Turner4, did you know that 2/3 of all malware ever was identified in 2008? In all of the computers history. From 1940 to 2007 1/3 was found - a period of 67 years. And 2/3 of it was found in 2008 - a period of one year. The amount of malware tripled in that one year: 2008. And then we have all the sh*t not yet found. And the malware found in 2009. This is so much worse than than most people imagine.

Going over the malware guide from Majorgeeks might just reveal the problem...

 

you can go to control panel, administrative tools, services
look for something about trend micro, or tmcomm.sys and set it for manual startup type, or even disabled

 

Thank you for your reply, Cordialis. Those statistics are pretty mind boggling. I can only imagine how much better the world would be if those people designing viruses and malware put their talents to good use.

I am actually in the process of running through all of the suggestions in Read & Run Me First Post. So far, the only thing that I have found out of the ordinary is Viewpoint MediaPlayer (which, I understand, was installed with AIM).

Still looking for info on how to remove the tmcomm.sys files so that I can get AVG to run ..... pretty scary not having an AV program (especially with this Conficker thing going around).

 

Thank you for your reply, thesmokinggun.

I don't see anything in services for Trend Micro, Housecall or tmcomm.sys.

However, in Device Manager, if I choose Show Hidden Devices|Non Plug & Play Drivers, tmcomm is listed. Can I just choose Uninstall ? Or will it automatically reinstall when I reboot?

I'm still wondering if I can just delete all of the files?

Thank you for your time.

 

AVG is not a top freeware program. Those days are gone. Avira Antivir and Avast will serve you much better.

 

tmcomm.sys is a Trend Micro file. Just search it and delete it? A search for Trend Micro is also advisable. Delete all findings. If you do not have any Trend Micro products (software) installed they are not supposed to be there.

 

I have read so many different opinions of AVG, Avast and Avira. I have been using AVG for quite some time and am familiar with it and it seems that it has been doing it's job. Is there any particular reason why you think Avira or Avast is better at this point in time?

 

Thank you for your reply, Cordialis. I'm going to give it a shot. Wish me luck !

 

Will do! I hope they'll find something, so that you can delete the findings and get on with the surfing! :-D Fingers crossed! :cool

 

Success !

I just want to thank all of you who replied to my post with information/suggestions. I think it is fantastic that you all take the time to use your knowledge and talent to help those of us who are less knowledgeable/talented.

For anyone who might have stumbled upon this thread with a similar problem, these are the steps that resolved my tmcomm.sys blue screen after installing AVG 8.5:

I went into Device Manager (Start|Run|devmgmt.msc)
When Device Manager opened I chose View|Show Hidden Devices
I then scrolled down and expanded Non Plug & Play Drivers
Scrolled down to tmcomm and Right Clicked and chose Uninstall
I was prompted to restart - OK
After restarting I did a Search for tmcomm (searching System Folders & Hidden Files)
I then deleted the following that was found in the Search:

C\Documents & Settings\USERNAME\.housecall6.6
C\WINDOWS\System32\drivers\tmcomm.sys

I also did a Search for Trend Micro and found and deleted: Trend Micro SysClean Aug 2006

I then did a restart of my system and once rebooted, did a Search for tmcomm and found no instances.

I installed AVG8.5 - ran through the First Run Wizard and then restarted my system - WITH NO BLUE SCREEN tmcomm.sys ERROR !

I hope that this information can help someone with a similar problem

 

Well done! :-D

 

Thanks. I hope that my problem helps someone else

 

you might want to run Ccleaner's Registry clean as well, just to clean it up
http://majorgeeks.com/download4191.html

 

Interesting, Turner. I am also an AVG free user, but I haven't done the upgrade to 8.5 yet. I got looking around my system, since I know I did try unsuccessfully to use Housecall about 2 years ago. I stopped partway through because there was a lot of interactive traffic between the Housecall server and my computer, and my ISP throttled my internet speed to nothing because I was using too much bandwidth, so I aborted the scan and I never tried it again. I have the folder in the Documents and Settings/User name folder, just like you, but I don't have Housecall's driver installed anywhere. Tmcomm.sys only shows up on my system in that folder and nowhere else when I run the Search function, so I don't think it's drivers are actually installed and running anywhere.

So it should be OK, then to simply delete that entire Housecall folder?

Thanks for the info, it should be quite helpful.

 

Thanks for the suggestion, thesmokingun. I will probably do that, but I am always a little leery of using one of those registry cleanup programs, although I have read good things about ccleaner.

 

I am, by no means, an expert of computer systems, Amethyst_08, but it seemed to work for me. I did it as a last resort, since there was no way to uninstall it via Start|Programs or Windows Add & Remove Programs.

I don't know if you checked Search System Files and Hidden Files & Folders in the Advanced Options when you did your search for the tmcomm file - you might want to check in C\Windows\System 32\Drivers and double-check for the file there.

As an additional warning regarding the current AVG 8.5, it seems that it was causing Firefox to crash. After doing some research, I found some information that indicated it might be happening because I had elected to install the AVG Toolbar when I installed the full program. After disabling it, Firefox seems to be working fine. While doing research for my problems, the information that I came across seems that the current version is a bit buggy, because I was seeing queries from a lot of people with different problems after installing it.

I wish you good luck on your upgrade !

 

Well, I FINALLY got the upgrade on my desktop PC. I was waiting until it was offered via the program, and I just got it today. I already had installed it on the laptop a few days ago and that went smoothly. So far, the desktop PC is doing just fine with it as well.

That tmcomm wasn't in my system32\drivers folder at all, so it looks like Housecall didn't install it on my system.

The AVG update to 8.5 went just fine, even though I had that Housecall folder in my Programs folder.

No problems with Firefox, but I never did have the toolbar installed.

So, all is well.

 

Glad to hear that it all went well for you