Problems with Avast update(SOLVED.)

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piteapup
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Problems with Avast update(SOLVED.)

#1 Post by piteapup »

anyone else have probs with avast 1.0.3/1.0.8.pet?
when installed, there is no problem-its after updating-that a pop-up error avast engine failed...etc..
is it just me or does avast have a bug with the updates?
any ideas/help welcomed.. :? :x
Last edited by piteapup on Sat 17 Apr 2010, 19:31, edited 1 time in total.

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piteapup
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#2 Post by piteapup »

any comments/sugestions regards this fix that iv not tried as of yet!
see link-avast keept me happy for over a year+ i would love it if this is a fix...
http://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=58610.0

Sylvander
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#3 Post by Sylvander »

Tried an experiment.
1. Running a Full install of BoxPup-413, with Avast! Linux home edition version 1.0.8
VPS file version 100224-0, 24/02/10.

2.
(a) Clicked "Update database", and that began.
The processor was running at 100%.

(b) At some point the Avast window disappeared.
Tried to restart it but it wouldn't = no response = no CPU usage increase.

3.
(a) Rebooted into Lighthouse Puppy [using CD-RW and pupsave on Flash Drive].

(b) Deleted contents of sda3 [BoxPup partition], and restored recent backup snapshot [of folder/file contents] made using snap2.

(c) Re-booted back into BoxPup.
Avast was now OK as before the attempt to update the database.

(d) Now using Avast to scan sda5 [Windows data partition], without update of virus database.
That's scanning OK.
Scan complete, no virus's found.

4. I guess I need to perhaps uninstall the existing version of Avast, and install a newer version before attempting to use the latest virus database. :?

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piteapup
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#4 Post by piteapup »

did you read whats on the avast-forum link above?
shm...ect...i think the prob is in the fact that 400.vps is 36mb,
+ we must change values of shm usage???
i read some where that the kernal has probs with anything over 32mb...this was all ubuntu info tho...
i tried asking @ #ubuntu what a waist of space these ppl were!--have a look at the avast forum again...
thanks for the reply any way...#puppylinux was no better source of in fo either...moan,moan....cheers bro.

2byte
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#5 Post by 2byte »

@piteapup
I ran into this problem a couple of days ago. Thanks to you it is now fixed! Just add this line to /etc/rc.d/rc.local

Code: Select all

 /sbin/sysctl -w kernel/shmmax=200000000 
I just updated the Avast virus db to 100416-0, 4/16/2010 and everything works fine.
This is in Puppy 4.12 with Avast 1.3.0

Thanks!


Sylvander
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#6 Post by Sylvander »

1. Where would I get a PET file for Avast 1.3.0?

2. Tried your method, but it didn't work for me. :(
Same problem as in my experiment above.
Restored sda3.

2byte
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#7 Post by 2byte »

Sylvander,
I never used the pet, just downloaded the avast4workstation-1.3.0.tar.gz file from http://www.avast.com/linux-home-edition extracted it to / and made a desktop icon for it by dragging /avast4workstation-1.3.0/bin/avastgui to the desktop from Rox. If you decide to uninstall the pet and upgrade make sure you remove /root/.avast and any other files that avast creates on its own.

The fix works for me in Puppy 4.12 with kernel 2.6.21.7. Maybe boxpup has sysctl in another location??

Edit: corrected the file path :?
Last edited by 2byte on Sat 17 Apr 2010, 01:06, edited 1 time in total.


Sylvander
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#8 Post by Sylvander »

1. Uninstalled existing Avast installation using PPM.

2. Deleted /root/.avast folder.

3. Downloaded the avast4workstation-1.3.0.tar.gz file.

4. Extracted its contents to /

5. Used ROX-filer to attempt to drag-n-drop /avast4workstation-1.3.0/lib/avast4workstation/bin/wrapper-script.sh to the desktop, but it refused to go; when dropped the icon just kept gliding gracefully from whence I dragged it. :(

6. Tried using Xfe to do the drag-n-drop, but that failed also.

2byte
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#9 Post by 2byte »

Sylvander,
First, my apologies for giving the wrong file to drag to the desktop.

Installed BoxPup 413 r1 to sort this out. Here's what I did.
Extracted the avast tar.gz download to /.
Added the line /sbin/sysctl -w kernel/shmmax=200000000 to /etc/rc.d/rc.local
Created this file /usr/share/applications/Avast.desktop

Code: Select all

 
[Desktop Entry]
Encoding=UTF-8
Name=Avast! anti-virus
Icon=preferences-system
Comment=Anti-virus
Exec=/avast4workstation-1.3.0/bin/avastgui
Terminal=false
Type=Application
Categories=Archiving
Ran fixmenus, which errored so it may not be necessary.
The menu entry shows up in the Utility menu.

Ran avast, updated the virus db, and everything works.

Hope this takes care of it for you and that I didn't forget something.
I couldn't get an icon to the desktop either.


Sylvander
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#10 Post by Sylvander »

1. Followed your new instructions...
And it appeared to work, except...
When I ran "Menu->Utility->Avast"...
The following errors were displayed:
(a) "An Error occurred in Avast! engine: invalid argument."
Details:
"Deleted stale lock file /root/.avast/lockfile-root"
(b) "Avast engine failed to reinitialise after database upgrade. The application will terminate now."
It will not run and scan. :(

2. By-the way, I notice there are 3 files [including 2-off .desktop files]...
In...
/avast4workstation-1.3.0/lib/avast4workstation/share/avast/desktop
Named as follows:
avast-quickscan.desktop
avast.desktop
install-desktop-entries.sh
Attachments
00.jpg
(17.18 KiB) Downloaded 4782 times

2byte
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#11 Post by 2byte »

Well, all I can do is offer a couple of suggestions to try.
Replace these two files with the ones that came in the original tar.gz archive
/root/.avast/400.vps
/avast4workstation-1.3.0/lib/avast4workstation/var/400.vps
and delete the /root/.avast lock file (if it's there), or do a clean and reinstall of avast.

Run this from a terminal
/sbin/sysctl -w kernel/shmmax=200000000
If you have a low memory machine you might try half of that amount.

Then try avast again.

If it works there might be some code that prevents that line from executing in rc.local.

If it doesn't work I'm out of ideas. Low memory? Not running as root? Downloaded the archive as spot and file permissions are wrong?
The only other thing I can think of is it could be some difference in your system from mine. I have an old 1.8 GHZ, 512MB ram machine with a 2GB swap partition and boxpup 413r1 is a fresh frugal install with a 512 MB save file.

Ha, if I had looked and found those .desktop files it would have saved a little time.


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piteapup
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avast etc..

#12 Post by piteapup »

thanks 2byte-your trick worked.
i used the 1.0.8.pet found here on forum.
updated ok but slow start up-going to drop it down to 128000000
then see if it starts faster.
-Computer-
Processor : Intel(R) Celeron(R) CPU 2.40GHz(northwood.)
Memory : 766MB (278MB used)
Operating System : Puppy Linux
-Processor-
Name : Intel(R) Celeron(R) CPU 2.40GHz
Family, model, stepping : 15, 2, 7 (Pentium 4)
Vendor : Intel
-Configuration-
Cache Size : 128kb
Frequency : 1200.00MHz
BogoMIPS : 4847.61
Byte Order : Little Endian
so it runs on a system like mine-ihave a frugal install of puppy431.
swap of 1gb
i know its only running at 1,2ghz-ram runs at 200mhz-V.stable+fast enough tho.
the is also more posts at the avast-forum on this subject.
thanks to all-been a good learning process all the same.
uptill now i had no probs with avast 4 linux(odd false posatives)
so i stick with it-i use opera-unite so i like to scan everything before i share it.

Sylvander
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Location: West Lothian, Scotland, UK

#13 Post by Sylvander »

1. I'm rather confused now.
(a) e.g. You said:
"Replace these two files with the ones that came in the original tar.gz archive"
But one of those 2 files = this one:
"/avast4workstation-1.3.0/lib/avast4workstation/var/400.vps" [19.9MB]
Came in the tar.gz file, so it's impossible to replace it with itself.

(b) The other file = this one:
"/root/.avast/400.vps" [34.1MB]
Is part of the previous Avast installation.
You instructed previously to delete this, which I did, but have now restored it from a backup.
Should this /root/.avast folder now be retained, and the 400.vps file replaced?

2.
(a) You said:
"Run this from a terminal
/sbin/sysctl -w kernel/shmmax=200000000
"
Is this in addition to, or instead of:
"Add the line /sbin/sysctl -w kernel/shmmax=200000000 to /etc/rc.d/rc.local " ?

3. Could you perhaps begin afresh with instructions?
If necessary I can go right back to before I began all of this [by restoring a backup of the contents of sda3].

2byte
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#14 Post by 2byte »

Sylvander,

All I meant was to get rid of any 400.vps files you have in your system and replace them with the ones from your archive. These are the virus definition files and you need to start with the old ones that avast will still run with. The trouble starts when avast updates these to the latest ones, which are larger files and use up more memory.

Running /sbin/sysctl -w kernel/shmmax=200000000 from the terminal is to test the command on your system. If you execute this from the terminal, and no errors are returned, and then avast runs and updates OK, it would indicate that this same command that you put into rc.local is not executing for some reason. Having /sbin/sysctl -w kernel/shmmax=200000000 in rc.local is a way to have the command executed whenever the system starts, as a convenience. By the way, one of the members on the avast forum suggested using a value of 130000000 instead of 200000000, so that is something else you can try.

shmmax specifies system-wide maximum allowable shared memory segment size so you must have enough memory available for the value used, and the value must be big enough for the virus definition files avast uses.

Sorry to have confused you. Restoring sda3 would get you back to a known working configuration, and you could experiment with the /sbin/sysctl command and upgrading from that point.


Sylvander
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Location: West Lothian, Scotland, UK

#15 Post by Sylvander »

1. Still rather confused, so decided to go right back to the beginning, start anew, and keep it simple.

2. Restored sda3.

3. Ran your command:

Code: Select all

/sbin/sysctl -w kernel/shmmax=130000000
...at a terminal command prompt.
Does running this command just this once obviate the need to place that command in the /etc/rc.d/rc.local file?

4. Then ran Avast! version 1.0.8 and clicked "Update database".
The update completed just fine to VPS file version 100419-0.

5. Started a scan of my mounted sda1 [Windows] partition, which is running as I type.
Scan now completed successfully.

6. Should I stick with this Avast! version 1.0.8?

2byte
Posts: 353
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#16 Post by 2byte »

Glad you have it working!
Does running this command just this once obviate the need to place that command in the /etc/rc.d/rc.local file?
The command needs to be run before avast is used, every time.

The best way is to have it execute at boot time so one does not forget, which is the purpose of putting it in rc.local. I am assuming that scripts in rc.local actually get executed on your system, as this is the standard Puppy set up. To be sure that the sysctl command is not blocked you could put it at the top of rc.local and it will be the first script to run.
Should I stick with this Avast! version 1.0.8?
That's entirely up to you. If I were you and wanted to update to the latest version of avast, I would make sure that I have everything working the way I want with 1.08 first.


Sylvander
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#17 Post by Sylvander »

1. "The best way is to have it execute at boot time so one does not forget, which is the purpose of putting it in rc.local. I am assuming that scripts in rc.local actually get executed on your system, as this is the standard Puppy set up."
(a) What I was doing wrong, was...
After adding the command at the bottom within /etc/rc.d/rc.local, I was failing to reboot.
Didn't know that was necessary.
Doing that now, and all's well.

DMcCunney
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#18 Post by DMcCunney »

Sylvander wrote: (a) What I was doing wrong, was...
After adding the command at the bottom within /etc/rc.d/rc.local, I was failing to reboot.
Didn't know that was necessary.
The commands in rc.local are executed on boot. If you make a change and don't reboot, they never get run.
______
Dennis

Sylvander
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#19 Post by Sylvander »

"The commands in rc.local are executed on boot. If you make a change and don't reboot, they never get run."
Now understood.
When 2byte explained, I realized what I was doing wrong, and put that right. :D

keniv
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#20 Post by keniv »

Can I ask if the above procedures work with 5.2.5. I had both Avast 1.0.8 and Xfprot working in 5.2 using the fix outlined above. In 5.2.5 both appear to crash after the update files are downloaded during their installation. The crash freezes the machine and I have to shut down at the power-off button. I have tried this with both an updated save file from 5.2 and a fresh install of a 5.2.5 save file. I have to be able to scan flash drives which are also sometime used with a windows machine. At the moment I have to go back to 5.2 to do this. Other than this 5.2.5 is working well for me. I would appreciate any help with this as I am at a loss as to what to try next.

Regards,

Ken.

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