McAfee Total Protection - Firewall Stops & Stuck In Update Mode

[jschilberg]

I have three (3) computers on the same home network running McAfee Total Protection. One is a 5+ year old Dell Laptop running Win 8.1, another is a 3+ year old Dell Desktop running Win 7, and another is a 2+ year old Dell Laptop running Win 7.

About mid-January I noticed the Chrome browser on my Win 8.1 Laptop stopped browsing, as did all other browsers loaded on it like IE, Opera and Firefox. However, Outlook 2016 still functioned normally. Chrome would get so bound up it wouldn't even close normally and had to be shut down via Task Manager "End Task". I discovered my McAfee Firewall was stopping the browsers when I did a ping test via the cmd prompt. I did a reload of the McAfee software and in doing so also discovered the Dell Win 7 Desktop PC was notifying the 8.1 unit's McAfee Control Panel that the Firewall wasn't running on the Desktop system.

A reload of the software on the 8.1 laptop worked for about 4 hours and the same problem occurred - No browsing and Chrome crashed. Two more reloads, one performed by a McAfee support technician produced the same results.

I checked the Win 7 Desktop and the firewall was off, but there were no automatic alerts on that PC that told me so. I restarted the computer and all seemed ok until I checked back in about an hour and it was stuck in "Updating Software" mode. The McAfee control panel would not open. I reloaded the software and waited for the results and it wasn't long after the Firewall was again being reported off (via my laptop's control panel, but not on the Dell Desktop unit). I also found McAfee was stuck again in Update mode. Another reload created the same results - Firewall turning itself off, and stuck in update mode without the ability to open the McAfee control panel.

Please note that all software reloads were performed using the McAfee remove tool. All reload software downloads were directly from my account portal on the McAfee site. I have also scanned both the 8.1 and Win 7 Desktop machines for suspicious software and nothing has been found using McAfee or your competitor's products.

I have since removed Total Protection from the 8.1 Laptop and the Win 7 Desktop unit. The 8.1 unit now functions normally and Chrome has not crashed. The Win 7 Desktop did not do any heavy browsing so I don't know if Chrome would've crashed on that computer. The third unit, Win 7 Dell Laptop, has functioned normally throughout this whole period of time.

Any advice? Recommendations? I see your site is warning people of "Urgent Announcement: Our support is experiencing extended wait times. We apologize for this inconvenience and hope to have services restored as soon as possible." Is that because a LOT of machines are screwed up with this or similar problems? How long do you anticipate this problem will persist? Will I have a refund option if it cannot be resolved in a timely manner?

Thanks for any and all guidance.

[Peacekeeper]

I called support yesterday while that announcement was there got on in 1 minute so best to call support. Reference your SR number from previous call and if the Tech does not know a fix request an escalation call back.

[jschilberg]

Hi Peacekeeper,

Thanks for the note. I've already been on the phone with tech support for over an hour with no gain. It's obvious to me this is affecting more than my two machines, so while I appreciate your recommendation, I would prefer to hear something from McAfee technicians about how they're aware of the problem and are working to publish a work around or push out a patch within the next week.

[user_44043]

MTP17DOO5RKA       McAfee Protection  2017      1year    5 devices          Veriveer numer

Veilighijds nummes      249LK-5527V-CT679-3X965-A2ADA

[jschilberg]

Henri,

Thanks for the information, but I haven't received my McAfee decoder ring in the mail yet. 😉

[Peacekeeper]

I too wondering where my decooder ring is we mods have no access to account info or product ownership. Re your firewall issue I will flag this for escalation Please post the SR number you got for the call .

or

Can you assist here please

[jschilberg]

Hi Peacekeeper,

Is there a way to send you the number Archana assigned to my case via private message? It's a number assigned specifically to me so I'm not really comfortable publishing that to a public forum.

Best,

John

[catdaddy]

Hi John 

             Colleague ​  Should be checking in a couple of hours or so. As his Geographical location is Australia. He would most likely ask you to send him the (Service Request Number)  provided to you through a Direct/Private message.

               All you would have to do is hover over his Avatar and follow him and click (Done), then of course he would accept and follow you.  Just thought I would add that.

All the Best,

CD

[selvan]

Hi Henri/John,

Please post back the version of McAfee installed on your PC to proceed further. Did a reboot of the machine solved the problem? A screenshot of the issue might helps. The Service Request number that you received from the Technician might help immensely as I'll be able to pull up the records on my own

[catdaddy]

I sent you the Service Request Number.