McAfee update causes blue screen crash?

[gkakaron]

Hi,

I have McAfee Internet Security installed in three computers. A notebook running Windows Vista Home, another notebook running windows XP and a third desktop computer running Windows Vista Business N. All Windows are Greek versions.

At 14th of July in the morning when I started my Windows Vista Business N desktop computer, McAfee did a long update and requested that I restart my computer, which I did. When the computer restarted it crashed with a blue screen. This happened several times. I was only able to boot it in safe mode without networking. After trying many things including restoring the boot.ini, restoring the MBR etc. using the Vista recovery CD, finally I tried to restore the computer to a previous checkpoint using the Vista recovery CD. The checkpoint I used for the restoration was right before the McAfee upgrade. This checkpoint was mentioned in the list of checkpoints as the first one and was saying something about McAfee Inc. upgrade, Network Service. Anyway after restoring to the previous checkpoint before the McAfee update the computer booted normally. Then McAfee did again an update but this time it didn’t request restarting the PC. As far as I could tell the only problem left from all this was that the McAfee Security Center user interface window was a little bit cropped at the right side and I was not able to resize this window.

I forgot about it and thought it was an isolated incident, but yesterday (21st of July) the same thing happened again. Exactly the same sequence of events: (1) McAfee upgrade (a long one), (2) McAfee requested restarting the computer, (3) Blue screen while booting (4) restored the computer before McAfee update (Network service), (5) Computer booted normally.

Before booting the computer this time I deactivated my home network to avoid McAfee update. Then I deactivated updates through McAfee Security Center. Regardless McAfee attempted to do an update. I restarted the computer in the hope that the setting for the deactivation of updates will take effect after restarting. When the computer started McAfee informed me that I should restart the computer so that updates take effect (which updates?). Anyway restarting the computer resulted in a crash with a blue screen (for the third time).

Does McAfee upgrade on my Windows Vista Business N Gr PC causes this crash? My other two notebooks with McAfee don’t have this problem.

George

This to save users reading the whole thread.

1 BSODs with win 7 64bit and amd cpus in Toshiba PCs issue is fixed in an update starting Late September

2. Other BSODS or booting issues following an update could be network drivers see this post

https://community.mcafee.com/message/150924#150924

Message was edited by: Peacekeeper Added possible fixes this do not affect other OSs on 23/09/10 4:26:34 PM

[gkakaron]

Yesterday the same problem occurred again. After a couple of restores with the vista recovery cd and being unable to use my computer I ran the virtual technician which detected some missing components and suggested to uninstall and install McAfee again using the procedure with MCPR.exe. I uninstalled and installed McAfee as suggested. After installing McAfee again I restarted the computer and the computer crashed again with a blue screen. I restored the computer to a previous checkpoint prior the McAfee setup and this time I installed a free antivirus program. Now the computer boots normally again.

Is there any idea what causes this problem? I have a subscription for this product (McAfee Internet Security) valid until June 26, 2012 and it’s a pity that I can’t use it.

[vinod_r2]

If your screen turns blue (also known as a "blue screen of death"),  this is a serious issue and we want to investigate it quickly.

since you have done some testing already could you do one item so that i could grab some logs and stuff on the machine?

download and save this file in C: drive:

once done please install mcafee and allow it to update and do the crash on the machine... once done boot into safe mode without network and run the application we had saved.. this will capture and save a .zip file.... now remove mcafee and confirm if the machie is stable.... now i need you to  quickly  grab that file and attach it over here in the next reply.

in the mean time you may install a free AV to ensure that the machine is safe. The logs would give us a lot of useful infomation .

Please free feel to PM me for any assistance.

Regards

Vinod

[gkakaron]

Hi Vinod

I did what you said and I attach the zip file. I hope it helps figure this out.

Notice that this time when I installed McAfee it requested a reboot (to finalize the setup) and it crashed (blue screen) when rebooting. Yesterday after completing the installation the first reboot for the setup finalization was normal but it crashed the next time I restarted the computer.

Thanks for helping.

George

[paulm]

Vinod,

To add to gkakaron's observations, the exact same behavior is happening to my system starting this evening. It is a Windows 7 64 bit system, been receiving updates perfectly for about 6 months (when it was purchased). Removed Total Protection suite 3 times, restored computer 4 times to previous point. Always same result. Blue screen on boot, just as login screen appears. Boot then in safe mode, remove McAfee, using McAfee Uninstaller. Then reinstall, reboot, then blue screen. At this point McAfee removed from system. Works perfectly, have run many apps to test, all is well until McAfee gets reinstalled.

thanks,

paul

[njmchase]

Vinod - ditto on my wife's Acer notebook running Windows 7 Home.

All was fine until an update on Saturday requiring a reboot after which the machine kept blue screen just as the login page was displayed.

After a restore Mcafee kicked in and re-downloaded the update and the same thing happened.

Ran a restore again after turning off all Mcafee Services from Safeboot. Machine loaded fine. Restarted Mcafee having disabled the auto download.

I suspect this is a similar issue to that which affected the .dat file earlier this year, where the .dat file itself is seen as a virus. I believe the .dat file that was being loaded this time was 6068 (but that is off the top of my head - I cannot recollect)

[SteveW]

I have a similar issue. My system is runs Windows XP and yesterday (30Aug10) when I turned on the PC it immediately began downloading a large McAfee update. At the end of the update install process it stated that the PC needed to restart to finish installation. As the PC was shutting down a message flashed on the screen that there was an error accessing a certain memory location. When starting up again a McAfee message appeared stating that a Trojan had been found and cleaned. After that everything appeared OK since the login screen appeared as is normal. After logging in is when the problem appeared. The only thing that loads is the desktop background image. There are no icons or buttons of any kind on the screen. The right click functionality of the mouse does not work. The only thing I can do is press Ctr/Alt/Del and get to the Task Manager.

I have tried to restart using the “last know good configuration” with the same result. It will not boot up at all in safe mode. I am at a loss as to what step to try next.

Steve

[willshire99]

I have similar issue, running Windows 7 at home. Happened 8/31, i restored computer on 9/1 then the McAphee update went through again and I received the blue screen again.

What should i do to fix this?

I am tempted to remove McAfee altogether.

Fred

[dwlerchenfeld]

I also have an Acer laptop running Windows 7 32 bit and get the same blue screen crash.

I have paid good money for a product that is now unusable.  Is there any solution to this problem?

[ltfisherman]

I am also have "the blue screen of death" with the updates from McAfee the past week.  I have had to restore my Vista to an earlier date before McAfee's dump.  I have chatted with Ranjit Mohan at McAfee and he can't fix the problem  I am only seeing part of the HOME Screen and therefore cann't click on the FIX.  I am also about ready to download a free virus program.