Computer freezes at startup – faulting application a2service.exe

[GT500 501]

10 hours ago, Alan_S said:

I assume I get the beta release by changing "Update feed" in the settings to "Beta" and then the Update will fix it,  Right?

Yes, that is correct.

 

10 hours ago, Alan_S said:

But when the beta version is released as "Stable", how do I get back to that state?  Simply set "Update feed" as stable...

That's also correct. There's rarely a need to uninstall a beta version manually, as the updater will simply download the correct program files for the update feed you're on and install them for you. Also note that the last beta version before a stable release is usually moved to the Stable update feed without modification, so there more than likely won't be any need for Emsisoft Anti-Malware to download or change anything if the same build is in the Stable and Beta feeds.

[GT500 501]

@Alan_S @XIII the fix should be included in today's beta:
https://blog.emsisoft.com/en/32420/emsisoft-anti-malware-2018-11-beta-2/

[Gideon Sword 3]

I last 7-8 days when power on pc and desktop always freeze and need power turn off button and no create dump file but in event log is this error

Faulting application name: a2service.exe, version: 2018.10.1.9026, time stamp: 0x5be1ac13
Faulting module name: KERNELBASE.dll, version: 10.0.17134.441, time stamp: 0x428de48c
Exception code: 0x0eedfade
Fault offset: 0x000000000003a388
Faulting process id: 0x144
Faulting application start time: 0x01d48967431cc3b9
Faulting application path: C:\Program Files\Emsisoft Anti-Malware\a2service.exe
Faulting module path: C:\Windows\System32\KERNELBASE.dll
Report Id: a1473bb0-7aa3-4786-a5d3-9480d3b68607
Faulting package full name: 
Faulting package-relative application ID: 

 

[stapp 121]

Have you tried the beta version mentioned  by GT500 in the posts above yours Gideon?

You can just change the update feed to 'beta' in the dropdown  accessed from Settings and then the Updates tab at the top.

[Gideon Sword 3]

2 hours ago, stapp said:

Have you tried the beta version mentioned  by GT500 in the posts above yours Gideon?

You can just change the update feed to 'beta' in the dropdown  accessed from Settings and then the Updates tab at the top.

I no like test beta version on this pc is for work and buy items... Will wait for stable version, but I have this problem from august (before no have freeze on start).

[stapp 121]

The beta version is supposed to fix the freeze.

If you are not happy at installing the beta, it may not be too long before it becomes a stable build  

[GT500 501]

@Alan_S @XIII a stable version has been released that contains the fix for this issue:
https://blog.emsisoft.com/en/32409/new-in-2018-11-user-interface-improvements/

If you already installed the beta, then feel free to switch back to the Stable update feed.

[GT500 501]

On 12/1/2018 at 7:04 AM, Gideon Sword said:

I last 7-8 days when power on pc and desktop always freeze and need power turn off button and no create dump file but in event log is this error

Let us know if today's stable update (2018.11) resolves the issue for you.

[Alan_S 3]

Sorry, I missed your post of last Monday about the fix now being in the stable version.  I switched to the beta version last Saturday.

Anyway, the old problem surfaced today under the latest beta, 2018-11.09.2073, when preparing to print a document, setting the printer to duplex printing (I use Apache Open Office and an oldie but goodie Canon "MP730 SmartBase Photo" printer).

Since the current fix is now stable, I'd prefer to return to the stable fold if that's OK with you.  The problem with being in the beta community when trying to concentrate on a specific issue is that (obviously) other troubles tend to occur, thus muddying the waters.

[GT500 501]

There's no need to stay on the Beta update feed now that the fix is available in a stable build, so feel free to switch back to the Stable update feed whenever you want.

[JeremyNicoll 45]

If the 'old problem' has shown up again in the latest Beta, unless that also gets fixed, @Alan_S  will have it again as soon as that goes stable though. 

[Gideon Sword 3]

On 12/3/2018 at 10:29 PM, GT500 said:

Let us know if today's stable update (2018.11) resolves the issue for you.

For now is ok ~2 days system boot no freeze... but will see for sure confirmation next 7-12 days...

[GT500 501]

23 hours ago, JeremyNicoll said:

If the 'old problem' has shown up again in the latest Beta, unless that also gets fixed, @Alan_S  will have it again as soon as that goes stable though. 

The odds are that it isn't the same issue, but I'm more interested to see if it also happens in the current stable build.

[Alan_S 3]

Well, it has happened, though not at start-up. This morning, I was using my EliteBook, which has the current stable version 2018.11.0.9073 (it was never switched to the beta feed), and around 10:40 CET decided it was time for a break. On returning, noted that the screen was black. First assumption was that it was in sleep but the power button was illuminated constantly, not blinking. Couldn't get any response so invoked a BSOD at about 11:08. On restarting, saw (as expected) that a2service.exe had bombed at 10:58:11.

So, should I send the dump?

Sadly, there are no debug logs. Ironically, the morning's work was documenting a UI problem and I had temporarily turned off debugging to be able to copy the logs after my break.

I still have a dump taken when using 2018.11.0.9073 beta on my Dell stationary.  It occurred (2018-12-05) when I set my printer preferences to 'duplex' to print a document.  Would that be of any use, or can I delete it?   

[JeremyNicoll 45]

> Sadly, there are no debug logs. ...

I run with debug logging on all the time.  But I have a reminder program here and every 4 days it reminds me to stop & restart logging - which only takes two clicks on the relevant setting.  And then I delete the logs accumulated over the last four days.  If I'd had any problems in those few days I'd already have isolated those logs.  I think what I'm saying is that when you turned logging off, you didn't need to leave it off.

 

[Alan_S 3]

Thanks, I'll stash that away in the old grey matter!

[marko 3]

1 hour ago, Alan_S said:

Sadly, there are no debug logs. Ironically, the morning's work was documenting a UI problem and I had temporarily turned off debugging to be able to copy the logs after my break.

I'm wondering whether the lock up was triggered by you turning debug logging off - I have had this problem since late August whereby, 9 times out of ten, if I turn debug logging off, a2service will crash shortly afterwards and cause Windows to hang completely.

I opened a thread about it here https://support.emsisoft.com/topic/29882-a2serviceexe-application-error/ but it was taken to pm in late September for some reason.  I've supplied them with several dump files from Windows and from procdump but, as yet, they have not been able to fix the problem.

[Toodles 0]

@Alan_S First, congrats an that EliteBook. 😉 I just received one as well and I'm quite amazed, didn't expect much considering it's from HP and all. It did keep me on my toes with all kinds of weird behavior, though until I uninstalled HP SureClick. That app sends all kinds of processes and browser tabs into Micro VMs, which can cause funny things. In my cause, Windows wouldn't even update anymore and I kept digging for reasons hours on end (Now this may not be related to this thread's problem, but I just thought I throw it in for good measure).

@marko Thanks for the heads up on the debug function. Kinda takes the point out of logging, when stuff only tends to crash with the log off, right? 🤡 

[Alan_S 3]

Thanks Marko.  It might just be something to do with logging.  I'll keep an eye on it.  But in my case the problem only occurs at around 2-3 week intervals (at least it did...) but then a shower of several occurrences. 

[marko 3]

39 minutes ago, Toodles said:

 

@marko Thanks for the heads up on the debug function. Kinda takes the point out of logging, when stuff only tends to crash with the log off, right? 🤡 

yes absolutely, although it doesn't crash when logging is off, nor when it's on, it only crashes when you turn logging from on to off

22 minutes ago, Alan_S said:

 in my case the problem only occurs at around 2-3 week intervals (at least it did...) but then a shower of several occurrences. 

My crashes and lockups were random too, or so I thought - it was only when I was capturing debug logs for another problem that I realised that turning logging off was causing the crash.

[Alan_S 3]

Marko, your comments regarding debug logs rang a bell but couldn't put my finger on it.  Now I remember:  Look at the very first post I made when I started this thread.  I recall now that debug logging appeared to help back in June but I seem to remember that it wasn't a 100% cure - a bit hazy...  But even so, I don't really feel that it's an acceptable solution.

[marko 3]

Alan_S - thanks - perhaps it is the same problem, caused by turning debug logging off.

When I first had the problem, I was troubleshooting another unrelated EAM problem by collecting debug logs.

I was experiencing crashes just after logon and initially thought the problem was due to a logon or startup problem, but I now realise that it wasn't an issue with it crashing at logon per se, but that the crashes were caused by EAM disabling debug logging because the debug logging period had expired since I enabled it for 1 day the day before.

I can still crash EAM pretty much at will by turning on debug logging, letting it collect logs for an hour or so, and then turning logging off again - within a few minutes of turning logging off, it will crash, quite often as soon as I launch another (random) piece of software.

[GT500 501]

6 hours ago, Alan_S said:

So, should I send the dump?

Yes. After fixing the first issue, we'll need fresh debug information to see what's causing the symptoms this time.

[JeremyNicoll 45]

> ... caused by EAM disabling debug logging because the debug logging period had expired since I enabled it for 1 day the day before

That's interesting.   Although I have logging on more or less all the time (except for a very brief stop/start every few days so I can purge the old logs), I simply use the enabled/disabled settings rather than the 'on for a specific period' option.  I've never had any reason to think that logging causes crashes. 

[stapp 121]

I never even turn the debug logs off to delete the old ones. I just go to C/ProgramData/Emsisoft/logs and highlight then delete the ones I don't want anymore.

I usually do this every other day.

[JeremyNicoll 45]

The advantage of turning logging off/on is that it closes the active log files and starts new ones.   If one doesn't reboot often, the logs grow extremely large.

[stapp 121]

48 minutes ago, JeremyNicoll said:

The advantage of turning logging off/on is that it closes the active log files and starts new ones.   If one doesn't reboot often, the logs grow extremely large.

I turn my machines off every night

[Alan_S 3]

So do I stapp. With a proper a mechanical switch too...

To business:

It's very early days but the good news is that I haven't experienced any freezes at start-up with build 9073, installed a week ago.

The bad news is that I've experienced 3 freezes during normal activity: last Wednesday, Friday and Sunday. I've sent a dump for each of these to [email protected] asking that it be forwarded to you, GT500. Also, a doc file for each, describing the scenarios. Were I a developer I'd want as much material as possible, but I leave it to you to decide what your people need. I really hope they can find out what's going on and fix it, as a freeze every other day is just not viable. Or perhaps the problem is that my two computers and EAM are simply not compatible.

I'm going to try Marko's advice and have debug logging enabled continually. It does agree with my own experience when all this started (see my original post). But even if it works, I can't accept it as a solution. Just a very temporary workaround until the developers fix it properly.  Fingers crossed...

[marko 3]

50 minutes ago, Alan_S said:

I'm going to try Marko's advice and have debug logging enabled continually. It does agree with my own experience when all this started (see my original post). But even if it works, I can't accept it as a solution. Just a very temporary workaround until the developers fix it properly.  Fingers crossed...

Alan_S - perhaps you misunderstood what I was trying to say, but I don't run EAM with logging enabled continually - as I understand things, this can impact performance.

I run EAM with loggingcontinually disabled and only turn it on if asked to by Emsisoft support.

My machine doesn't crash if I run EAM continually with logging disabled, nor does it crash if I run EAM continually with logging enabled - it only crashes when I turn logging off (i..e. the act of turning logging from on to off triggers the crash).

[Alan_S 3]

Aha!  Yes Marko, I did misunderstand.  I haven't experienced any problems when altering the debug logging state.  I'll leave it on though as it might give a bit more info for anyone who is working on the problem.  Thanks for the clarification.

[JeremyNicoll 45]

@marko - Logging in any application is bound to use more cpu and direct more I/O at the disk(s)... but whether you'd actually notice that if you have a modern/powerful PC, especially if you're using SSDs is doubtful.    In EAM, it /is/ important that you remain aware that logging is on and do something to make sure huge log files don't take over all your spare disk space though.

On older PCs I certainly could see a perfomance hit... but I still ran most apps with logging on... because I knew from my work, much of which involved troubleshooting problems in mainframe systems, that there was nearly no chance of fixing bugs unless detailed logs existed.  It's too late to turn on the logs after a problem occurs; they have to be on before the problem happens. 

Some systems even allow control over the level of logging (none, some, some more, very detailed) and which parts of the system generate logs.  Some systems allow you to change the level etc from within logging so that when certain symptoms are seen, logging can suddenly be made more detailed or turned off.

[GT500 501]

9 hours ago, Alan_S said:

The bad news is that I've experienced 3 freezes during normal activity: last Wednesday, Friday and Sunday. I've sent a dump for each of these to [email protected] asking that it be forwarded to you, GT500. Also, a doc file for each, describing the scenarios. Were I a developer I'd want as much material as possible, but I leave it to you to decide what your people need. I really hope they can find out what's going on and fix it, as a freeze every other day is just not viable. Or perhaps the problem is that my two computers and EAM are simply not compatible.

I've received the memory dumps, and will pass them on to QA.

[GT500 501]

On 10/29/2018 at 12:22 PM, XIII said:

I haven't been running EAM (and visiting this forum) because of this issue for quite a while (couldn't work on my PC with EAM installed).

I'll put it on my to-do list to check this week.

@XIII have you had a chance to check and see if the issue is fixed in the latest stable update?

[XIII 4]

On 12/10/2018 at 10:56 PM, GT500 said:

@XIII have you had a chance to check and see if the issue is fixed in the latest stable update? 

No, unfortunately not. Due to this issue I could not use EAM at all (have been using just Windows Defender instead).

I'm happy to test it again somewhere next week (too busy this weekend).

[Toodles 0]

Same here. I use EAM on commercial machines (POS mostly) and it's been a nightmare with customers hammering our hotline. I hope we'll get a final "go" when the issue is fully resolved, no point in re-activating EAM before that. 😢

[GT500 501]

On 12/15/2018 at 9:28 AM, Toodles said:

Same here. I use EAM on commercial machines (POS mostly) and it's been a nightmare with customers hammering our hotline. I hope we'll get a final "go" when the issue is fully resolved, no point in re-activating EAM before that. 😢

How may PC's would you estimate are effected, and which issue (freezing on startup or freezing on normal usage)?

You can switch your users to the Delayed update feed to work around the issue for now if you need to:

1. Open Emsisoft Anti-Malware.
2. Click on the little gear icon on the left side of the Emsisoft Anti-Malware window (roughly in the middle).
3. Click on Updates in the menu at the top.
4. On the left, in the Updates section, look for Update feed.
5. Click on the box to the right of where it says Update feed, and select Delayed from the list.
6. Right-click on the little Emsisoft icon in the lower-right corner of the screen (to the left of the clock).
7. Select Update now from the list.
   

[XIII 4]

Installed EAM 2018.11.0.9073 and booted. For the first time in a rather long time the PC did complete booting with EAM installed.

Will keep it installed for a while and see whether EAM works again like it used to in the past.

(Note that I won't be using my PC much during the holidays)

[GT500 501]

On 12/22/2018 at 9:10 AM, XIII said:

(Note that I won't be using my PC much during the holidays)

That's understandable. Enjoy the holidays, and let us know how things are going once your routine is back to normal.

[Alan_S 3]

Reporting that the situation hasn't occurred for me since the shower of incidents mid December. That's nearly 10 weeks.  I haven't noticed any announcement that sounds like a fix, neither in the beta forum nor the Change Blog (though perhaps it's hidden under “Improved stability”) but something must have happened.   It took over 6 months but, as the Bard of Avon said, “All's well that ends well”!

Thank you all who have got this to happen!
 

[GT500 501]

I'm glad to hear that the issue appears to be resolved now. If you need anything else, then please let us know.