Malwarebytes crashing on boot - across reinstall as well

[malbilling]

This morning I turned on my 64-bit P4 system and Malwarebytes did not start correctly (has been working fine for, probably, months). Rebooted the system to see if that would fix the problem; it did not. Opened the user interface to Malwarebytes and there were two items that were not correct - the "Unable to connect to upgrade server" as well as the last of the four items of the window (which I cannot check at this moment because Malwarebytes is currently unstalled completely in preparation for another reinstall attempt). Clicked on "Fix Now" and there was no apparent beneficial result, though watching processes with Process Explorer showed that clicking "Fix Now" starts up mbamservice and mbam - with mbam crashing and mbamservice then exiting.

 

Found instructions on the forums for cleaning and reinstalling Malwarebytes. Downloaded "mbam-clean-2.0.2.0.exe" and "mbam-setup-2.0.2.1012.exe" from the instruction's links. Ran the clean program and Malwarebytes was successfully removed. Ran the setup program and everything apparently was installed "correctly" - at the last dialog of that setup (where the button "Finish" is displayed) I unchecked the "trail version" checkbox and hit "Finish". Malwarebytes was not correctly running on exit of that setup. Rebooted again to see if that would fix the problem; it did not.

 

Ran the clean process once more, then accessed the forums to see what others are reporting. There are numerous new posts within, say, the last 12+ hours with symptoms similar to my own.

 

The version I had been running (yesterday) was apparently the last "Premium" one dated May 20th, 2014 (2.0.2) see https://www.malwarebytes.org/support/releasehistory/

 

The version downloaded per the instructions is 2.0.2.1012 - I do not have its date and the Release History noted above does not mention it.

 

My Premium license for Malwarebytes is grandfathered in - it was bought when the licensing was "lifetime", not subscription. However, when I ran the (re)install mentioned above, Malwarebytes never got to the point of asking for the ID or Key.

 

[1PW]

Hello malbilling:

 

A properly executed clean re-install will delete all traces of the original application and its owner's license ID and Key as warned through the instructions.

 

Since a clean re-install was performed, and you have discontinued the Trial period, you may now activate your application, using your license ID and Key, to a Premium level from its now free version.

 

Please let us know if you succeed in a reply to this thread.

 

Thank you.

[malbilling]

I will now reinstall Malwarebytes and NOT uncheck the "Trial version" checkbox on the last dialog page of the setup program and see where that gets me. As noted in the original post of this thread Malwarebytes was not running correctly after setup when I unchecked that box during setup.

 

Back soon!

[1PW]

Hello malbilling:

 

As the subject rarely occurs for me, I suspect the activation is viable in either case. Such would be the case if the user allowed the Trial period to expire for many weeks before obtaining a valid license and its subsequent activation.

 

I hope all goes well and please let us know how you're doing.

 

Thank you.

[malbilling]

Okay, ran setup and did NOT uncheck the "trial version" checkbox on the last dialog page (the one with "Finish"). Hit "Finish" and the regular Malwarebytes user interface window opened with (1) The "database update" item on the Dashboard now showed the database had been updated rather than "unable to access update server" and (2)  the top "Fix Now" part saying needing to do a scan ("never run"). Also noted a blue "Activate Now" item in the top menu. Clicked on that and was presented with a minimal dialog asking for ID and Key - entered both and was apparently successfully activated as Premium.

 

Then went back to dashboard and clicked on Fix Now; scan started up and 300,000+ objects checked. On return to the Dashboard the "Fix Now" was there still, The last item on the dashboard, "Real-time Protection" had a red 'X' with the words "Available with Malwarebytes Anti-Malware Premium". Clicked "Fix Now" - no effect. Went to the Settings and Protection dialog under Settings where "Malware Protection" etc is enabled/disabled and enabled it and the one below it. Went back to Dashboard and clicked "Fix Now" - no effect.

 

Checking processes running see that only a user-mode "mbam" is running - no mbamscheduler nor mbamservices.

 

Will reboot and see what happens then come back here yet again with some more words.

 

Until I get back, however, some suggestions - the setup program itself should ask for activation or free trial, especially since the last dialog explicitly allows "turning off" free trial which apparently broke the regular user interface since there were no registry entries after mbam-clean of ID and Key.

 

But that's a different problem. Now will see if reboot clears up the bogus error causing real-time protection to not be started up.

 

Back soon! A-GAIN!

[1PW]

Until I get back, however, some suggestions - the setup program itself should ask for activation or free trial, especially since the last dialog explicitly allows "turning off" free trial which apparently broke the regular user interface since there were no registry entries after mbam-clean of ID and Key.

This has been the default action since earlier in the years old MBAM1 version, and it still is in that older version. Quite frankly you should see none of the trouble you are experiencing as untold hundreds of thousands of MBAM2 users are now, have been, and will be experiencing upgrades till all of the tens of millions of users are up on the same MBAM2 family.

You still might be experiencing a yet to be troubleshot situation requiring staffer intervention. Let's hope not.

[malbilling]

Okay, rebooted again and the familiar malwarebytes icon appeared in the systray - the Database Version was blank. Tried to open the user interface with literally no effect. Tried again - nothing. Tried via the Desktop icon instead and watched processes running. Saw a second mbam come and go but no user interface window opened. Sat there thinking (cursing) a bit and, finally, the standard user interface unexpectedly opened up and all was green. It appears (you guys would know) that the original mbam process was catatonic while it was accessing the database server - when THAT finished it woke back up and displayed the user interface window.

 

================

 

So - at this time it appears Malwarebytes is again starting/running correctly - the only thing I did to try to fix the broken-on-original-boot-this-morning-at-05:30 was multiple mbam-cleans and mbam-setups. It should pointedly be noted, however, that Malwarebytes was working last night when this machine was shut down and was broken when this machine was turned on and rebooted this morning at 05:30.

 

================

 

Other notes:

 

Running mbam-clean apparently missed one (empty) "mobile" folder in C:\ProgramData - I manually removed that but it was undoubtedly unimportant w.r.t. this problem anyway.

 

Since I do have a license for the Premium version, the last dialog page of the clean-install setup program is misleading - it allows the user to uncheck using a trial version yet when that user "Finish"es that dialog, the install apparently breaks because the mbam-clean removed the registry entries for the ID and Key (as it should) but the setup program doesn't know what to do if those registry entries aren't there (it should ask for the ID and Key at that moment OR it should tell the user to activate the install via the standard user interface window; that did not happen). Rerunning the clean and install but leaving the "Trial Version" checkbox checked allowed the setup to finish successfully. Starting up the user interface, however, showed two previously-noted errors (database/real-time protection). Activating the install at that time with a proper ID and Key apparently worked in that the licensing information dialog was correct, however returning to the dashboard showed no real-time protection still; something internal to that user interface failed to update the licensing status for that part of the window.

 

On finish of setup there was no automatic reboot; the only process running was a user-mode "mbam".

 

Rebooting the system resulted in the mbamscheduler and mbamservices processes running with the mbam process a subprocess of mbamservices.

 

I shutdown and rebooted again to confirm that everything was back to where it was last night - it was.

 

=============

 

It's been about 5 and a half hours now since I first wanted to use this machine today. That use was disallowed because Malwarebytes broke. I have no clue why Malwarebytes broke since it was apparently working fine last night but broken this morning. It is now running again so I guess I'm a Happy Camper again but maybe this should raise some flags with you guys - some of the points noted above, of course, absolutely MUST be fixed on your side.

 

I actually appreciate the fast responses here from support - even though not directly resolving the issue (especially the background issue of why Malwarebytes broke in the first place), the fact that there was rapid response was encouraging that a resolution would be found. Thanks for that.

[malbilling]

This has been the default action since earlier in the years old MBAM1 version, and it still is in that older version. Quite frankly you should see none of the trouble you are experiencing as untold hundreds of thousands of MBAM2 users are now, have been, and will be experiencing upgrades till all of the tens of millions of users are up on the same MBAM2 family.

You still might be experiencing a yet to be troubleshot situation requiring staffer intervention. Let's hope not.

 

It's not clear what you are saying here. Setup allowed unchecking "Trial Version" but when that is done yet there are no IDs or Keys in the registry the install - or something - breaks. That should not happen. Instead setup itself should note that the ID and Keys don't exist and ask for those keys or, more easily, simply install a Trial version anyway and outright tell the user to activate the install via the normal user interface with the ID and Key the user purportedly has.

 

But then again, Malwarebytes never should have started crashing in the first place all by itself across shutdown/powerdown and powerup/reboot. Something remains broken that will need addressing eventually. As a normally-happy enduser I'm disappointed that I wasted more than 5 hours today "fixing" my Malwarebytes installation.

 

But, in any case, that installation is "fixed" again so I'll disappear into the woodwork until the next major update breaks it...

 

Thanks very much for your fast repsonses - as noted in my prior post these are sincerely appreciated.

[1PW]

Hello malbilling:

Thank you for the compliment!

Please read the following and attach the 3 requested logs in a reply to this thread. - Diagnostic Logs.

We will need to analyze your requested diagnostic output text logs, and a reply will be made in this thread.

Thank you for your understanding.