Need help with Support and an issue that has lasted 3+ months

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1

I have been customer of Norton for well over 15 years and I am totally frustrated.

I have had an issue for 3+ months with Norton 360 and have contacted technical support many many many times. A few times I have been told that my issue was escalated and I would receive a call to help resolve my problem and NEVER have I received a call back. If I did not have Norton deployed on 4 other systems I would just cancel my subscription now.

Please have someone that can help me contact me.

 

Summary of the issue and my system configuration:

Norton 360 Deluxe

 Microsoft Windows 10 Pro

Version    10.0.19042 Build 19042
System Type    x64-based PC
Fast startup disabled.

Issue(s) description:

It is important to note that I have been running Norton on this PC with no issues at all for the past 4 years and there have been no new applications installed prior to when this issue started for the exception os Windows auto updates.

Install Norton 360 and it works for hours to days then it has a mix of problems that happen depending upon the different reinstalls.

 In all cases below Windows is running in the background as evident with the task manager, both Norton Security and Norton Security WSC Service is running.

1. When I try and open the dash board it attempts to open (wheel spins), but never opens.  No error is displayed.

2. Dashboard will open, but if I try and do a live update or even a  quick scan from the main dashboard the application crashes- No error is displayed.

3. When the Dashboard does open, I then go into the scan options, and if I click on live update or any scan options the app crashes- NO error displayed. What is weird is when this issue happens I can often run the Power Eraser with no issues.

4. If I boot in safe mode  and open the app, a window pops up that allows me to do a  scan, but I have no access to live update.

A restart does not help.

There are no other virus programs installed.

On a few occasions the following errors would randomly pop up, but usually no errors:(3048, 2),  (3048,3). There have also been some random Autofix could not fix issue error.

What I have tried is:

1. Run the NRnR tool. I have to run it in Advanced mode (Remove Only) otherwise it says it can not complete the task and points me to the website to do Remove Only. On the few occasions when it was able to do a complete remove and reinstall automatically the application will not open as in #1 issue above.

2. I do the reinstall manually and it usually goes fine. Run live update until there are no updates. Everything will run for hours to days 100% correctly, then one of the 3 issues above happens.

3. I have even paused Windows updates to see if that was causing an issue and no luck. Did this pause before reinstalling Norton.

4. I have verified that Norton worked properly and  left the computer on with no restarts and it eventually would not open.

5. I have verified that Norton worked properly and  left the computer on with  no other applications opened and no restarts and it eventually would not open.

6. I have used the windows Add or remove programs capability to remove Norton followed by NRnR with no luck.

I have reinstalled Norton over 3 dozen times, no joke.

I did see that there are a bunch of crash log folders such as: AppCrash_NortonSecurity.e followed by a bunch of HEX characters, but they all appear to be empty.

I am at a loss with how to fix this and need help.

2

Understand!! If you can determine what the fix was let us know. The thread may become closed at some point though, although you can drop a private message in case that happens. Stay healthy.

Cheers

3

SoulAsylum, Unfortunately I am not sure what fixed the issue since it just started working.

4

Tony, If you have a solution please mark the suggestive post that gave you the solution. That will close the thread as answered and others can then see the solution. Glad we could help, happy holidays and stay healthy!!

Cheers

5

Folks,

Things are continuing to work properly so at this point I consider this to be fixed. Thank you  all for your assistance and even though the root cause of the issue was not determined, I learned many debugging tips from you.

We can close this thread. 

Tony

6

Just wanted to update everyone that things are still working. If things are still working through this weekend I would consider this fixed, but unfortunately, still not sure what changed. 

Thank you everyone for your help with this and I will keep you posted.

7

Anthony,  NPE wouldn't be the corrective agent unless if found and/or corrected something. If nothing shows in your history that would indicate that NPE isn't the fix. Most likely a PRODUCT update corrected something while you were running the product features to determine functionality. Keep us informed of the status. And thanks out to lmacri for her valuable inputs as always. cool

Cheers

8

Lmarci, Thank you for the info on Power Eraser. The issue did  start before I had used the power eraser and the only reason I used it was when I was testing out what features worked in norton, and then also to see if it found any virus.

Update: Getting ready to do a reinstall of windows I did my data backup (manually selecting folders and copying them to an external drive) and for the heck of it I decided to manually run windows defender to do a scan. It did not find anything, but now here is the weird part. I tried to open Norton last night and it worked. Was able to do a live update and both a quick and full scan.  When I tried to open norton earlier in the day it would not open. I just tried it again and it is still working properly. I am not going to do a windows refresh at this point and going to see how long Norton continues to  work.

The only things  that were done during this time were emails, backup and defender scan. I do not see how running windows defender could of fixed this. Could it have?

Will keep everyone posted. Thanks again for the help.

9
AnthonyP:
3. When the Dashboard does open, I then go into the scan options, and if I click on live update or any scan options the app crashes- NO error displayed. What is weird is when this issue happens I can often run the Power Eraser with no issues....
 

Hi AnthonyP:

I don't want to interfere with SoulAsylum's troubleshooting but one quick suggestion.

The Norton Power Eraser (NPE) is a very aggressive scanner that is designed to be used as a rescue tool in emergency situations when your operating system becomes unstable or you believe you have deeply embedded malware that cannot be detected by a standard antivirus / anti-malware scan.  The warning on the NPE home page at https://us.norton.com/support/tools/npe.html states "Because Norton Power Eraser is an aggressive virus removal tool, it may mark a legitimate program for removal. However, you can always undo the results of a scan."

There are several examples in this forum where the NPE flagged legitimate programs for removal, including important Windows system files, registry entries, and hardware drivers (see my post <here> for examples as well as a download link for the less-aggressive Malwarebytes Free scanner), and it's possible that the system files you just fixed with System File Checker (sfc /scannow) and/or a hardware driver could be corrupted the next time you run the NPE.  At the very least you should avoid running the NPE while troubleshooting your current issues with Norton 360 or you might undo some of the fixes you've applied to this point, or even create new problems.

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Hi, I just realized that any of the methods for refreshing windows remove all of the applications on my PC that I installed. Unfortunately I am going to have to plan  to do that since I  can not have the down time right now. I am using this PC constantly  for work stuff and need many of the apps. I may just run out and but another drive so I can get that set up in parallel to minimize any downtime and issues. In any case the main drive I use now is a very nice solid state drive, so I still do the refresh on that.

Thanks again and will keep you posted.

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Thanks for the post back. We will wait for your next reply to continue helping with the issue. You can download and use Macrium Reflect Free version to help with the backups if you'd like.

Cheers

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SoulAsylum, I will do that and update this thread when done. This may take ame a few days sinec I need to back things up and also address all of the apps I have loaded.

Thanks.

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Anthony. My suggestions are to backup your data, then chose one of the options in this Microsoft article. Refresh your PC is the preferred method. Being that this is a global / system wide issue there has to be something going on with Windows. Most likely something in the registry that isn't right. 

Cheers

14

SoulAsylum, I created a new account as you suggested and did a reboot and then logged into it. That account shows the same issue, so definitely system wide problem.

15

Anthony. On the computer having the issue, create another local admin account. Name it whatever your wish and allow it to setup. Reboot when its done, and log into the computer on that account. Check Norton for functionality from within that account, lets see whether only your account is having the issue with Norton or if it is global / system wide.

Cheers

16

Still having the same issues after doing everything above. Windows management instrumentation was already set as you described. Here is the screen shot showing it as automatic and running.

windowsmanagement.JPG

 

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So what is the current status of your install after the last round of suggestions?  Locate the service "Windows management instrumentation" in services. Make sure it is set also to automatic and running. If its not enable it, set to automatic. Reboot and lets see if that makes any difference.

Cheers

18

AnthonyP

The email notifications we get for forum posts show the original post. You noted that the image was in moderation. This is a forum feature for newer users, so that the moderators can ensure that there is nothing in that image that violates the forum guidelines. After a certain number of posts, your images will no longer be moderated.  And FYI, forum gurus can see your images immediately, even if in moderation, so we can better offer the help that is needed.

 

19

SoulAsylum, I did verify Windows Services that workstation service is set at automatic startup and running. Here is a screen shot below.

Thank you

20

 Anthony, did you verify in Windows Services that workstation service is set at automatic startup and running?

In another board / thread I posted this screenshot to signify that the old NortonSecurity.exe from version 17.2.3.48 has been recycled for a long time now. As the screenshot shows there IS an issue being logged in the system events. I'm curious as to whether this has any bearing on the issue Anthony is seeing. 

old 17.3 version in event log 1.png