Norton Internet Security constantly stopping/faulting

Ok, the following behaviour is something I've been noticing since the last 2-3 weeks (according to me it started somewhere around the time of the Microsoft Spectre/Meltdown updates and the latest version update for norton internet security).

More specifically, I'm currently on version 22.12.0.104.

What I am constantly seeing, is the following:

 

This has been going on and off for a while.

I'm running this on Windows 10 64 bit on a Dell laptop.

I've already tried the following:

- updated graphics driver (found a symantec article that this could cause this issue): not fixed.

- Ran chkdsk /f /r: no fix

- sfc /scannow: no fix

- 3 times used the norton remove and reinstall tool to remove and reinstall the software: no solution.

 

Sometimes it takes more than an hour after booting the laptop before norton fails, sometimes a few minutes.

Sometimes I can complete a quick scan, sometimes it fails even during a quick scan.

Norton never works long enough to even complete a full system scan.

It does this multiple times per day. The norton icon in the taskbar disappears. When clicking the Norton shortcut in the start menu, or right clicking a file and choosing scan now, the icon appears again and Norton starts again.

Also: it doesn't matter if the laptop awakes from sleep, it's booting up cold or a restart was done, this behaviour remains the same. (so my guess is it's not related to the windows 10 quick boot issue, especially since my wife also has it on a Windows 7).

This corrective action: restarting in 120000 milliseconds usually works, sometimes it doesn't.

Interesting detail: my wife has exactly the same version, on windows 7 64 bit on a HP laptop: exact same behaviour.

And yes, obviously I checked: Norton claims it's the latest version and all liveupdates have been installed (they always succeed in installing).

I find it really strange that we are having this odd behaviour on 2 different laptops here, but I don't see anyone on this forum reporting the same behaviour.

 

Following is a screenshot from the windows error logging archive:

Gives a nice idea about the frequency of Norton faulting.

Also the following from the event log in windows: specifically mentions a module/dll of Norton:

Also interesting to mention: I'm behind a proxy. I have this proxy configured in norton, liveupdate is going through it and succeeding without issues.

In my proxy, I have whitelisted all domains mentioned here: 

https://support.symantec.com/en_US/article.HOWTO98461.html

I also don't see any mentioning in the proxy logs of any traffic being blocked at the moment of Norton crashing.

Hello jefkebazaar, Aquilares, peterweb, TheRedPill, AnNe_Z,

Winston Smith’s cousin changed his name to Norton S. (George Orwell, “1984”)

 

He is responsible for NortonkSpeak's Phased Manner Release to describe Random distribution of Norton’s product Prototype.

It goes randomly, NortonSpeak, for when LiveUpdate runs in the foreground. LiveUpdate runs in the foreground

  • when clicked by the dropdown (up) menu from right click the icon by the clock,
  • from the GUI-> Security (expand) select LiveUpdate
  • from the GUI -> Help select Get Support, which runs Autofix & LiveUpdate. Which History labels it as Interactive LiveUpdate in the details of support/autofix, no LiveUpdate file details show.

Automatic LiveUpdate runs in the background.

 

After the penultimate prototype was pulled (22.12.1.14) I engaged foreground Interactive LiveUpdate, it was running just as Mohan_G bloged the announcement of the successor - 22.12.1.15, was posted back on the server, after the fact.

  • great
  • big
  • OOPS.

I retreated back to Version 22 release 11.0 build 41 by using a manually set restore point of Windows Recovery.

That avoided the re-install version 22 release 5 of Norton AntiVirus Online from the Norton Partner CenturyLink which has the Norton Antivirus Online  in-Staler (old installer from summer 2015) on its server. It’s six releases back from the sold at retail release 11. That manually set Windows recovery point saved almost a whole day of merry-go-round updates and restarts.

While sheltering in place at version 22.11.0.41 of NAV Online it seems that the prototypes for NAV for Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 are completed because background LU delivered version 22.12.0.104 along with protection files and a notice in history to restart.

It's having no problem, so, I'm Sheltering In Place with version 22.12.0.104 until there's a sold at retail version 22.12.1.?? that Automatic/background LiveUpdate delivers.

J

Well, one thing is for sure: this still isn't fixed.

Decided yesterday to remove Norton and all their products and just stop using it. Switched to another product that actually works, go figure.

The crap that was delivered these last few weeks is unbelievable: norton faulting constantly (eliminated being behind a proxy also in the meantime as problemfactor), crucial scheduled tasks being removed, ...

This is absolutely not a mature product and definitely does not receive any thorough testing what so ever before being released.

Basically the user community is being used as testers, unacceptable for a commercial product.

To update this one again:

On my own laptop (windows 10) this issue was solved.

On my wife's laptop (Windows 7), even with 22.12.1.14, Norton keeps faulting with the exact same error message.

Djeezes, considering this, and that other screw-up with the scheduled tasks, this really is a crap-product.

Now, considering the impact they had on all these machines, especially opening security-holes with their wiping of scheduled tasks: what about we launch an action to get our money back?

You're not telling me Norton can screw this up so badly, cause security-holes in people's machines, and get away with it?

Thanks for that update. 

Hopefully things continue to work properly for you.

 

Well, actually I read the other post about the disappearing tasks and took precautions, exported them first.

I went ahead and installed the update anyway, imported the tasks again afterwards.

For now, it seems to work, no more crashes, did 2 full system scans yesterday without issues.

On my wife's laptop, the update didn't resolve anything. I needed to go all the way on her machine again:

- remove with removal tool

- manually remove any remaining scheduled tasks from the install

- reinstall latest possible version with norton installer

- backup scheduled tasks

- install latest version

- on her windows 7 no scheduled tasks were removed, seems to be a windows 10 only issue

Then did a full system scan on her machine too, succeeded also for the first time.

 

So, FOR NOW, although it introduces issues, the latest version also seems to fix issues.

AnNe_Z:
@peterweb: the new update seems to have some serious issues: https://community.norton.com/en/forums/norton-22121-patch-wipes-out-sche...

 

I edited my original post. Thanks

 

@peterweb: the new update seems to have some serious issues: https://community.norton.com/en/forums/norton-22121-patch-wipes-out-scheduled-tasks

There is a new version of Norton Security products being released. ver 22.12.1.x.. See if you can get that by running LiveUpdate and then test to see if it helps.

I have asked my Norton contacts to see if they can help with this issue.

EDIT

Maybe not the best move just now. As noted there does seem to be some other issue with the new version. And I see the OP has posted in that thread. 

Still, I have escalated this thread for some help from Norton.

Only thing I changed in the last several months is configuring a proxy.

I reverted all the config, still sucks.

And even if the proxy is the issue: I checked, nothing is blocked in the proxy, any domains I see being blocked are like MSN.com and the likes.

Plus, what the hell is the point of having a norton product that actually has proxy settings that can be configured, if the damn thing can't even work through a proxy?

 

Nevertheless, as I said, even giving my machine complete unlimited full access directly to the internet is NOT a solution, the application still faults.

Fbgnarm,

I didn't think about using the print screen or the snipping tool either.regarding copying  the ver #.  It was a stupid example, however the point I was trying to make is that if the pop-up was a window or if it had an OK button, it would have been better.  Why don't they think about the steps that a end user might take?

Anyway thanks for getting back to me and this guinea pig will keep running on the cage running-wheel.

K

"tried to copy the version number but could not select the text"

"Pr Sc" button and paste into a document, enlarge the document snip just what you want paste into a document.

Nothing you do on your system will fix 22.12.0.104, it's still waiting on parts from the factory, Norton. They haven't been written yet, but if they are, they are still in the testing phase(d Manner Release). 22.12.x.xxx started month three today!

Best advice is Shelter in Place explained here: https://community.norton.com/en/forums/how-stay-version-221127 .

           J

Bye now. The shipment of cedar shavings and alfalfa and enriched pellets just arrived, don't worry there's enough for all of us guinea pigs, white mice and rats. It's behavior testing, no dissecting involved.  

I also have experienced full system scans never making it to the end.  No scan results, no pop-up indicating that it has reached the end of the scan, nothing, nada.  This is so frustrating because of the time required to perform this extended scan.

Like you I am sitting on the fence in regards to uninstalling and moving to another vender.  I think that Ill start researching alternative products now.

The other thing that just doesn't sit well with me is that being such a long time customer / subscriber since 2012, the UI has pasically not changed and even the product name is not current.  BTW I am using NIS 22.12.0.104 as well.  Its the little things that I don't like,  For example now I wanted to double check the version that I just stated in the previous sentence, Opened the program, whent to help clicked on about and tried to copy the version number but could not select the text, ok no biggie, so it moved back to this comment box to type it in and the about pop-up went away.  Ok so now I need a pen and paper to write this down and copy it hear.  The clock is ticking on this one.

KC

 

jefkebazaar

However, I also noticed that when you use the remove/reinstall tool of Norton, it downloads an earlier version and only then, through liveupdate, pulls 22.12.0.104.

 

See how to throttle Automatic LiveUpdate and Interactive LiveUpdate from the DREADED Phased Re-release Manner of 22.12.0.104 

 

Fbgnarm

Try doing a re-install and stay at the fully functional final 22.11.#?.##. See "How to stay on version 22.11.2.7" at https://community.norton.com/en/forums/how-stay-version-221127 .

Then, if your issue goes away, shelter in place at 22.11.#?.## until version 22.12.0.104 is Hot Fixed.by Norton. The .104 build is working ok for me now, I'll just steep up a cup and sip on it with a spot of honey & squeeze of lemon until the fuss is over.

J

To see if your system is protected when you see these issues, open task manager and check all users and see if you still see a process for Norton Security under the System user. If that process is there, that is the actual protection features of Norton. The process you see with your user name is for the tray icon and UI processes.

Not sure if going through the proxy could be involved, as Norton constantly checks the Norton Servers as part of the SONAR protection, where definitions are online.

Given your experience in IT, is there any other 'non-standard' settings or configuration you have done with your systems?

 

Ok, quick update, this is becoming ridiculous:

- did as @peterweb said, again: used the removal and reinstall tool, removed the solution, (btw, in the latest version of the tool, when choosing advanced options - remove only, there is NO option to remove all previous settings), downloaded the latest version from my norton account (which is immediately the most recent version)

- as @fbgnarm said, I also had remnants of scheduled tasks for norton removal tool, I removed them all before reinstalling the latest version of Norton.

- did a new full system scan: product wipes out after about an hour

To clarify a bit, I'm in a setup where I access the internet through a proxy. All outgoing traffic is blocked in the firewall, so only way to access the internet is through the proxy. As I already described above, I already whitelisted all the norton and symantec domains in the proxy, checking the proxy logs there is NO connection what so ever being blocked related to Norton.

I now also went so far as to disable the proxy and just allow all outgoing traffic from my machine in the firewall, there is no more proxy configured in norton or windows: product still wipes out after a while.

If this keeps going, I'm just going to remove the product completely and switch to another vendor, this is just unacceptable.

And as I said, this both occurs on my windows 10 machine and on my wife's windows 7 machine.

Again same error: Faulting module name: cltLMJ.dll, version: 15.12.0.136, time stamp: 0x5a68c7d2

Google indicates this relates to Symantec Shared Component => what the hell is going on here? Is it me or is this just a product being released without decent testing on the side of Norton/Symantec?

Again, it's also still not clear if it's just the GUI failing, which wouldn't bother me really, or actually the entire protection of Norton failing, which would be a disaster. When clicking the desktop shortcut again, the icon appears in the taskbar and the Norton gui appears onscreen in about 2-3 seconds, which seems way too fast for the entire protection having failed, seems like it's just the GUI component.

Some clarification from Symantec/Norton side would be appreciated here.

Since the fresh reinstall I had the product fault 3 times on me again in a span of 4 hours.

A full system scan doesn't work anymore, since the product doesn't run long enough without crashing to complete it.

@Peterweb

Thanks for the reply, but did you even bother reading my original post?

I already said that I uninstalled and reinstalled the product 3 times, and yes that is on both laptops and yes, that is using the latest version of the tool I downloaded from Norton and yes, I tried both: uninstall/reinstall and uninstall/manual reinstall: no fix.

OK. Your original post did not mention the manual reinstall. Thus my suggestion.

I would still like to clarify my question and your comment. you did uninstall/manual reinstall. Did you use the Norton Removal and Reinstall tool with the Advanced - Remove Only option?  And with the uninstall portion, did you choose to Not save settings?

 

(am at work, so am going to reply from a different account, don't have my password here for that account :) )

@Peterweb

Thanks for the reply, but did you even bother reading my original post?

I already said that I uninstalled and reinstalled the product 3 times, and yes that is on both laptops and yes, that is using the latest version of the tool I downloaded from Norton and yes, I tried both: uninstall/reinstall and uninstall/manual reinstall: no fix.

Obviously, I also stated in my post that the exact same issue occurs on a laptop with Windows 7: so no, fast start will not be the problem, since Windows 7 doesn't have that feature...

No, there is also no other security solution installed on these laptops: these are 2 laptops that have been in use for multiple years, and have never had any other security solution but Norton.

I mean, no offence, I really appreciate you taking your time to contribute to this, but really, I'm an IT professional with 12 years of experience, I did my due diligence, I googled, I checked the forums, I checked the Norton/Symantec knowledge base, I eliminated all the obvious reasons for this failure.

The reason why I'm coming here on the forum with my problem is because all the obvious reasons have been eliminated and I can't figure out for the life of me what the problem could be.

With regard to fgbnarm: am at work now so I'll check task scheduler in the evening.

However, I also noticed that when you use the remove/reinstall tool of Norton, it downloads an earlier version and only then, through liveupdate, pulls 22.12.0.104.

What I also noticed is that, when norton faults and the icon in the taskbar disappears, the Windows 10 security center still shows all in the green, meaning it still thinks an antivirus solution is up and running.

So is this issue just the Norton GUI failing, or really my complete security protection failing and Windows doesn't notice it?

When I click the norton shortcut on my desktop after it has faulted, it only takes a few seconds to reappear, which doens't seem to indicate that it really needs to restart the service? I would imagine that takes a while longer to really restart from scratch all the modules of the product?

Is there anyone from Symantec/Norton on here who can give any input on this?

 

 

Find "Task Scheduler " shortcut in "Administrative tools" of "Control Panel", those are the names in Windows 7. NRnR.exe as you used, left behind a problem for me, maybe for you too. EVERY TIME starting my system.

from my post in https://community.norton.com/en/comment/7834531#comment-7834531

That old program has been replaced by NRnR.exe, Norton Remove and Replace tool which only removes Norton Protection products. Yesterday the NRnR.exe failed to R&R my Norton Partner CentruyLink Norton Antivirus Online , the Phased Distribution of Version 22, Release 12.0, Build 104, and has been opening, begging for another chance, each re-start since, that's for another topic. (22.12.0.104 problem here: https://community.norton.com/en/forums/recent-update-disabled-firewall?page=1 )

I found that NRnR.exe, Norton Remove and Replace was there set to run at boot. AND, I found another Norton folder from N360 that NRnR  & N360 installer/uninstaller & NSBU installer &  NAV installer (07/2017) & NAV installer (purchased and refunded this month when its uninstall function failed to work on testing it immediately to make sure all features work) & NAV Online installer from Norton Partner CenturyLink . All the Norton installers that I had used left a `mess remaining for years in the Task Scheduler. NRnR added itself to the mess.

The NRnR folder in Tasks, contained/had settings to start at every boot,  the N360 folder in Tasks, contained/had settings for auld lang syne , the Norton Utilities registry cleaner found no conflict, anything to fix, just as CHKDSK didn't fix anything related to the stopping/faulting issue.

The NRnR could have contributed to the issue or as you observed, had no effect. Your might find something vwerwy-inter-westing.

And yes, obviously I checked: Norton claims it's the latest version and all liveupdates have been installed (they always succeed in installing).

...succeed in installing) ... ? (Just ? the definition and protection files)

It's not. It's the Phased Manner Release version. It's not the version.release.build installed if purchased directly from Norton. The PMR and ... "This patch is only available via LiveUpdate

Try doing a re-install and stay at the fully functional final 22.11.#?.##. See "How to stay on version 22.11.2.7" at https://community.norton.com/en/forums/how-stay-version-221127 .

Then, if your issue goes away, shelter in place at 22.11.#?.## until version 22.12.0.104 is Hot Fixed.by Norton. The .104 build is working ok for me now, I'll just steep up a cup and sip on it with a spot of honey & squeeze of lemon until the fuss is over.

          J

Do you have any other security software on your computer(s)? Even trial versions need to be fully removed using the removal utility for that software.

Try turning off Windows Fast Startup feature and restarting your computer to see if you still see the issue. If you use Windows 8/8.1 or 10, there can be an issue with the Fast Start feature.. See more information here.

If that is not the issue, try fully removing your Norton product using the Norton Removal and Reinstall tool but use the Advanced option to remove only.   www.norton.com/nrt   Then restart your computer and download a fresh copy from your Norton Account at https://my.norton.com