Avira Classic: Update refuses

What a pain. Avira Keeps on reporting "no internet connection could be produced" when trying to update! Takes about 20-60 seconds by trying several different avgate.net severs, before saying no internet connection.. :-(

Not true because I"m accessing this Forum and any other web link...
Tried the "preupdate.exe" method (file found in the Avira program folder, as per some suggested), still no go.
Tried manual updates from the start page.
Auto update...-no luck.

All this began after installing that massive update last week.
Was able to update the program on Saturday and Sunday after about 4-5 manual attempts though. Unfortunately, not since.

Anyone here know if it's simply a server problem?
The Avira forums don't really have a precise solution. Apparently complete re-nstalls also are of no help.

 

Typical of overload at AVIRA Classic avgate.net Free-AV severs.

They ALWAYS say "no internet connection..." but it is on their end.

Load should be lightened considerably after Updating millions of users and Server Load would be lighter after 23 Hours GMT
(or 7 PM New York Time Zone).

Manual Update of AntiVir PersonalEdition Classic That site has instructions on 'how to...'
but the download links on it are still to avgate.net.

IVDF (Unicode) has to be used for the “Unicode” version 7 on Windows NT, 2000, XP, XP 64Bit and Vista 32Bit.
and for the version 7 on Windows 98, 98 SE and Windows ME.

The above links are the same "latest virus definition file (IVDF)" but are not avgate.net and you will connect quickly,
they are long downloads on dial-up, but Update your AntiVir very quickly.

They contain just virus updates, not Program Updates.

 

Thanks Pilotart,

I suspected that it was related to their servers instead of my internet connection.

Almost 10pm Eastern time, still same "no internet connection" message

Do you think this may be Avira's way to nudge Classic users (freeloaders) to the pay Premium version?

Nah... they wouldn't do that, would they?

 

This update issue is one that I have experienced over recent months of trialling Avira Classic and Premium. I don't think it's a server load issue.

There is a recognized issue for some people where certain files in the Avira downloadable updates do not get through - particularly "avcmd.exe.gz". If you look at the report for the failed update, you will probably see in the logs that at the very end, this file downlaod has failed, causing the whole update to fail. I have sought help on the Avira forums, and the view from them is that it's an ISP issue with this file. I have had my ISP look at the issue, and they claim that the file is not blocked or cached by them. I am at present down to the view that it may be blocked by my router for some reason. However, I have managed to download the file successfully once, then have it fail again.

One solution is to download the manual update package from Avira and load that. That will update "avcmd.exe.gz", and then you might find that updates work OK for a while, until the next one that includes that file is rolled out - when it will fail again.

On the Avira forums, plenty of people have reported that issue. One user suggested a solution that involved downloading a shareware program called HTTP Tunnel that creates an encrypted proxy tunnel that you can use to download the problematic file. I tried this and it worked - but the download speed was less than 1Kb/sec, and who wants to go through all that hassle to get one measly file? Yet Avira forum moderators themselves have since suggested using this as an option to get the file!

The take-home message with this is that for some people, certain update components cannot be successfully downloaded - and Avira has not provided a satisfactory solution. This same issue applies to Classic, Premium and Suite products. It may well be an ISP or connectivity issue at the users' end, but Avira should be working to find out why this happens and offer something more constructive to help people solve the problem.

Here's a test - copy this URL into your browser and see if the file downloads OK:
http://dl2.antivir-pe.de/upd/engine/nt/en/avcmd.exe.gz
It should be about 80Kb. If it gives you a server error or no connection error, then you have this issue. Good luck sorting it out.

 

A further point...

With the big update that occurred last week or so, Avira Premium tried to download the files and it failed again at avcmd.exe.gz. I tried the manual update, which installed fine, but then the auto update would still try to download a newer avcmd.exe.gz file, and fail.

I think this was because the manual update was not delivering all of the files needed for the new version - in fact, applying the manual update took some files back to earlier versions from what I already had on my system (this could have just been a temporary issue with their manual update packages).

Anyway, I went to the Avira server and found that they had a new version of the downloadable installer. So I completely reinstalled Avira Premium using the new installer. Since then, I've been getting virus signature updates OK - but only because it hasn't needed to update avcmd.exe.gz. As soon as that file needs updating again, I suspect the auto update will fail again.

 

Was finally capable of downloading the definition update manually via the preupd.exe method! (Not automatically, nor by clicking START UPDATE on the front page of Avira / Status)

Thx for the heads-up though.
Actually, I don't think in my situation it's a problem with the "avcmd.exe.gz" file.
Why? Because when your link downloaded the file and I tried unzipping it to the Avira directory it said I already had it and if I wished to overwrite it.
I checked the Avira directory in my Program files and yes indeed the "avcmd.exe.gz" file was already there...

1) In the error report (below) in my case the critical one seems to be "Critical error: Connection failed while downloading the file http://dl3.avgate.net/upd/idx/maste....2007,06:18:08 - Update finished successfully

 

As much as i love Antivir ive now had enough of this updating issue. I have now reluctantly installed Avast home. I really don't feel as protected with Avast but at least it has no perfermance problems on my machine.

 

Rickk, it does sound like your update issue is a bit different from mine (although I have had problems getting "master.idx" on occasion).

I am continuing with the 6 month trial of Premium. If the update issues resolve themselves I'll be buying the program, because I do like the way it runs.

 

Am now using Window's task scheduler to run preupd.exe as a work-around to Avira's present (definition) update bug.
Since the bug began after their so-called important major update last week, in hindsight, maybe I should've refrained from installing the new rootkit detector when prompted... :-(

re. Avira forum: Received the above work-around from a helpful member, although official Avira technical reps are noticably absent.

Somewhat akin to a child breaking something, then being nowhere to be seen/hiding for fear of being reprimanded & scolded, lol!

 

If sched.exe (service) is not running, and therefore updating is not possible the GUI,, try this:

Uninstall AntiVir, clean registry, download latest installer and install again.
This works for me. Updates (manually and automatically) smoothly.

Gerard