Schannel Errors in Event Viewer frequently occurring in startup:

[Kick]

Hi:

Just recently I have been getting a series of Schannel errors in the Event Viewer when I check after a fresh startup of Windows 7. They are always identical but vary in number - sometimes there are three, sometimes more and sometimes none show.

There's nothing I can pin down that might be causing the errors and the system appears to be running normally in other respects. I know I can get a bit neurotic about Event Viewer errors, as indicated in previous posts I have made in other threads but I am getting a bit more philosophical about Event Viewer warnings and errors and have learned to accept that some will just happen from time to time without there being any real problem. These errors, however, have suddenly begun to appear after most system restarts and make me feel a little apprehensive. Are they harmless or might they indicate a more serious problem? Other than the record number and the time, the records are identical to the following:
===========================================================================
Record Number : 158345
Log Type : System
Event Type : Error
Time : 30/04/2019 18:33:50
Source : Schannel
Category : 0
Event ID : 36888
User Name : SYSTEM
Computer : Win7-PC
Event Data Length : 0
Record Length : 128
Event Description : The following fatal alert was generated: 10. The internal error state is 10.
===========================================================================

I would be grateful for any comments and advice.

Thanks and cheers.

 

[Tony D]

It may be related to Firefox. Are you using Firefox?

 

[Kick]

Hi Tony,

Yes I do use Firefox (version 66.0.3).

When I booted up today (on my first session of the day and in which I am at present typing this response to your post), there were no Schannel errors. The previous errors have only occurred during the boot process and, as illustrated by today's first session, not every boot.

Is there a not too drastic way I can check if Firefox is the culprit? The browser runs normally when I access it and no further errors are created. To me, when the error occurs during the boot process, it seems that the system is trying to do something, fails and then has another go which might fail again and so on (hence the string of repeated errors from two or three to five or more in a single boot operation). If it can determined it is Firefox, is there anything I can do or is it best just ignored?

Thanks.

 

[Tony D]

If it's happening at startup and Firefox is not running, then it's probably not Firefox.

 

[Kick]

Hi Tony,

Thanks for getting back - I wondered about that. I suspect now that it might be my anti-virus (Avast Free) - there was a program update recently. Another possibility is Dropbox as that sometimes causes other minor errors. Anyway it doesn't seem to be serious and is not consistent - I'm guessing something isn't responding quickly enough during the boot process or sufficient resources aren't immediately available.

Cheers.

 

[Tony D]

It's just that when doing research I found that this error sometimes is related to Firefox.

https://community.spiceworks.com/topic/1950479-error-reported-in-event-viewer-event-id-36888

Schannel error, Event ID 36888? - IS there a way to Identify what causes Schannel to log error?

 

[Kick]

Hi Tony,

Thanks for the links. A second startup of the system has also resulted in no errors so I am hoping it was all a temporary blip. The links you provided give rather complicated information including registry editing details - for the moment I don't want to attempt that as I'm still unsure what triggered the errors. As, for the time being at least, the errors have stopped it think I will hold fire as far as the computer is concerned but do a bit more on-line investigation.

Cheers.

 

[Kick]

UPDATE:
No more Schannel errors to report (although in stating this I'm probably tempting fate).

My guess is that Dropbox, Avast (for which the servers of both are contacted during startup) or possibly my ISP had security certificates that had lapsed and so were temporarily not valid until the matter had been addressed. Hopefully all is OK now.

Cheers.