BSOD: Win XP issue (big cry for help)

[conus00]

I would really appreciate any help here. Out of sudden my Win XP (SP3) developed really annoying problem. It is mostly related to disk operations (browsing files) but recently very randomly (and frequently) computer freezes shows me this BSOD and restarts itself.
http://www.mediafire.com/imgbnc.php/a7d4d2198ac938f7614d2adb266ce3f06g.jpg

It is getting to the point that is unbearable and seriously impedes my use of computer. As a matter of fact I am typing this message in Safe Mode where the system is surprisingly solid. I know there's a lot of computer gurus here on the subsim. Please help me fix this problem.
I would really like to avoid formatting C partition and reinstalling XPs if possible.
Thanks!

[Linton]

Quote from a wiki answer:
"If you look around on this error like I'm doing right now (I'm having this error and I'm looking for a solution), IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL comes up quite often in the search results.
However, there are two different points of error being called out by various people. Driver IRQ conflict, and RAM.
There is apparently also a DRIVER IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL, as well as a IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL . Perhaps the similarity may have resulted in some confusion?
I've gotten a broad range of errors in my newly constructed PC. I've had BSOD occur in OS installation several times on barebones configuration(Just PSU, CPU, RAM, 1 HDD, Keyboard/mouse, video card, and DVD Drive). Crashing occured in both installation of Vista and XP on this new clean HDD, so I'm inclined to believe that I specifically have the RAM issue. The broad range of errors points to the RAM mishandling data, allowing things to work just fine up until the fault.
http://www.technibble.com/how-to-diagnose-bad-ram

The above link was the clearest instructions of the forum snippets I've crawled through. I will be trying this tonight and hopefully I will have resolved my problem. "


Also :
What is an IRQ?
There doesn’t seem to be any direct cause of this Blue Screen of Death error message. The most likely cause seem to be faulty or bad RAM. So, make sure you’re grounded, open up your computer case and make sure the RAM is properly seated. You should not be able to see the gold contacts. If you bought cheap RAM, you may want to return it and buy from a well-known company, such as Kingston.
Other possible causes include the video card (NVidia seems to be a culprit), or the sound card. Try swapping these components for others and see if the problem reoccurs.
You can also try running RAM tests using Memtest or Simmtester.com
Another cause could be overheating, and Windows may just be guessing the problem. Make sure the case has proper air flow.
You may be able to figure out the problem in the Event Viewer, Control Panel>Administrative Tools>Event Viewer.
The best way to avoid IRQ conflicts to is install expansion cards one at a time AFTER installing Windows.




Nvidia drivers also appear alot in the answers!I hope this helps.

[She-Wolf]

you can get this stop message because you have recently installed something with a misbehaving device driver trying to use memory addresses it didn't ought to - there are other reasons, but this is the most likely I think. The system is stable in Safe Mode because in that state the third-party device drivers are not loaded.

Think back... what hardware have you installed lately, or what driver updates have you installed?

I am not sure if the problem would show up in Event Viewer, not everything gets logged in there - but worth a look.
You can also take a look at the Dr Watson log - that worked for me when I had the same blue screen on a ladies laptop and spent days trying to find the cause. Turned out it was to do with the old drivers on the driver CD of a camera she had recently bought, and it was the Dr Watson log that gave me the clue, though I can't remember the details now.

To look at that, go to Start - All Programs -Accessories-System Tools - System Information-Tools-Dr Watson.
As I recall, you can either follow the path to where the log is kept and open it to view the log in Notepad, or highlight the Application Error shown in the window and then click on 'View'.

However, it is not easy to sort the wood from the trees in there, and I cannot recall now how I isolated the problem from the rest of the information when it helped me. Maybe someone else could give you some help on that bit...

Linton, we must have posted together, which makes my response look like I am questioning some of what you have said - but not so. Doesn't hurt to check the RAM, and, as you say nVidia could be the problem.. :).
The IRQ thing, as it used to be in Windows 9x, where you had to be careful about conflicts because of the priority issues and limited IRQ assignments when attaching hardware - I don't think that is an issue in XP, and the IRQL message is not, as I understand it, to do with that area of the computer, but with something, like a device driver trying to access or poke data into a verboten memory space. Beyond that I am guessing, but happen someone on here will be able to flex their IT brain cells...

[Linton]

No offence taken she-wolf.I am not a computer expert just a google search one !

[conus00]

Thanks for quick replies.
1) First of all I do not think that the physical RAM is the culprit: how would you explain that system ran almost a year without any problems? Unless one of the memory sticks gone bad... I will try to remove them one by one and see if there's any improvement.
2) I have not installed any new hardware recently and the only thing I can think of software wise I installed the latest XP update. Maybe that is the problem?
3) I do have an Nvidia graphic card and yes I have had share of driver problems in the past but it seemed to be resolved lately. I will look into newer driver as well.

I tend agree with She-Wolf on the fact that it is most likely software/system issue rather than hardware. As she pointed out the system runs stable in Safe Mode (i.e. without any 3rd party drivers) but on the other hand I can't see how driver would be responsible for this situation:
I restart Windows, after everything is loaded I try to open a disk D: in Explorer... So far so good...I double click on directory, it opens...I try to go one directory deeper...BOOM BSOD!!!
Which driver could possibly cause that? Graphic card? I don't think so... I can start Firefox and browse for some time without any troubles. Weird. And than out of sudden I just move cursor and... BOOM BSOD. Really frustrating!!!

[She-Wolf]

have a look in Event Viewer to see what likely error has been logged in system or applications.

if you are not sure where that is just go to Start-Run and type eventvwr.msc in the box. It might give a clue as to where to look...

[She-Wolf]

Conus, when you say you try to open a disk D:, in Explorer, are you meaning a CD?

I ask because I have found mention on the web about the same BSOD popping up whenever the poster tried to browse a compact disk, because of conflicts to do with Roxio's drag-to-disk.

The guy solved the problem by unticking drgtodsc in msconfig, so it wouldn't startup at boot, and the machine has been ok since ( the post was dated this year btw).

[longam]

Yes, what is Drive D?

[conus00]

Yes, what is Drive D?
D: drive is not a CD/DVD. It is the second partition of my disk (C:/D: ) but the same problem persists if I try to access my Z: drive (which is a RAID1 array). Also, I have found the way how to simulate the BSOD: there is one directory which ALWAYS causes this crash while accessing thru Explorer, so I have pulled up Event Viewer after the restart and here is the description:
System Error (102) 1003
in detailed description it says:
Error code 10000050, parameter1 e3f40000, parameter2 00000000, parameter3 ba92d8d6, parameter4 00000001.

0000: 53 79 73 74 65 6d 20 45 System E
0008: 72 72 6f 72 20 20 45 72 rror Er
0010: 72 6f 72 20 63 6f 64 65 ror code
0018: 20 31 30 30 30 30 30 35 1000005
0020: 30 20 20 50 61 72 61 6d 0 Param
0028: 65 74 65 72 73 20 65 33 eters e3
0030: 66 34 30 30 30 30 2c 20 f40000,
0038: 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 00000000
0040: 2c 20 62 61 39 32 64 38 , ba92d8
0048: 64 36 2c 20 30 30 30 30 d6, 0000
0050: 30 30 30 31 0001

Any ideas folks?

[conus00]

Anybody?

[She-Wolf]

can't find a lot of help on this one. Have you tried uninstalling the last XP update(s)?

[longam]

You could try this memory checker but the event ID you gave has little info I can find.

http://oca.microsoft.com/en/windiag.asp
(http://oca.microsoft.com/en/windiag.asp)

[conus00]

Well, here's an update: I have 2 Corsair XMS2 2048MB memory sticks. I have tried to remove one of them and run the system with only 2MB. It seems that one of them actually had gone bad... Long story short: with running only one of them I can not make the computer crash. As soon as I put the second (bad) one the computer crashes. If I run it only with the bad one it crashes again.

So it looks like one stick is bad, correct?

I just checked on-line and Corsair has lifetime warranty on their memories. I'll see if Microcenter (who custom build my rig) will honor it or I will have to go directly to Corsair.

DAMN!!! As soon as I made the post...BOOOM....the problem is back. This is driving me friggin NUTS!
I definitely don't think it is a memory now. I SO DON'T want to reinstall Windows but as Han Solo says: "I have a really bad feeling about this..."

[She-Wolf]

it wouldn't hurt to run memtest for a few hours, just to check that possibility. Have you tried uninstalling the latest Windows updates?

Reinstalling XP isn't so bad as long as you have your docs, music and pics on the other drive, and save your OE.dbx's and address book or Outlook files to a stick and can find the applications installer disks. I do it all the time for other folk. However, if the problem IS a device driver and you put it on again, chances are you will be no further forward.

What about using the driver verifier tool - that might give you a clue...

[Graf Paper]

Not knowing your hardware specs makes this a bit more difficult to solve but I may have your answer.

Your trouble is most likely Windows Service Pack 3.

Look around various hardware and software forums and you'll discover that SP3 has introduced numerous problems. Some examples:

AMD-based systems have numerous issues with locking, freezing, BSOD, and crashing.
ATI Catalyst Drivers go into an endless loop with ati2mag.dll, causing the video card to lock up the computer.
nVidia video cards have similar issues to ATI cards.
Zone Alarm conflicts with new security tweaks in Windows Firewall, limiting or completely cutting off internet/network access.
Adobe Flash Player has stuttering playback and locks up the computer at random intervals (may be related to video card driver issues).Zonelabs recently released a fix, IIRC. ATI has yet to release their 9.1 drivers to fix the looping problem. Adobe recently released Flash 10.1. Since AMD CPUs seem to be affected so much, it may be likely that many hardware issues find their root cause with SP3 conflicting with the processor or chipset used.

I had the same troubles with my own system after installing SP3. It took a week of troubleshooting before I did my homework and discovered these issues with SP3. I downgraded (upgraded :p ) back to SP2 and have had no more troubles.

This isn't the first time MS has released a patch or Service Pack that breaks things.

Hope this helps. :)

[porphy]

I had a similar problem a year ago. Turned out to be a bad mem stick. Couldn't you try to do a windows repair with the installation cd? Try this as it replaces essential files that might be corrupted by now with all the BSOD going on. It's a long shot, but maybe worth a try before you acctually reinstall XP?

cheers Porphy

[CaptainHaplo]

Ok - IRQ is old school stuff - it means interrupt request. Originally (back in the dos days) you would have a piece of equipment that would use an IRQ address and a DMA range. (DMA being Direct Memory Access) Its old school because it goes back to how things interact direct with hardware. It was usually dealt with in regards to things like sound cards.

Nowadays almost all the hardware access stuff is handled by HAL - or the Hardware Access Layer (and not the sentient insane computer).

This helps only so much - as windows doesnt give you a really good way to see IRQ settings except thru the MMC, and thats not going to really show us the problem. For some reason, the picture doesnt display anymore on your thread, though if I recall the msg was IRQ not less than or equal (or something similiar).

Its important that you noted it happens when you browse files - but seems to run fine in safe mode.

SAFE MODE USES THE SAME MEMORY AS NORMAL WINDOWS - so this is a big pointer away from it being a ram issue. If it was memory - you would see the same issue in safe mode.

You didn't say anything about adding new hardware - so we can rule it out being a hardware install issue. Again - since it works in safe mode - failing hardware would fail regardless of the OS mode. You mentioned overheating concerns - but is your box going to overheat browsing files in normal windows and not do so in safe mode? No - so we can toss that idea.

That leads us to ask the question of what is different between safe mode and normal windows operation. The biggest answer - DRIVERS!

It may or may not be SP3. I would suggest the following steps:

Roll back drivers for most major components.

You mentioned having a RAID array/controller - make sure you go to the manufacturer's website and get a driver for it and install it. Since your having this issue with drive access - check with the mb manufacturer and install their driver - SP3 or another windows update may have overwritten the working driver. Even without a raid array, make sure your HDD controller has a driver that was made for it - and not a default microsoft one.

Same with your video and audio cards - update the drivers from the manufacturers.

Also check to see if your mb uses something like a via bridge - if so - install the latest via 4n1 driver. Bridge driver errors can cause some weird stuff man.

Doublecheck the network driver, and any other peripherals you have - and don't forget stuff like printers and scanners - they can make wonky stuff happen as well.

Do this and then let us know if you still see the funkyness. My bet is the Raid Array Driver got "updated" either by SP3 or by a windows update.

[conus00]

This is getting ridiculous. When I try reinstall RAID driver from my factory CD the system says that "there is no matching hardware installed on my computer" even though the RAID array is clearly visible in Device Manager with current driver. Also the BSOD now comes about every 5 mins regardless what I do which makes my computer completely useless. I have a bad feeling that something major hapenned to the system and I am running out of options but reformat and reinstall.

That SUCKS!!!

[CaptainHaplo]

Well there is good news and bad news Conus. The problem is pretty clear to be the Raid array. If the driver wont install - its possible that windows installed a wrong driver for it on an update and now it "sees" it but as the wrong type. Check what you can and make sure what the device manager says you have is really correct. Though the original cd driver should have worked.

The good news is you found the issue. The bad news - a reformat may not fix it. It is looking and acting more like the raid controller itself is going on the blink.

EDIT - Go into your BIOS and make sure nothing got changed that could cause IRQ conflicts at the HW level! If something got "reserved" in Bios and Win is trying to use it - that would cause this as well! *Sorry - just thought of this*

[conus00]

Well just decided I've had enough of this crap and took the plunge. Just finished installing a fresh copy of XPs on my C: partition.
So far installed just SP2 and staying away from SP3 for now.
Now on to installing my tons of applications. Damn.

[McBeck]

I would agree that the RAID could be the problem.

Your problem is that you have random symptoms, so its hard to pinpoint.

The fact that it happens during disk operations support the RAID theory, but it could also be a fault on the disk itself.

Have you run a checkdisk?

[kiwi_2005]

Have you tried changing your RAM. That IRQ notless message is always a ram problem for me, even switching the ram over to different slots fixed it one time.

[goldorak]

The irq_less... is a generic error message that points either to a hardware or software fault. If the original poster didn't change software configuration and bsods started appearing out of the blue, the culprit at 99% is of hardware origin.
The most probable causes are ram sticks gone bad, some times even the video card can get you bsod, and finally the motherboard could be dying.
To diagnostic put everything at default, forget about overclocking. Then do a memtest on the ram (not 1-2 hours, try running it over the night) and check back.
Visually inspect the motherboard for blown capacitators (sometimes low quality caps leak and you have to rma the motherboard).
For the videocard, clean the fan it has plenty of dust, high temperature could be one of the causes of the pc going bsod.

[FIREWALL]

I reformat every Spring. Just consider it a part of Spring Cleaning. :DL

[goldorak]

I reformat every Spring. Just consider it a part of Spring Cleaning. :DL

:doh: you're doing something wrong.
My computer has been running strong for over 3 years straight and I can't remember the last time it blue screened (possibily a faulty driver from a terratec sound card).
Xp sp 3 here and all is good. :yeah:

[FIREWALL]

I reformat every Spring. Just consider it a part of Spring Cleaning. :DL

:doh: you're doing something wrong.
My computer has been running strong for over 3 years straight and I can't remember the last time it blue screened (possibily a faulty driver from a terratec sound card).
Xp sp 3 here and all is good. :yeah:

I've never had a blue screen or crash that I didn't cause myself..

I do it cause I'm lazy and want to get all the crap out.

[Aktungbby]

do it right!:Kaleun_Salute: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3b/Windows_9X_BSOD.png They should open a bar called the BSoD at TGiF :()1:

[Onkel Neal]

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