DRIVER_IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL Error

dodgy dave

dodgy dave

dodgy dave

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8 Jul 2003
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26
Hi, a couple of weeks ago I had a bit of a problem with some spy/adware that was causing my computer to run really slow and choking my internet connection, so I decided to format the HD and reinstall XP SP2. Everything seemed to go on fine, got all the latest drivers etc of the internet and got them installed; then maybe 2 days after I reinstalled my pc started crashing.

Sometimes it seems to just freeze up and I can’t move the mouse or use the keyboard, the only thing I can do is restart the computer manually. Other times it just shuts itself down and displays a blue screen error saying ‘DRIVER_IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL’ then when you restart it windows says it shut down to prevent damage to the computer. Its done this about 6 times in 2 weeks mainly when I’ve been opening emule or catalyst control panel; but when its not been crashing games such as world of warcraft have been running really slow and sluggish.

I googled the error I got and it says its either something to do with damaged hardware or software conflicts or something, but it doesn’t really narrow it down past that. I’m 90% sure it can’t be faulty hardware because it was running fine (except for the spy/adware) before the reinstall. I’ve got a feeling it might be something to do with the graphics card because every now and again when I open a page it’ll show a picture but half of it will be distorted with purple/green lines across half of it or something. But I’ve no idea how to check or fix this.

Has anyone had this problem before or something similar? I’m really stuck on this one guys, was reading the result from that google search and it was like another language; any help you can give would be greatly appreciated.

Here’s my spec (all drivers are the latest ones as of 2 weeks ago)

AMD 64 ATHLON X2 3800+
ASUS A8N Mobo
ASUS X800 ATI Radeon
1GB Corsair ram

I think that’s all correct, but I’m at work atm so I can’t really check
 
I got the Catalyst 6.7 drivers + control center from the ATI site.

used to use the Omega ones, which people seem to think are better, a few releases ago but i had problems with them so reverted back to catalyst ones.
 
Hmm, if the graphics are becoming pixelated(sp?) like that then I would be concerned. Were you running those drivers before the reinstall?
 
I've had BSOD's and it was borked ram. Have you got one 1GB stick or is it two 512 sticks. If its two 512 sticks you could try taking one out and see if it carries on and vice versa.
 
i was definitly running catalyst drivers but i'm not sure of the release, maybe 6.2; pretty sure it was 6.something.

yeah warren it 2 512MB sticks, i might give it a try when i get home. i'd have thought it'd be strange if its just gone from a reinstall of windows though, surely.

I'm really hoping my graphics card or some otehr hardware isn't dying; i built it with everything new bar the HD about a year ago. It might still be under warranty but that'll probably take ages to sort out.
 
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i aint got another graphics card unfortunatly, when i got my x800 i gave my 9600xt to my dad. I think they're might be a one on the mobo but i'll have to check that.

I'll run memtest when i get back and let you know the results this afto.

thanks for the help guys!
 
I had a very similar issue. It was caused by some sort of corruption on my Hard Drive (even though scans didn't pick anything up). It happened on two different hard drives so after a lot of mucking about i took a guess at my sata contoller having an issue. I swapped over from the Nvidia one to the silicon image one and i've not had any problems for the last 6-7 months.
 
My votes are on the RAM tbh.

Iv had this problem many times, and no matter what people said

"Ohh its the drivers"

"Ohh its the software"

it always turned out to be a memory problem..
 
In my limited experience it could be many things but is most likely to be a driver. Of the times I've seen them:

DRIVER_IRQ_..... errors are more likely to be RAM

DRIVER_IRQL_.... errors are most likely drivers. E.g. most recent one for me was using the AMD Optimizer driver that guaranteed this BSOD when coming out of standby (but was fine without it).

Others might have different experiences (e.g. the posts above) but I think we can say that these BSODs can be caused by a number of things both hardware and software. E.g. in your case it is most likely hardware and in that case substituting components one-by-one is generally the only practical way to find the issue.
Best of luck.
 
right time for an update! got home and ran memtest and it came back with no errors (just one pass but i'm gonna leave it going over night so it can run properly, just to say if its the memory for sure), removed the ATI drivers using drivercleaner then installed the previous version (Catalyst 6.6); but when i started emule up it just froze up again, no BSOD but i had to restart manually. Also the graphical glitches kept occuring so i think that rules that out.

So like i said i'm gonna leave memtest running over night then if nothings wrong check my psu to make sure the fans working properly and the voltage is alright.

Its interesting that someone mentioned Nvidea firewall as i didn't mention that i had it installed (forgot) but thats one thing i didn't have before the XP reinstall. Its not turned on, but i might try getting rid of it to see if that makes a difference. Have you had problems with Nvidea Firewall before Wesley?

anyway thanks for the help guys i'll let you know what happens.

to top it all off walking through town today and my ipod looks like the HD is going on it again and its not under warantee any more (current ones a replacement from the original when the HD died). Its not looking like its gonna be a good weekend :(
 
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