annoying error [solved?]

If my computer does something that's like... more than using MMF/2 or browsing the web, then it gets into a hissy fit and goes into a Blue Screen with the error:

"IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL"

It's really annoying. I can't even play games that I know my computer is capable of running. Just today I was playing Sonic 1 on GENs and it went boom on me. It happens too often for it just to be coincidence.


I did a quick google check and it says it's either that it's overheating or that my RAM is wrong or something. Since it's only been recent, I'd say it isn't the RAM (I haven't changed it or anything, and it worked for ages before), but I wouldn't say it's the heat either (even though we're in a heatwave) because it started a while back when we were still freezing in spring.
It also said to uninstall the graphics drivers i have, then install the newest from nVidia website, but that was like.. the first thing I did when this started happening. I don't think that's the problem.



So I'm asking for help. I'll post any Computer Specs that you might need that I can get. Not being able to play games at all is hitting me quite hard.

This post has been edited by artee on Jul 21 2006, 10:07 AM

From the IRQ part, it sounds like something isn't playing nice with your video card

but IRQL is probably different so I'll check

EDIT: Check your CPU fan to make sure it's running, though

And even new RAM can have a very small chance of being borked by default

This post has been edited by Xgoff on Jul 20 2006, 08:04 PM

I'll check anything to do with hardware tomorrow so if you can gather as many (hardware related) things to check at once as you can I'd appreciate it. Prefer not to repeatedly dismantling it. Can't do it now because lack of screwdriver. :[


Also it might be worth noting that a few days after it started doing it, the fuse in the power-supply plug blew. COULD just be coincidence, but I dunno. Changing the fuse didn't fix the BSODs, and it hasn't blown since.

You might of fried your CPU fan and a chunk of ram, that tends to happen when a Powersupply goes.

Download MemTest86, and put it on a floppy or burn the ISO to CD, and let that run for a complete pass or two to test your RAM. RAM with a few hundred K of bad addresses won't always reveal itself immediately, but it's almost gaurenteed to rear its ugly face when you do something intensive.

Overheating can also cause intermittent problems, and is more likely to show up with heavy use or after a period of use. Sounds just like the ram, doesn't it? Open the case, make sure there's good airflow and that dust hasn't caked up in the vents or in your heatsink. Use a compressor or blower to clean it out if this has happened. As long as all the fans are spinning though, heat-related failure isn't likely.

If your supply was acting abnormally, it could have damaged your components before it even blew. Power supplies are supposed to have safegaurds, but I've personally lost an entire machine to a bad PSU (this failure involved the motherboard physically catching fire, and all components being completely destroyed electrically-speaking). I think you're more likely to see an all-or-nothing deal with a bad PSU, but if the previous two leads turn up nothing, you could have a problem with your motherboard.

Speaking of the motherboard, look at all the capacitors (the little aluminum cylendars). Several years ago there was an epidemic of bad capacitors thanks to some corporate treachery in the industry. If any of them appear to be popping off the board, or appear to be leaking from the top, your board is no good, and the problem will continue getting worse until it no longer boots.

(BTW on college computer )

-I tried downloading that Memtest thing last night but the website wasn't working :/ Seems to be working now, I'll try it when I get back home.

-I've actually been meaning to clean out any dust in the case. My room gets really dusty, and my case has all sorts of holes in it. If that's a problem, I'll concider getting a new case... with fewer holes. It probably gets very dusty very fast in there. Erm... would using a vacuum do the job for now? <:D

-Last time that my Power Supply broke, it completely stopped power getting to the Computer. Every fuse I put in the plug blew as soon as I plugged it in. That led me to believe this wasn't the Power Supply. I dunno though. I'm no expert or anything, evidently.


Note:
I've noticed that it seems to take a hell of a lot less to make it crash if it's been on for a while (even if I haven't used it at all), and when it does crash I need to leave it off for a while before turning it back on otherwise it'll crash again before even starting up.

This may be an overheating problem. My laptop had a broken fan for several months and kept turning off when it got under a load. Finally, it broke (Windows wouldn't start up and would just give me the IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL bsod message). I took it to a computer repair shop and they found it was a problem with the fan. This was a long time ago. Still sitting here awaiting a new fan (it's only around 3-4 years old, a new fan can't be hard to find!) Check your fan.

Exactly. The processor being idle will make it cool down. When it crashes, you will need to leave it off so it will cool down, if you turn it on straight away, it will overheat again. Your motherboard is not very good if the only thing it can do is make Windows crash.. my laptop turned off completely whenever this happened so as to not overheat and possibly fry something, but it finally went too far...

Yeah probably overheating. I've had a few bsods recently thanks to the heatwave cooking england. I forgot what the error message said though.

This post has been edited by Cutman on Jul 21 2006, 06:48 AM

Oh and if you get a new case, you probably don't want to get one with fewer holes

My old computer was in my room while we were drywalling it, and it still worked fine despite looking like it snowed inside the case

Oh and, if it is overheating don't even think about taking the case off. It won't work and it'll make it even hotter.

Well I MIGHT have fixed it. I've been playing Rockman ZX rom for a while now with firefox, AIM, MSN and a few folders open with no crash yet. And I played Sonic 1 on gens for a few minutes and it was fine.

I don't know what the problem was, though. I opened the computer, cleaned every spec of dust out of it with an air compressor and moved my RAM to another slot (I read this somewhere). The fans were working fine and there was nothing wrong with the motherboard. The fans might have been slowed down by about an inch of dust, though, so it still could've been overheating. Also I kinda untangled the spaggheti behind my computer. I dunno how that woulda been a massive problem, but it makes my rooms look tidier

All's well so far~



By the way I don't know how to start that Memtest thing


Edit: and doing this seems to have made my keyboard more responsive ffffffffffffffffffffffffff (my f key used to refuse to work) so even if it turns out it didn't work, I get SOMETHING out of it.

Hooray!

This post has been edited by artee on Jul 21 2006, 10:09 AM

Considering you had to leave the computer off, it was definitely heat related, and cleaning out/cleaning up seems to have fixed that. Thick layers of dust can insulate heat, so yeah. And college dorms are like .. the worst. Neatening the cables inside can also does wonders for the airflow, as well as neatening behind / pulling it away from the wall.

In the future you may want to get another case fan if you have a spot for it. But at least you've got it sorted out for now.

My old computer had overheating problems. After a couple hours of use, it would bluescreen, and if I started it back up immediately, it would "forget" that it had a sound card and modem. (The BIOS wouldn't recognize the PCI cards). But after leaving it off for a couple hours, it would "remember" them again. Most bizarre thing I've seen.

Isn't 3-4 fans enough? :[