Hi,

 

Sorry to gate crash the forum with a non PMDG issue but I figured that there are so many knowledgable types here you might be able to help. My PC keeps bluescreening with the message: driver_irql_not_less_or_equal. I'm running windows 7 and haven't updated any of the drivers recently. I was wondering if anyone had any thoughts.

 

 

All the best

 

 

David

This is usually caused by a corrupt driver or a bad memory stick. I think my first step would be to remove & reinstall the memory. If you have a bad stick of ram unning a program like memtest may help identify it. That or removing them all & running the computer with only one memory module, then the other.

 

If that doesn't settle it the next thing would be to reinstall your video driver & so on.

Just further to my last post I've just tried to defrag my hard drive which normal takes 2 hours. The current estimate is 14 hrs I'm wondering if my hard drive is on its way out?

Could be. A problem with the page file can also cause these errors.

 

I'd suggest stopping the defrag for now & start thinking about Possibly replacing the hard drive.

How new is the system?

That's most definitely a hardware problem. Are you overclocking at all - an unstable or overheating CPU can cause that...

my guess from past experience is a bad ram stick, but you could try swapping the sticks between different slots and testing one by one until you find the faulty one. In the case that i has, it would pass all the RAM tests such as memtest+ etc even though i still had the blue screens

It further depth to a hardware problem each piece of hardware is assigned a IRQ number. These numbers are often shared sometimes witch is legitimate.

 

But sometimes BIOS assigns these wrong and a shared IRQ number can being conflicts on resulting in IRQ not less or equal OR a IRQ too high can also make this occur.

 

If you overclocked this can add to the problem or be the problem in itself. So take that away for now so you know that's not the problem and while at it run memtest to check for faults on the RAM as those can make this error occur as well as IRQ is the request order in witch hardware and RAM deal witch each other to simplify that in easier wordage.

 

If it's not your RAM or overclock then you have a shared IRQ number that's making this BSOD or one in witch is too high for that hardware device.

 

From personal experience a few years ago (4 -5 years) I had a QX9650, 4GB DDR2, two 8800GTS in SLI, on a EVGA 780i. I had the rig all was fine then added the second GPU and had this error join my life! I feel for you!

 

I took away my OC and also ran memtest, all was fine and the IRQ not less or equal still occurred. But still without OC and even new RAM stick I had sitting still got the BSOD you've having.

 

From here things fadeout but I did fix the problem. From the Device Manager I edited these numbers witch again are faded in memory. But since mine occurred when added the second GPU I edited those number. I know GPU and those type things of importance need to have lower IRQ numbers. If my memory serves me right either the two GPU's weren't sharing the same IRQ number OR they were above 8 witch I believe I've read that GPU should be assigned a IRQ lower then 8.

 

I hope this helps you start too look in the right direction, this took me awhile to get right and also there is a whole host of information on the internet that only leads to 100's of different directions witch also added to my confusion in diagnosing this problem on my end. I spent a few weeks reading and messing around with it. If you wanting to see your IRQ numbers go to Device Manager and drop down the View tab and view resources by connection, then the IRQ drop down.

You could try re-seating the video card - and performing a clean install of the drivers again with driverclean

Guys,

 

Thanks for all your ideas and help. The system is about 18 months old and has been overclocked. It has performed flawlessly apart from a bit of overheating which I cured by changing the case to a bigger one with better cooling. I'm ashamed to admit that when it comes to PC's my knowledge and confidence of rooting around inside them is sadly lacking (real aeroplanes are a different matter!!). I've contacted a friend of mine who knows all things IT he's going to have a look remotely but tells me its probably a hardware issue as you've all suggested. Before I hand it over to him though I could try re-installing my Nvidia drivers as suggested by Jude. Does anyone think its worth trying or should I leave it too the expert???

 

 

All the best

 

 

David

 

 

PS as well as the BSOD's its also started locking up mid operations completely freezes mouse and everything. Don't know if that helps

Watch your temps closely.

 

It would also he a good idea to put the CPU (and gpu if it's overclocked) back to stock to see if the blue screens continue.

Yep - CPU back to stock is the first step here. If it continues I'd look at the RAM like others have said.

The more I think on it, the more sure I am that was the occaisional blue screen error I got at 4.9GHz. My pc would pass a few hours of p95, but about once a week that would happen with it sitting idle. Knocking the oc back a touch was the solution for me.

Could be a driver too. Did you install something recently?

If you have crash dumps at C:/Windows/Minidump upload them and I'll see if I can find something.

 

If you don't you'll need to set Windows to store them:

 

Start -> right click on Computer -> properties -> Advanced system properties, and then...

 

 

you can use Driver Verifier then to force a blue screen. If you find the offending driver (assuming it's a driver what's at fault) simply boot in safe mode and turn off Driver Verifier

 

Hi Guys,

 

I'm away from my PC at the moment working. When I get back I'll take a look at some of the suggestions you've made and let you know what happens. Since (as I said) I have very little skill in PC tech items I'll get my friend to look at it as well and see if he can find the issue. I'll keep you posted

 

 

Thanks again

 

 

David