Irql_not_less_than_equal
 

Help?

My PC (XP) keeps on rebooting without warning, and blue-screens during the restart, with the following error message:

IRQL_NOT_LESS_THAN_EQUAL

What does that mean?

Everything had been running smoothly up until yesterday, and for some stupid, stupid, stupid reason, I decided to take a trip over to Windows Update and see if there was anything worth sticking on my pc. A quick check later, and eight updates were installing themselves onto my humble hard-drive. And then it crashed. About half way through the installation of something (might have been the newest Direct X, I can't remember) and that's when I started to get the rebooting/blue screening/bloody stupid error messages.

I attempted to take XP back to an earlier configuration, before the update that fecked my system, and when I knew my 'puter was working safely... That didn't work. So I played about with Windows in safe mode trying to rectify the situation... That didn't work either. So I then use the recovery disk shipped with my pc to reinstall windows, saving all my user-files to a certain area... Which kinda works.

I've just re-installed XP and the recovery disk is asking me to remove the CD and reboot the 'puter, all good... Until I press the 'Open' button on the CD-Drive and my 'puter reboots and blue-screens with the IRQL_NOT_LESS_THAN_EQUAL message.

I've since been messing about with the damn computer, and it keeps crashing at random moments, and the IRQL_NOT_LESS_THAN_EQUAL message keeps appearing. I can't find any mention of it on the interweb, or at least not any answer as to what it means...

Any ideas guys? I'm sure it's got something to do with those sodding Windows Updates, but I'm really stuck.

PC Specs: Althon 1400, 256 Meg Ram, GeForce3, Soundblaster Live, Win XP.

Why didn't I think of that?

You're a diamond Xaccers. :)

Right.

I've had a good read through all that lot, and it might as well be written in Swahili. I don't understand a word of it!

Can anyone translate into non-technical-speak for me?

this error tend to be one of the following
1)driver error have u upgraded the driver/s, if not do it now reset when told?
2)memory error have u changed memory if not it may be damaged try setting ur memory settings less aggressively.
3)are Ur devices sharing irq's
this error can be a real bitch to diagnose, have u change anything recently ie drivers, installed new hardware?
check u are not having thermal problems
if u try the above and it doesn't fix it u may need to to a complete reinstall with the latest drivers.

All I did was install a few Windows updates the other day. During the install my 'puter crashed, and since then it's been a nightmare. Blue-screening at every opportunity!

I've tried using a recovery disk to wipe the hard-drive and re-install Windows XP, but the problem is still there...

Can I wipe the hard-disc completely (from command promt) and still use the recovery disk to boot from? And if so, how?

did they give you an Os disk?
how old is the system?

if you can get into windows, have your tried re-downloading the updates? if that fails, backup your important files (put hd in another pc or something) then wack in the XP cd and get it to format the computer and install again - thats if you have a OS cd. Or have you tried the "go back" feature (or what ever its called) in XP? allowing you to restore your pc to a previous date (obviously before the update).

Hope this helps :)
Dom

The PC is coming up for three years old, and the original OS disc was Win 98SE. I managed to blag an XP Pro revovery disc from the manufacturers, which basically wipes the hard-disc and re-installs XP as and when I see fit.

I've done this twice since the problems started, and I keep getting the error message. I know it can't be anything the recovery disc is loading on, as I've never had this problem before. Would there be anything residing on the hard-disc, and avoiding the format, that would be causing the problem?

Or would it be a problem with the BIOS, something that changed recently with the install of the Windows updates, and that is making the system crash at random moments.

I had it crash four times last night, twice while I was just sitting there installing my anti-virus, once when I opened a new IE window, and once when I opened Windows Messenger.

Try setting your video to Standard VGA, if that works, then you can find latest video drivers & load.

To set to Standard VGA, boot into safe mode and change video.

Some video drivers do not like to be updated over old drivers & recommend removing old drivers, setting to standard VGA & then loading new drivers. Perhaps update just loaded some new drivers without asking. Update tells me that my video drivers need updating even after I loaded latest drivers from Nvidia

have u changed the bios settings, windows install can't touch bios settings?
if u r xp disk fully installs and try uising an older set of drivers
like i said this can be a real bitch to fix:(
thr main things the cause this error are
1)bad memory stick
2)bad/wrong driver incorrectly installed etc
3)system file corruption
are u sure your disk is a full xp disk?

read his first post!

since he's already tried a full reinstall this isn't going to help

it has already been mentioned, but I'll say it anyway.
when I kept getting this error message it turned out to be a bad stick of memory.
have you checked to see if windows is generating a dump file
(.dmp) if it is have a look at it and see if it helps point to a problem

not shure how much the dump file will tell him but my bet's on the memory too, imo 90% of problems in windows are caused by bad/cheap generic memory

Can Memory just go 'bad'?

I've not installed memory since I bought the 'puter, so would one of the sticks just go a little bit wonky on it's own accord?

I'm getting all sorts of new error messages now... If it stays stable enough to write them down, I'll let you guys know! :p