IRQL not less or equal to BSOD message

[Fr34k]

I've pretty much been having this problem since I built my rig about 6-7 months ago. I first noticed it while watching or trying to burn DVD's. Later it got to the point where something as simple as downloading music or even just plugging in my iPod would cause BSOD. I'd literally have to go through about 4 reboots before I could start fiddling with iTunes. For the most part I haven't seen this playing games or anything like that, so I dunno wtf.

Specs:

PS - PC Power 750W

2 Samsung Super Writemasters

MOBO - ASUS P5N-D

Vid Card - EVGA GeForce 8800GTS (640 bit)

RAM - 2 1G Corsair sticks

CPU - Intel Q6600 2.4 GHz Quad

HD - 320GB Western Digital

OS - Windows XP

Sound - Running onboard

Finally getting tired of "just dealing with it" and want to finally fix the problem if I can. Any help would be much appreciated :D

[Reality]

first thing i'd do is run a chkdsk <drive:> /f in the command prompt, see if it finds any errors

i'd run a memory test as well (Vista has this as part of it's startup but I'm not sure if XP does, so.. Microsoft Online Crash Analysis )

to me, it sounds like there might be some windows system files, crucial to your machine operating properly, that've become corrupted (due to perhaps a dying harddrive, frequent power failures causing data corruption, faulty memory, a flakey power supply)

if they are system files that have been corrupted, i'd back up your data and reinstall your operating system (are you using a burned copy of XP, and if so perhaps the speed at which the disc was burned inherently left some of the files corrupted? usually this problem would surface immediately i.e. the OS install wouldn't complete itself)

[Spekkio]

try running the minidump thru the msft debugger. i've found that will often give me a good idea of what is causing the crash. last time i was dealing with a number of Acer computers all bluescreening on startup. grabbed a minidump off of one, ran it thru the debugger and out popped the culprit's name.

[Cephius]

That BSOD is usually related to driver corruption or some sort of driver issue. If you installed any new hardware, try removing them, deleting the drivers, and reinstalling.

[Casey_]

it's probably a driver like cephius said, find what .sys or .dll or whatnot its crashing on when it BSODs and google that, and update the appropriate device drivers, my friend had the same issue and it turned out to be his sound card drivers for his onboard card, though it could also be your chipset..

I would recommend upgrading your audio card driver to begin with just because. Nothing really can go wrong and if it does just roll back your driver. Volume settings/mic boost/mutes etc will likely reset upon installing new drivers.

http://dlsvr04.asus.com/pub/ASUS/mis..._v51005506.zip

I do not know how old your driver is currently, but that was updated on january 4th 2008.

Your drivers for the chipset can be found here, I have no idea why there are so many, though i'd wait to figure out what the exact module it's crashing on is.

ASUSTeK Computer Inc.-Support-

[Fr34k]

Most of the googling I've done in the past pointed to faulty chipsets on the mobo and people were saying nVidia wasn't planning on fixing it. I'm dling the new drivers now, and maybe I'll try to force the BSOD later and get a better idea of the whole message and trying to google that.

[Kurt Cobain]

have had this bluescreen on several occasions, the RAM was always always ALWAYS the culprit

[Casey_]

If you could upload the C:\WINDOWS\Minidump .DMP files somewhere I could dissect them to figure out the file that it's crashing on, that would give you a definitive answer.

Though I am not sure if you actually have anything in that folder..

[Fr34k]

Have a shitload of files in the Minidump folder, where could I upload one?

Mini Edit: Installed the Audio Drivers. One of the latest crashes that I could easily replicate was after lulLM-17 I downloaded Diablo 2 and was attempting to install. BSOD'd before I got anywhere. tried to open it now and nothing seemed to happen. Things are looking up :D. I've had people suggest drivers before but I think they were video drivers that I updated so many times >.>

[Cephius]

One's made each time you crash, so just post one of the most recent ones. You can attach them here.

[Fr34k]

Gives me Invalid File when I try to upload, is it because .dmp is not listed in the file attacher thing?

[Fr34k]

Figured it out >.> here it is

[Cephius]

Yeah, it's your chipset drivers. Go the manufacturer site and download the latest. Then, download driver sweeper, boot into safe mode, and run it. Delete your chipset drivers using that utility, then boot back into windows and reinstall them.

[Fr34k]

Well I've been trying to force BSOD for the last few days, and I'm happy to report it hasn't come up. Thanks for all the help, appreciate it.