[Error] | Serious problem with my computer

[neiantrim]

I have a Serious problem with my computer its crashed 9 times within the last 5 hours, showing the blue screen of death, and then when i restart it displays the message in the picture below then shuts down

my computer info

dell dimenision xps

intel pentium 4

windows xp pro

1GB ram

oh sorry

blue screen info -

A problem has been detected and windows has been shut down to prevent damage to your computer

DRIVER_IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL

so on

technical information:

***STOP: 0x0000000D1 (Ox00001200, 0x000000FF, 0x00000001, 0x)

Bedinning dump of physical memory

PS THATS ALL THE INFO I GOT BEFORE IT SHUT DOWN

(THATS ALL I GOT BEFORE IT SHUT DOWN AGAIN)

[cluberti]

Please post the actual blue screen data - including the stop code AND call stack data. Just knowing it BSOD'ed and recovered from an error isn't going to help us much in helping you, unfortunately.

I think this should be a sticky - if you've got a BSOD, post the stop and callstack data!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[dirtwarrior]

A virus can mimic this behavior. Do a throughal virus scan

[cluberti]

Well, it's definitely a driver causing this issue, but as to which I am uncertain. Did the bluescreen list any driver names? Configure your machine to NOT reboot automatically on a bluescreen crash and you can get more info (like the driver name of the module that was loaded into memory when the crash started). What I can gather from the bluescreen data is that some driver on the system has caused an IRQL exception, it's in IRQ Level (IRQL) 255 when it crashes, and it's a memory write operation.

That's not all though, and here's the kicker - the only time an IRQL is at anything higher than 31 is when the system is crashing. What does that mean? It means that you have a driver on your system that caused the system to start a bugcheck (the technical term describing what the system does to start creating a blue screen of death, and setting the system to do a dump of memory to the pagefile for analysis, when an exception that the OS can not or will not handle occurs), and THEN the driver caused an IRQL error - so you've got a driver doing something DURING A SYSTEM CRASH ALREADY IN PROGRESS - a bluescreen on top of a bluescreen, in layman's terms. So you've got a seriously buggy driver on your system, and one that can be active DURING a bugcheck operation. Since only kernel-mode drivers can do this, it could be your antivirus software, your disk controller drivers, or your video or audio drivers. Hopefully the bluescreen said which .sys file or .dll file caused the initial bugcheck.

Have you added or changed any drivers, or installed any software updates (Microsoft or otherwise) recently?

Edited November 30, 2005 by cluberti

[neiantrim]

thanks for the info, btw i have noticed that my graphics card has been playing up, as when i turn my computer on it doesnt display information correctly.

i have downloaded an update for my firewall.

i have installed visual basic.

i have also installed a new webcam.

this is the blue screen if u can read it lol

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c7/ddsgh/picture00039.jpg

ps this picture was takin using my camera phone, so its not very good sorry

Edited November 30, 2005 by neiantrim

[cluberti]

It could be the firewall (best guess), but it could also be the video card. I'd also check and see when the last antivirus engine update to your A/V software was done, as I've seen this sort of thing happen before after Symantec A/V updates...

[TokSik]

Its more likely to be one of the October updates from microsoft. I had this exact same problem after I installed the October updates and only got rid of it when I did a complete reformat and re-instal minus any of the updates after September. I tried everything I know to narrow it down to which of the 10 or so updates I installed that month, but couldn't figure it out.

I tried sifting the memory dumps after the crashes but couldn't pin it down to anything specific because it was happening with a variety of different drivers, though one of the Nvidia drivers was a more regular cause (though when I got rid of it, I still had crashes, just less frequently). I was getting 5 - 10 crashes a day where my system had been really stable prior to the updates (I can't remember having had a crash in a couple of years prior to that).

I tried doing anti-virus and trojan checks, spyware checks, disconnecting from the web (that was another problem, where my web connection kept dropping out and only a re-boot would rectify it). none of which solved the problem.

My advice is, bite the bullet and do a secure wipe of your hard drive (from a bootable CD like Hirens or DigiWizs' miniPE²-XT v2k5.09.03, multi-purpose bootCD) then re-instal windows without any of the updates that were released after September.

Edited December 9, 2005 by TokSik

[cluberti]

"re-instal windows without any of the updates that were released after September"

That doesn't seem very safe - have you considered contacting Microsoft for support? They'd likely be able to pinpoint the root of the problem, and either help you fix it or point you to which third-party vendor would be able.

[TheFlash428]

Notice the "limewire" shortcut on the desktop...Hmmm...not to judge, but be weary of infected files on file sharing networks.

I would try a virus scan--if your computer could stay up long enough. It is definately a driver issue, but what caused it is the question. any luck in safe mode?