Serious Problem

[Pie]

Here's my problem.

Every time I open a game, after 10 minutes or less I will get an error that says "DRIVER_IRQL_NO_LESS_OR_EQUAL." Windows will restart and say that it has recovered from a serious error. I would have tried to do a system restore but I also get another error for that and windows restore closes. Is there any way I can fix this without having to resort to reformatting my hard drive? Oh, and if it's of any value, I have Windows XP Pro.

 

[folken]

Sounds like overheating. Something in your machine is getting a little too hot and malfuntioning. That is the typical cause of the DRIVER_IRQL_NO_LESS_OR_EQUAL bsod. What temps are your cpu and chipset running at? Does your videocard have adequate cooling? Do you also get a bsod from running cpu intensive things like prime95?
Don't run systemrestore, that will likely break your machine more. lol.

<A HREF="http/www.folken.net/myrig.htm" target="_new">My precious...</A>

 

[Pie]

Okay, well I have about 5 or 6 fans in my tower, so I think its getting enough cooling, but I don't know the temperature my CPU and chipset are running at, how can I check?
By the way, I dusted out my computer out and it seems to be running better, but it still runs slowly.

 

[folken]

The easiest way would be to go into the bios, there will be something like "PC health status" in there. Reboot and go into it after your computer has been running for a while to get a slightly more acurate idle reading.
What motherboard do you have? There might be some software avaliable to read the temps when in windows (to get load temps). If some didn't come with your motherboard you might be able to use MBM5, it is compatible with lots of motherboards.

<A HREF="http/www.folken.net/myrig.htm" target="_new">My precious...</A>

 

[Pie]

My mobo is a MSI K7N2 Delta-ILSR (MS-6570G)

The rest of my system specs are;

AMD Athlon XP, 2166 MHz (13 x 167) 2700+
NVIDIA nForce2 Ultra 400 Chipset
512 MB (PC2700 DDR SDRAM)
NVIDIA GeForce FX 5200 (128 MB)<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by Pie on 02/09/05 02:58 PM.</EM></FONT></P>

 

[folken]

Get "<A HREF="http/www.msi.com.tw/program/support/software/swr/spt_swr_list.php?kind=1" target="_new">MSI PC Alert 4</A>" off the msi website. That might be able to tell you your temps when in windows.

<A HREF="http/www.folken.net/myrig.htm" target="_new">My precious...</A>

 

[Pie]

It's running at about 44 degrees Celcius

 

[folken]

Hm... If that is the idle temp that is pretty high for a 2700+. Are you using the stock heatsink?
Is the heatsink on your vid card very hot to the touch?

<A HREF="http/www.folken.net/myrig.htm" target="_new">My precious...</A>

 

[Pie]

I wouldn't know, I never left my computer on for a while then opened it up to touch the heat sink, and I'm not 100% sure that it's stock, but it probably is.

 

[corkster77]

i'm having the exact same problem but my bios temp is only at 31 C,
it crashes and then says drver IRQL no less or equal,
but it tells me i should uninstall any new hardware or software anuy ideas