Windows 7: BSOD randomly (no specific trigger) Commonly an IRQL issue on BSOD

Hi,

My computer has been unstable for quite some time and after memory tests, changing graphics cards, many driver variations and a couple of fresh OS installs a while ago it is still not stable.

The difficulty is that it doesn't seem to be triggered by anything specific so it makes debugging really difficult... sometimes it crashes twice a day then not for another week or two.

Please help me shed some light on how this could be resolved as I am considering stripping the PC down to its components, selling them and buying a pre-built system instead.

Thanks
Henry

Welcome aboard.
According to carrona.org, STOP 0x00000109: CRITICAL_STRUCTURE_CORRUPTION
Usual causes: Device driver, Breakpoint set with no debugger attached, Hardware (Memory in particular)

Let us search for a faulting driver first.
Driver Verifier - Enable and Disable

Run Driver Verifier for 24 hours or the occurrence of the next crash, whichever is earlier.

Let us know the results, with the subsequent crash dumps, if any.

Hi,

Thank you for the reply.. however, since restarting, as prompted, after activating the Driver Verifier my computer crashes on booting up; IRQL Not Less Than Zero (or something similar) and I can only get in via safe mode!

Is there a way of disabling what Iv'e just done? there are no new mini dump files

Thanks

Disable Driver Verifier in safe mode.

Then enable it again, make it sure that you are not selecting any microsoft's driver there. Let us now what happened there.

I've disabled Verifier in safe mode then followed the instructions on how to set the driver verifier going as described in the link in your previous post (making sure no microsoft drivers are selected)...

Problem is there are only microsoft drivers listed so there are apparently no drivers to select and verify...

any ideas?

PS Driver is spelt wrong on the software interface button 'lauch drver verifier', see attached image

There are a lot of other drivers ... start the verifier again, follow the instructions given, step by step. Make it sure that you are following all the steps correctly.

Follow it Driver Verifier - Enable and Disable

And, we will rectify the tool, thanks for pointing it out

Sorry,

Once I followed the instructions properly and activated the verifier from the command line the other drivers appeared, however....

After restarting as prompted the start up process can't get passed the login screen, it only lasts a second or two before BSODing.

I've gone back to check which drivers were selected in the verifier and tested whether it would work with only one driver that is unlikely to be causing a problem, like an apple keyboard driver, but the same problem persists.

I've attached a picture of the BSOD that I get at start up when the verifier is enabled.

thanks

Boot into safe mode, and disable verifier.

Try to collect the crash dump. As it is a Stop 0x0A, it should give some useful information I guess.

When the system blue screens (with verifier enabled) it does so prior to logging in (windows start up log in screen lasts for a few seconds) and there is now new crash dump file in the mini dump folder.

Is there anywhere else a record of the crash would be kept? I've checked the settings for the crash dump file location and it still defines the minidump folder as the destination for new dump files to be saved in.

It seems to me that, when enabled, the driver verifier causes the Blue Screen crash at start up even if only one fairly innocuous driver is selected (I've tested selecting various single drivers selected to be verified)

OK, keep the DV plan aside for the time being ... run the computer normally and inform us about the further crashes.