Windows 7: Intermittent BSOD, IRQL less or not equal

Hi everyone,

since the 17th September, I have been getting a BSOD that only appears occasionally, on boot up. My laptop was perfectly fine in the morning (I checked emails and went on to a Facebook game I use every day - Trainstation - to send my trains away for 6 hours - irrelevant if you don't understand, just giving a bit of background as to what I was doing before the BSOD), but after a short train ride I tried to start up my laptop as normal, when this BSOD occurred. I had not done anything previously that I can guess would cause this to happen, and it was off for the duration of the train journey!

Anyway, hopefully, some dump files should be attached, that should help you work out what my problem is! Apologies if the required info is not there, I am not technically minded. I have attempted to try and read the most recent dump file, but didn't get very far, but ntoskrnl appeared, suggesting it might be that? I believe Kernel problems can be quite serious?

Thanks to anyone who spends time offering to help, the last thing I want is to lose my laptop!

Welcome to SevenForums.

Norton can quite often be a cause of BSOD-s. Suggest you to uninstall it with the Norton Removal Tool and replace with Microsoft Security Essentials at least to test. You may install it back if we know it wasn't causing the BSOD-s.

• Norton Removal Tool

Recommended antivirus program for Windows 7 based on stability compared to others:-

• Microsoft Security Essentials - Free Antivirus for Windows
• Microsoft Security Essentials Download | Free Spyware Protection
• Malwarebytes - The Free version
• Good and Free system security combination.

Do not start the free trial of Malware Bytes; remember to deselect that option when prompted.

Run a full scan with both (separately) once downloaded, installed and updated.

Run the System File Checker that scans the of all protected Windows 7 system files and replaces incorrect corrupted, changed/modified, or damaged versions with the correct versions if possible:

• Click on the
• Type CMD on Search
• Left click and Run as Administrator
• Type SFC /scannow

Full tutorial here:

• SFC /SCANNOW Command - System File Checker

Run Disk Check on your hard disk for file system errors and bad sectors on it:

• Disk Check

Free up the start-up, nothing except the antivirus is usually needed.

• Startup Programs - Change
• Troubleshoot Application Conflicts by Performing a Clean Startup

Let us know the results.