DRIVER_IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL BSOD Windows 7

WindowsUser9 · 05 Aug 2013

I have recently started getting a blue screen with the message "DRIVER_IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL" at which point my pc would restart. For a while I thought I had solved the issue, but just the other day the problem came back and it's now even worse. Now my pc gives me the blue screen at the user sign in screen, so I effectively cannot access my desktop and the pc is stuck in a loop of crashing and rebooting. I have tried starting the pc in safe mode, but it does the same thing. I have run system diagnostics (and from Internet searches I have seen it's possible this is a memory issue) and it says my memory is fine. I'm not sure how to fix this error or if this error is even resolvable. My known specs are as follows and I have attached a photo with the blue screen message in full. Any help that's provided is appreciated.

Dell Studio XPS 8100 (a little over three years old)
Windows 7 Home Premium 64-Bit
8 GB ram
Intel Core i7 Processor

gregrocker · 05 Aug 2013

Work through these steps for Troubleshooting Windows 7 Failure to Start. Include the hardware tests.

In the step to rescue your files, try to access C:\windows\Minidump to copy out the the crash dump file to post up to our Crashes forum for expert analysis. Let them know you aren't able to boot.

Arc · 06 Aug 2013

Also plan to post it following the Blue Screen of Death (BSOD) Posting Instructions. It will help to determine which is causing any possible trouble to the network and causing the BSOD.

WindowsUser9 · 20 Aug 2013

I was finally able to get my computer to boot in safe mode without networking. I followed the BSOD posting instructions and have attached the results from the diagnostic tool.

Arc · 20 Aug 2013

All the recent BSODs those I have checked are caused by Dell's DW1525 (802.11n) WLAN PCIe Card driver (the driver is developed by Atheros).

Code:

*******************************************************************************
*                                                                             *
*                        Bugcheck Analysis                                    *
*                                                                             *
*******************************************************************************

Use !analyze -v to get detailed debugging information.

BugCheck D1, {10, 2, 0, fffff8800113b566}

*** WARNING: Unable to verify timestamp for athrx.sys
*** ERROR: Module load completed but symbols could not be loaded for athrx.sys
Probably caused by : athrx.sys ( athrx+2e297 )

Followup: MachineOwner
---------

And the driver is extremely old.

Code:

fffff880`05a0b000 fffff880`05b79000   athrx    T (no symbols)           
    Loaded symbol image file: athrx.sys
    Image path: \SystemRoot\system32\DRIVERS\athrx.sys
    Image name: athrx.sys
    Timestamp:        Sat Jun 06 03:40:06 2009 (4A2997BE)
    CheckSum:         0016EDA1
    ImageSize:        0016E000
    Translations:     0000.04b0 0000.04e4 0409.04b0 0409.04e4

Search in Dell for any possible updates, install it, and let us know how it is running after applying the updated driver.

I would not recommend to Use programs like MagicDisc (and MagicISO); specially when it is a desktop. If there is any rational for such a program, it is there for a Netbook.

Uninstall AVG. Use Microsoft Security Essentials as your antivirus with windows inbuilt firewall, and free MBAM as the on demand scanner.
Download, install and update those, and then run full system scans with both of them, one by one.

Free up the startup. Windows does not need any other program to auto start with it, but the auto start programs often conflicts and causes various problems including BSODs.

Click on the Start button
Type “msconfig (without quotes), click the resulting link. It will open the System Configuration window.
Select the “Startup” tab.
Deselect all items other than the antivirus.
Apply > OK
Accept then restart.

Let us know the results. If it is the same even after doing all those, we have to search for the reason in another place that is overlooked in this post, for not being prima-facie.