Multiple Blue Screens happening whenever, IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL

Gurgle528 · Nov 24, 2011

I have been getting a bunch of BSODs recently. I just today managed to get a program to read .dmp files, and have my two most recent .dmp files for you to view. I had a blue screen from avast's self-protection driver so I removed avast and put on a different antivirus(I used avast's official uninstaller). I still am getting blue screens, but now they are staying the same (IRQL ones). They are mostly linked my ntoskrnl.exe , and one of them has ndis.sys . One of them was from kdcom.dll, and after some research I found out ntoskrnl.exe is linked against kdcom.dll (ntoskrnl.exe - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia is my reference for that). Any help on what I should do? I attached the two dumps in a zip. Also, I don't think it is a virus because I scanned using avast, Malware Bytes, AVG Free, and Microsoft Security Esentials.

JaidynM · Nov 24, 2011

The first BSOD was most likely caused by ntoskrnl.exe and the second by ndis.sys.

Firstly, test your RAM using Memtest86+.
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/105647-ram-test-memtest86.html

Could you also post the specific model of your laptop? You may have to update some of your drivers but without the exact model number, we can't know specifically which ones to update.

Gurgle528 · Nov 25, 2011

I gave my laptop to Best Buy before and they said it is now a hardware issue (this was before this re-install of Windows). I have an HP Pavilion dv4-2145dx. I have updated my graphics drivers but not much else.
EDIT: I personally ran RAM tests using the built in Windows Memory Diagnostic, Memtest 86+, GoldMemory, and the built in HP diagnostic.

JaidynM · Nov 25, 2011

Either way, I would recommend updating all drivers. I believe the drivers for your specific model can be found at the below link.
Software & Driver Downloads HP Pavilion dv4-2145dx Entertainment Notebook PC - HP

I'm also curious to know what Best Buy did. Are you still under warranty?

Finally, run Furmark to stress test your graphics card.
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/100356-video-card-stress-test-furmark.html

Gurgle528 · Nov 25, 2011

Best Buy did MemTest86+ and other things. They weren't specific, and on the sheet it said they did all "normal tests." Also, that HP site didn't do a great job on the drivers. Their graphics driver is a year more up-to-date than the one on the computer, but their is a newer one (2011 as opposed to 2009). I think I might go hunting for driver updates from their official sources. The only recent driver is one for WLAN, released in 2011. Which drivers should I update?

writhziden · Nov 25, 2011

Minimum to update: chipset, graphics, audio, network (installed in that order)

Gurgle528 · Nov 25, 2011

Is it bad if I didn't install in that order? HP doesn't have a chipset driver update listed, and when I installed Windows on this computer I updated my graphics first. Then, recently (after the blue screens) I updated my WLAN. Also, I just updated my BIOS (Insyde) from F.17 to F.18 .

writhziden · Nov 25, 2011

It is usually best to update the chipset drivers since those are for the motherboard, so it is basically updating from the ground up. If there were no chipset drivers listed, then you probably already have the latest ones for your system and should not worry about it. How is your system currently running? Still getting the blue screens?

JaidynM · Nov 26, 2011

As said above, you should update the chipset, audio, video, network and BIOS. It shouldn't matter too much what order you install them in though. Also, however old the drivers are on the link I provided in my previous post, use them. Many laptops need specific drivers from the vendor (in this case HP). Therefore, a lot of other drivers however legitimate they seem, may not actually help you in any way.

Gurgle528 · Nov 26, 2011

The only reason I didn't use the old graphics driver from HP is that the new one from AMD actually improved my performance. In Grand Theft Auto IV (I know this is a very weird way to tell) my graphics used to say 304 MB but now it says something like 315 or 325 MB, and GTA IV runs better visually. About the BSODs, I haven't gotten any since when I posted this. They seemed to just stop randomly. Also, I noticed that right after a blue screen if I don't boot into safe mode and let Windows Error Report fix windows from the crash, and choose to let it do it in normal mode, my computer logins to my account weirdly. Explorer.exe seems to be frozen and I had to end it and start it again manually... But that stopped happening when "Windows Recovered from an unexpected shutdown." Other than that, my computer is running fine.

writhziden · Nov 26, 2011

After you updated your WLAN, the blue screens stopped, or have you done other driver changes since then? It would be good to know what action fixed the problem for future issues similar to yours.

Edit: Could it have been the BIOS update you mentioned two posts ago?

Gurgle528 · Nov 26, 2011

Ok, two more blue screens. This time it was while playing a game. Dumps are attached.
EDIT: The blue screens no longer seem to be random however, only when playing that game (haven't tested any other games).

Gurgle528 · Nov 26, 2011

OK, I ran the FurMark GPU stress test. About 2:30 into it, I got another IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL BSOD. This one seems to be cause by the same things as the other IRQL ones, ntoskrnl.exe . It seems I get blue screens whenever I try doing anything 3D, because 2D (such as movies) works fine.
EDIT: I am uninstalling the more recent graphics driver and installing the one listed on the HP website because StarCraft 2 says I should have low settings, while with the out of date driver StarCraft says use medium. So basically, I'm gonna install the Graphics and Audio drivers listed on the HP website, because I have update most everything else. Also, the graphics driver listed on the HP website is the original, HP says so itself.

JaidynM · Nov 26, 2011

One of the BSOD's was caused by the same app as before, ntoskrnl.exe. However, the other two were caused by dxgmms1.sys.

The video driver looks like the problem. Let us know how the HP driver is.

Gurgle528 · Nov 27, 2011

I'm installing the HP driver right now. But what I've noticed with the updated driver is that I only blue screen when it has a higher load. Like in StarCraft 2, if I have all the settings to low it won't crash but if I change the textures and shaders to medium the computer eventually crashes. Maybe my video card is messed up? Anyway, I'll try the HP driver.

Gurgle528 · Nov 27, 2011

OK the HP driver is utterly useless. I don't get blue screens, but that is because I only got blue screens in the game with the updated driver and this driver doesn't let me even enter the games.

JaidynM · Dec 2, 2011

Sorry for the late reply, I've been away for the last four days.

Uninstall the driver and reinstall the old driver. You could also restore to a system restore point that was created before the BSOD's started.
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/700-system-restore.html

Finally, did you end up running the Furmark stress test?

Gurgle528 · Dec 3, 2011

Sorry for my late reply, I forgot because the BSODs stopped. I actually reinstalled the new driver and no BSODs so far. I haven't re-run furmark yet

JaidynM · Dec 4, 2011

Well, that's definitely a good thing. Post back if the BSOD's start up again.

I'm glad you got the problem sorted.

Gurgle528 · Dec 7, 2011

Yeargh. Blue screens started again, but I'm 90% I have found the source. I was watching a YouTube video in full screen when it crashed... two times in a row... I have an extra hard drive that is bigger than my current one (current is 300 GB the extra is 750 GB) should I remove this hard drive and install Windows using the recovery discs I have on the 750 GB hard drive? One of my tech friends said he thinks it is the hard drive's controlled. I also do have backup means, a 1 TB external drive and I am thinking about using MiniXP from Hiren's boot disk and copying my hard drive into a compressed zip folder on the external drive and restoring as they need be on the new hard drive. Also, new dmp's

. ntoskrnl.exe again... So, do you think I should put a new hard drive in and use that for Windows (and if I do that I might dual-boot Ubuntu or Chrome OS) or keep trying with this one? Also, any ideas as to what this thing is?

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