Bsod-driver_irql_not_less_or_equal

[D4nnYb0Y]

My comp has crashed twice giving me BSOD. I hoped yesterday that it was just a one time thing, but sure enough it happened again today. Nothing in particular seems to set them off (the first time I was browsing the web, today I was playing Mass Effect). I'm guessing the problem stems from a dated driver, but afaik everything is up to date.

Normally I try to solve my own problems, but I don't know how to run a debug program. Attached is the contents of my Minidump folder. If you need more information please let me know.

 

[usasma]

On December 27, 2009 you had 5 STOP 0x124 BSOD's (usually hardware or compatibility issues)
Then you were BSOD free until yesterday (January 9, 2010) when you had a STOP 0xD1- a period of 13 days.
Info on the STOP 0x124: BSOD Index
Info on the STOP 0xD1: BSOD Index

What did you do to the system after the December BSOD's? This is probably more important than the analysis of the dump file(s).

The last dump file points to the Windows kernel, which isn't usually a factor (if it was, you'd have a lot more problems than just an occasional BSOD). So, let's see what was done to the system and if we can't find anything, then we'll try running Driver Verifier.

Please update or remove these older drivers that were loaded at the time of the crash. Don't use Windows Update or the Update drivers function of Device Manager. Please use the following instructions to locate the most current drivers:

How To Find Updated Drivers:
- search Google for the name of the driver
- compare the Google results with what's installed on your system to figure out which device/program it belongs to
- visit the web site of the manufacturer of the hardware/program to get the latest drivers (DON'T use Windows Update or the Update driver function of Device Manager).
- if there are difficulties in locating them, post back with questions and someone will try and help you locate the appropriate program.

Here's the older drivers:

ctac32k.sys  Wed Jul 02 04:38:22 2008 - Creative Audio driver
dadder.sys   Thu Aug 02 05:33:03 2007 - DeathAdder Mouse driver

Summary of the BSOD's:

BugCheck 124, {0, fffffa80073ac028, be000000, 300136}
Probably caused by : hardware
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
BugCheck 124, {0, fffffa8009269028, fa000000, 400405}
Probably caused by : hardware
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
BugCheck 124, {0, fffffa800878f028, b2000000, 10005}
Probably caused by : hardware
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
BugCheck 124, {0, fffffa80086bf028, be000000, 800400}
Probably caused by : hardware
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
BugCheck 124, {0, fffffa800928c028, fa000000, 400405}
Probably caused by : hardware
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
BugCheck D1, {38, 2, 1, fffff88006a99de9}
Probably caused by : ntkrnlmp.exe ( nt!KiPageFault+260 )

 

[D4nnYb0Y]

Thanks for the reply; the December BSODs were from when I was overclocking my system (voltage problems I think). I believe it's missing one of the BSOD minidumps I talked about because I turned off my computer before it could finish running the crash dump that day. Anyway, I have a feeling you may be spot on about the Deathadder driver. Unbeknownst to me Razer just released a new version 2 days ago to fix BSOD issues with Windows 7 caused by the old driver. Hopefully this will have fixed the problem, but just to be sure I reinstalled the latest drivers from Creative for my sound card as you suggested.

I hate to take up anymore of your time, but I'm curious: does it take any special knowledge or developer tools to run minidumps through a debugging program? The Microsoft site seemed to imply that it did. I'm just wondering if I can analyze the data myself in the future. Regardless, thanks again for your help; you probably saved me a lot of time and effort.

 

[usasma]

Nope, there's no special skill required to run a minidump through the debugger.
But it takes a lot of study to interpret the results, and to decide what commands to enter in the debugger.

You can start with this tutorial at my website: WinDbg Analysis Report
There's also one here at the top of this forum: http://www.sevenforums.com/crash-lo...intermediate-configuring-debugging-tools.html and this one: http://www.sevenforums.com/crash-lockup-debug-how/34871-3-advanced-principles-debugging.html

 

[D4nnYb0Y]

Thanks for the info; maybe I'll be able to fix the problem myself in the future. "...teach a man to fish" etc. etc.

 

[usasma]

There are very few people doing BSOD analysis on the web for users (you can find a lot for code developers tho'). So we can use all the help that we can get!