Hi,
Over last month or so my computer has been playing right up-what normally happen sis i boot up computer then after about 2 -3 minutes it will either

a- just shut down and restart
b-freeze totally so i have to just turn it off
c-go to the blue screen of death so i have to restart it

according to the error message i get on the blue screen it reads "driver_irql_not_less_or_equal" then a stop message with lots of numbers and letters but these vary each time, when i googled this message it seems its a driver error and something is conflicting but i aint installed a new driver in ages unless something through windows update has done this.

Anyway-does anyone know any free software that scans your hardware and software ,start up files etc and will report any errors etc to you so hopefully i can sort this problem out.

many thanks

 

Memtest will be a good start check the RAM is ok

Memtest86.com - Memory Diagnostic

 

As above... last time I had an "irq not less or equal" issue, it turned out to be a RAM problem.

 

Look for Ultimate Boot CD (UBCD)

I use the DOS-based one but There's a windows one also. Has Memtest, Hard drive tests, CPU test etc etc

 

I downloaded that UBCD and not sure quite how to use it so clicked on one of the tests and it said it would run for 7 days-eeks-is there a nice simple diagnostic program that will just check my cpu and motherboard for faults?

 

Just run memtest from that CD, if u get any errors thats the reason for the issues. Get new ram sticks.

 

lol the 7 day test is a "soak" test ... possibly a little extreme at this point

inclined to agree with the others here - sounds like a ram problem. As hutton suggests, if you have more than one memory module try removing one of them and starting the pc up. If the fault is still there, turn it back off and swap the memory modules then turn it back on again and see what happens. ..... just make sure you touch something metal first before touching the memory module

 

I have 2 sticks of RAM in computer-a 256meg and a 1 gig piece- i have tried swapping them over and taking one out in turn and still computer crashed-seems to be worse for crashing when on net-ran for nearly 3 hours this morning when not connected to net -within 5 mins of being on net it crashed-i notice when it crashed if it goes to blue screen of death-it says at bottom-beginning physical dump of memory-then it says physical dump complete-any clues?

 

Ensure you dont have any damage to your simm holder for your memory on your pc

Tony

 

the physical dumps are a log file that the system creates. It contains information of what was loaded into the memory and the addresses it was loaded to. Is useful sometimes and not so much other times lol

you said it ran happily for 3 hours when not on the net - where you using different programs and doing different things on it etc? i.e. you didn't just leave it sitting there doing nothing for three hours?

 

We've told u already! Have you run memtest on it ????

 

I ran memtest-got to 60% and all was clear then computer froze lol so had to restart

 

was just left on for 3 hours but as soon as i touched it to do something it crashed

 

yes just re ran it all way to 100% and all was clear

 

what were you trying to do when it crashed? .... i'm predicting the answer to be "tried to get on the net"

does it crash if you stay off the net and try loading an application like a word processor, spread sheet etc or a game instead?

 

lol it crashed during memtest the 1st time, so it's most likely an intermittent RAM issue. Hence why you can sometimes go for hours n sometimes not. Get some new RAM it's cheap at the moment anyway.

 

I understand what you are saying but i have 2 chunks of RAM in at moment-and i have swapped them around and took each one out in turn to see if its any beter and it still crashed tho.

 

Yea which could mean all the sticks are faulty! or are beginning to fail. I've had it happen before, RAM does not last forever especially in a dusty PC which results in static.

 

time for some new RAM methinks

RAM Memory Upgrade: Dell, Mac, Apple, HP, Compaq. USB drives, flash cards, SSD at Crucial.com

 

opm, only reason I was asking the other questions was to be totally clear as to whether your pc only crashed in one particular scenario i.e. opening internet explorer or something. If that's not the case though then the bahaviour you've described really does point to memory failure as bioforger and the others have said. There's all kinds of things that can cause it but the common one is age. I'd also comment about the mis-matched pairs in terms of size too but some of the purists might start getting jittery over that one

memory really is pretty cheap at the moment though so if I were in your position i'd be going shopping ..... use some of that chrimbo money!

 

I take it you are not overclocking your system? This too can cause the intermittent issues you face. But I can also echo others on this, I too have had BSOD issues as of late and the BSOD having the "driver_irql_not_less_or_equal" error as well as countless others, in the end it was a pair of Faulty DIMMS that caused this.

 

just deciding wether to risk new memory on basically a 7 year old computer or to buy a new system-just tried to run chkdisk 5 times on my hard drives all times it crashed to BSOD all times at various stages of test-bah humbug so then gave up.

 

If you can afford it get a new base unit otherwise it's a no brainer.

 

dude i've got a laptop that I quite happily use for trudging round the net and listening to music when I can't be ar$ed to turn my main pc on .... the laptop was built and sold in 1996 n still runs sweet as a nut.

The memory for your pc should only cost around 30 quid tops.

 

Just bought a new complete system so thank you for all replies-just hope new computer gives me many years of happy surfing.

 

as a side note-on my old pc i have an old hardrive (60 gig) that i would wish to put in this new pc, now the old one but be connected via EIDE? is that right but new hard drives are SATA- will i still be able ( and have right connections in a new pc) to connect my old hard drive up and use it as a back up drive etc.

 

Easy solution is to get an external hard drive caddy which will plug in via USB. You will then have portable back-up, and it will solve the IDE / SATA problem too.

Like this:-

USB 3.5" SATA & IDE External Hard Drive Caddy Enclosure on eBay (end time 20-Jan-10 18:24:17 GMT)

Pete The Biker