IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL error fun

[Peanut]

So, here's the situation. A few days ago, I was sitting at my Church and I opened my laptop which had been in sleep mode only to find that it wasn't in sleep mode and instead had nice blue screen of death with the message "IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL" on it. I quickly jotted down some of the info that looked important and shut down the computer figuring that if it shows up again I'll really start worrying. I thought that perhaps some malware was causing it and figured I would try running Malwarebytes and see if anything comes up. Nothing did, however my computer seemed to be working fine and ran for a significant amount of time before blue screening of death again with the same error message in the middle of a Skype conversation. I rebooted and, still thinking it could be caused by malware, decided to run a rescue disk on it the next day. It then crashed again with the same message, this time after a rather short period. I decided to do some more research on the problem at this point, and learned that it is usually caused by a bad driver. However, I hadn't installed any programs or began using new devices within the past week (month for devices) and each case of crashing had no real pattern to them in the sense that I wasn't using the exact same programs each time it occurred. The only piece of external hardware I was using with my computer was my external hard drive, which I got well over two month's ago and have had no problems with it yet. Anyway, I ran my rescue disk a couple of hours ago and it found nothing. So, I'm guessing that if it is malware, its in my data kernel. However, from extra reading I've been doing, I'm beginning to wonder if it could be caused by bad RAM, an overheating problem (which my computer does have a history with...), or because I've been unable to update the drivers for my video card since nVidia is being stupid and doesn't seem to be posting updates for it anymore on their website (or have stopped making those drivers completely...honestly I don't know...). I'm going to try some other tests and check the debug report to try and see if I can get some more information.

To make a long story short, I'm looking for advice and knowledge to deal with this problem since it's new to me and I really don't know what I'm doing. I also have some questions that I either want answered or have found answers but want to confirm them with individuals who I know actually know (or can find) legitimate answers to them. Off the top of my head, I'm wondering if this isn't being caused by malware, will reformatting/nuking my hard drive and reinstalling my OS fix the problem if its software related?

[Mithrandir]

My gut-level reaction:

First: Take an air compressor to it. If you can open it up and blow the dust out, that would be even better. If your machine is mchecking by failing an IRQ process, it's probably sending bits where they don't belong, which smacks of either HW fail or overheating. Since it's happening as summer is starting, I suspect the latter.

Second: Get a copy of something like UBCD (the ultimate boot CD) that has a hardware checker in it. You can set it to run overnight and it will tell you if it's a hardware issue. You might have to put a desk fan on it for the process, to be sure it doesn't overheat.

If that doesn't work, there are probably other options, too. Just repost and we'll take another shot at it.

[ClosetOtaku]

I had the same issue with an old Dell that belonged to my daughter. I too suspected malware, and ran Malwarebytes, HiJackThis, Spybot S&D, and McAffee. I ended up downloading an extremely dangerous program called LSPFix and, counterintuitively, uninstalling McAffee. The problem went away.

Let me stress the following:

1. I don't have a clue what was wrong.
2. I'm not sure that what I did fixed it, but I'm not above falling for the post hoc ergo propter hoc fallacy.
3. Multiple runs of Malwarebytes and Hijackthis suggested underlying malware which, following some of my earlier antics, were able to be removed.
4. My daughter's PC is in the basement, which is consistently cooler than a meat locker.
5. It's quite possible that our similar experiences are caused by different problems.

Nevertheless, listen to Mith, he's probably on the right track. I just know I fumbled around more or less blindly and fixed it (or maybe it just got tired of blue screening on me).

But I feel your pain.

[Straylight]

That sounds like the kind of error which indicates overheating. I'm fairly sure that I had the exact same problem on a hot day about a week ago, solved the problem by temporarily removing the cover. So yeah, what Mithrandir said pretty much

Also I'm pretty sure it won't be a virus or spyware.

[Peanut]

Since I've been gone a week, I figure I might as well update all of you to what's going on with this problem and also because...well...some new things have happened. Before I left, I had to print something off that was still on my computer, so I quickly booted it up with the intent of getting the file onto a USB. I worked quickly and everything went fine until I shut down my computer and it gave me another blue screen of death. It didn't say "IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL" but it was a stop error. Today, I finally had the chance to clean my computer which I just finished. There was a significant amount of dust inside of it including a nice clump sitting on one of my RAM sticks. I cleaned it as best I could and then went to run UBCD, before I managed to start running it, Windows started up and ran chkdsk on it's own, finding some corrupt memory while checking directors and fixing it. Once it finished, I rebooted and have started running Memtest86+. I'll post another update once it's finished, thanks for the help guys.

Edit: You know...I really should have mentioned this before, in my first post, because it might explain some things. My computer is a Notebook not a Desktop, also, outside of the very first and last error, it's been in my basement where it's pretty cool, sitting on a laptop cooling pad. It still wouldn't surprise me if overheating was the cause though...

[Peanut]

I ran Memtest86+ for close to 8 hours and over 9 passes, it found 568 errors...should I run some more tests or am I right to assume one or both of my RAM sticks have gone bad...

[shooraijin]

I think you should assume the RAM is bad and swap it out. RAM is cheap (compared to other components). Make sure it passes when you do, of course.

[Mithrandir]

If the MoBo has heat issues, even new RAM won't help. But I agree with Shooby. If Memtest 86+ doesn't tell you which chip is bad, swap 'em all out.

If you want to make sure the RAM is bad, or if you're *really* strapped for cash (cache?), you can run it again on just one stick of RAM at a time (assuming you have more than one stick), until you find the one or ones that consistently give you errors. If all of them give you errors, I'd be suspicious. The probability of all the chips going bad at the same time seems kinda low to me...

[Peanut]

A long overdue update: I found out that my computer is still on warranty so I called Dell. Their diagnostic software said it wasn't bad memory and looking at the minidump file revealed the crashes to be caused by a driver for windows (I think it was related to the file i389 or something like that). So, the technician has advised me to wipe my hard drive and reload everything. Since I don't want to pay for new RAM unless I have to, I'm doing what he said. If the problem arises again, I'll probably call up Dell and tell them their diagnostic software sucks and that this is a hardware problem (though in much nicer terms). Anyway, thanks for all the help everyone. Hopefully this situation will be resolved soon...hopefully...