irql_not_less_or_equal

[mcginty]

Hey guys,

 

my newish rig is killing me with the BSOD and Driver_irql_not_less_or_equal. All drivers are latest, but it happens quite frequently, often when gaming.

 

i was getting lockups really frequently, which ceased when i changed from Hyundai to Corsair RAM. Could perhaps my MB be incpatible with something, or conflicting IRQ channels.

 

I have AMD X-2 3800+

DFI NF4 Ultra Infinity

2g Corsair ram

Leadtek 7800GT 256MB

 

I checked out my IRQ settings, some have two things

 

ALSO: i have 2x1gb sticks of ram, should they be in Channel A and A or in channel A and B for best performance

[cronocrash]

This is probobly a ram timing issue. If your BSODs show any other messges, google them to find out more. Yes it could very well be an IRQ problem. Could you add more information to your sig please?

[mcginty]

ok i added some stuff to my sig.

 

I thought my RAM was in dual channel, since that was what my geeb mate said, but after reading the manual i am pretty sure its single:

 

RAM STICK 1

FREE SLOT

RAM STICK 2

FREE SLOT

 

that means its in DDR1 and DDR3 which means single channel. Would it help to change that?

 

How do i adjust RAM timings?

 

Finally, all this stuff is about 1-2 months old if that has any bearing

[JVG81]

Your RAM should be in the orange slots, like it is right now.

[cronocrash]

Hmm... well to get more familiar with your ram timings you're gonna have to do some reading... well.... a lot of reading... I would start with reading all the stickies in this forum. You can adjust your memory timings in the BIOS, but don't do it unless you've read up on it - you could easily bring about some kind of nasty effect.

 

First thing I would do is take out 1 stick of ram, and put one stick in the slot closest to the processor. Then I would boot up and run memtest for an hour or two. Then I would take out that stick, and put the other one in and run memtest on it for an hour or two. This way we know that both sticks are AOK.

 

Basically, having it run with one stick is the safest way to run it, this will help us diagnose the problem.

[mcginty]

ok i will try one stick at a time

 

been fine for a while, ill just have to play some games (seems to crash most often during Guild Wars)

 

if it crashes i might try disabling sound, someone said that sounds drivers could often do it

 

cheers

[cronocrash]

have you run memtest on those two sticks?

[markyp23]

Have you got a link to the exact RAM you have?

 

It's most probably RAM timings...

 

You can also download Windows Error Debugger and it will either tell you that you're memory is bad (corrupt, or bad timings) or identify a driver which is causing you issues.

 

Apologies, I can't find it myself, but had to use it to get my system running - same BSODs as you (also had BAD_POOL_HEADER).

 

I needed to tighten timings from 2.5-3-3-7 to 2-2-2-5. I'm not complaining, let me assure you!

 

Good lucky,

 

Marky

[mcginty]

hey guys just had an epiphany,

 

because of a botched partition .up i ended up installing winxp on a 10g partition, and programs on another drive/partition.

 

Then i got this page fault in non paged area error

 

And i though, since i only have 1gig free on system drive, that is vastly insufficient for my page file right? And from readings, these errors seem to go hand in hand, be it physicsal or virtual memory.

 

So, before i reformat/enlarge my system partition, that could be a pretty good assumtption right?

 

Also, how big should my page file be?

[letdown427]

You could test/eliminate that possibility by just putting the pagefile on another partition...

 

BSOD's are often RAM timings, as people have said. I was getting them, 2 tweaks in BIOS, no problems since!

[mcginty]

so how do i check and change my ram timings?

 

any longterm danger from tightening them too far?

[cronocrash]

The page fault and the irq_whatever_whatever messages are common memory related issues. Windows uses space on the hard drive in combonation with the ram to hold the information your computer is using, or about to use. If your memory or paging settings are not right it will be easy to cause these errors by taxing your system.

 

Look at the stickied threads and use the search function to learn more about your timings. Tightening your timings refers to how close the numbers are to eachother ie. 2-4-4-7 isnt very tight, but something like 2-2-2-5 is pretty tight (what i'm running at =-D). There should be no real long term issues caused by tightening the timings however, sometimes in order to get the timings that tight you need to give the ram some more voltage. That, in turn, may cause long term damage. But I digress, your timings are strictly dictated by your system... every system is a little bit different. You just have to find your timings.