BSOD - IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL (Windows 7/64 Bit)

Still no luck

First try this guide from microsoft which uses a variation on the commands to rebuild the boot sector. http://support.microsoft.com/kb/927392/en-us

And this solution below is all I have left, if it does not work then start thinking about making a back up and what you are going to store it on. The files on your hard drive should still be ok but if this last fix fails then a reinstall is going to be needed, either this hard drive has a fault that the diagnostics missed or the OS has become corrupted or possibly it has an infection which might explain why it went of the rails when Driver Verifier was used.

The hard drive can be removed from the PC and hooked up to another desktop PC or, any other computer using a USB hard drive adapter (about €10) to remove all your important files. You should always keep back ups on a seperate hard drive (internal or external) or on DVD's. The hard drive is one of the most likely parts of the PC to fail, none of them last indefinately and all it takes is a bad virus infection or mechanical failure of the drive and you could loose everything if you don't have a back up.

Ok my operating system is finally showing up in System Recovery Options. Also I followed every step, all of which was successful except Windows still won't load. When I start up the computer it says "BootMGR is missing, press ctrl+alt+delete to restart". I'm attempting the last command now that you gave. Hopefully it works.

Sounds like it's getting there, fingers crossed. The error message means it can see the OS but still can't find the Boot record, but that's an improvement.

Did you follow this:

Did you repeat the Startup repair up to three times?

If that final command does not do it then go back to the Startup repair and just let it run, DON'T hit any key when prompted to boot from the CD just let it do it's thing.

So it seems nothing worked. I'm still getting "BootMGR is missing".

Ok I'll run the startup repair again. I only ran it once because the first time it ran the OS finally showed up so I just proceeded to the command prompts.

Ok Windows started back up! I'm uploading the minidump from the Driver Verifier now.

Success. Now get all your files backed up before we try anything else to cure the BSOD's.

I'll see what I can find in the minidump in the morning, it's getting late where I am.

Alright. Thanks for everything so far, I really appreciate the help with or without the obstacles in between. Have a good night.

So far I've been using my computer without safe mode. It's been running for about 8 hours without a single crash surprisingly. I just restarted it a few minutes ago so I suppose it could still crash at any moment now but the last 8 hours before I restarted was the longest it's ran without crashing outside of safe mode since I upgraded to Windows 7.

That minidump is dated 31st July, if that is the latest one that has been saved then the C4 crash when using Driver Verifier was obviously not saved, just have a check on that.

Can you now get everything backed up, do you have something to back up to?

Once your back up is done then it's time to open the case and do the manual check on the memory. But first run these two tests.

After the above have completed follow this to post the logs.

Now for the memory test.

Remove all but one of the memory sticks and then run the PC and play videos or anything that uses a lot of memory. See if you get another BSOD.

Try to keep it going for about 10 hours and then if it hasn't crashed swap the memory sticks around. The idea is to see if any particular memory stick will produce crashes. If the first or subsequent sticks do not produce crashes it is important to continue and repeat the test with all sticks.

While you have the sticks removed please check the numbers and makers name on the sticks and tell me what they are.

You made your last post while I was putting my last one together. It sounds good but we don't know what the cause of the BSOD's was and nothing has been changed.

I would still complete the tests above, get the back up done and then Driver Verifier can be used again. Driver Verifier does not cause crashes unless there is a bad driver and it is the quickest way to find it.

At the moment I don't have anything to back my files up to. I'll be buying a new hard drive on Sunday though. Should I hold off on the tests until then?

As for the minidump I uploaded, that's kind of odd. It's the only minidump I have from the day of the crash that temporarily prevented me from using Windows. It was the only crash that occured that day and after that I wasn't able to get on until earlier today.

At any rate, surprisingly enough my computer hasn't crashed once since you helped me get Windows 7 back up and running and I haven't gone into safe mode yet, not that I'm suggesting my problem is solved yet. So should I run the memory tests today or should I wait until I get my new hard drive and can back up everything?

Just to be on the safe side I would hold back on any further testing until you have the back up drive fitted and all your files are safe.

The crash you sent in was code A but the image of the Blue Screen showed a C4 which is expected when running Driver Verifier so I assume it didn,t save it. Something went seriously wrong to have corrupted the Boot Record. Great that everything is working now but the Boot Record is all that has been changed and that would not have been causing the previous BSOD's.

This could be one of those cases where the error dissapears and never returns but we will have to see how it goes.

Alright. Well in that case I'll post back Sunday after I've gotten my new hard drive.

On the bright side though, this is day 2 I've been running my computer without a single crash. Hopefully this continues.

I think if it lasts up until Sunday without a crash you can think of it as fixed.

Personally I would still run the last two tests in post 30, after you have done the back up.

And then run Driver Verifier again just to be sure there are no remaining errors.

So far my computer hasn't been off since you helped me get Windows back up and running and still no crashes. I can't help but wonder what could have fixed the problem. The Startup Repair came to mind but then I've been through several Startup Repairs since the day I upgraded to Windows 7 and it never solved whatever was causing the crashes. Any thoughts?

As the only thing that has been changed is the boot sector I can only guess some minor corruption in the original one was causing issues, not something I have ever seen before.

Previous startup repairs don't go as deep as the repairs you last used. The commands you followed have deleted and re-written the boot sector.

Still going good after several days so I would think the problem is solved.

Well if the issue is truly resolved as all signs point to at the moment, I guess we're done here. Thank you for all of your help. I truly appreciate it. I suppose I'll return here in the future if I have any more computer problems I can't figure out on my own. You were a great help Mark.

Your most welcome.