Windows XP will crash on me, usually after a period of sitting idle for 5-30 minutes. I have searched the web looking for the answer; some places say bad memory, others say device drivers. What can I do?
I have taken out the memory, and it still happens. The error message I get is: IRQL_not_less_or_equal.

Win XP pro corporate
Athlon XP 2400
Radeon 9000 pro, latest cat drivers
Sound Blaster Live! with drivers from disk
Gigabyte GA-7VAX VIA KT400 Chipset Motherboard 400Mhz FSB
786MB DDR ram 2700
latest VIA 4-in-1 drivers

Help, please

monkely

Is there a file listed that error? that may point you to what drivers are involved with the error...or it could be a red herrring.

There are many sites that have help on XP stop errors listed in Google, here's one...

http://kadaitcha.ath.cx/articles/stop_err.aspx

Ok here is the full error message...unfortunately, there is no specific driver or device mentioned.

STOP: 0x0000000A (0x7FFFFFFF, 0x00000002, 0x00000001, 0x804DFEB0)

Now, can anyone tell me what this may mean? Windows doesn't come the the Rosetta Stone to help decipher this gobbledygook.

Any help is much appreciated...

Monkely

Also, in the device manager, I have an exclamation point at the "Other Devices" line, saying my usb controller has a conflict. I have tried to get it to install/update the driver, but windows says a driver could not be found.

monkely

What happens if you just remove the USB device from device manager and reboot?

Windows reinstalls it. I have not dl'ed SP1, the first time I tried, my pc crashed, causing my installation of windows to become corrupt. I have not wanted to try it since. It may be that I need USB 2.0 installed.

monkely

Did your problems begin when you installed Service Pack 1??

I never did get SP1; I did a complete reinstall of windows, formatted the drive and everything. Windows would not work after the SP1 crash. I have a brand new pc, so it wasn't a big deal to start over again.

monkely

The PC is brand new? Did you build it yourself, or did you get it pre-build from some company? What was the company?

I bought it "barebones," just case, power supply, 2 fans, cpu, and mobo. I bought a new 60 gb western digital HD, plus my old 30gb maxtor. I then put in my old SB live! and the Radeon 9000 pro. After the hardware was installed, I put in XP. So I essentially built most of it myself. It is only one month old.

I bought the PC from ECollegePC.

monkely

Are all of the USB devices accounted for in device manager (i.e. installed with drivers) and is the other device something extra that you don't know about??

Or, is the other device a USB device that you know is not working?? Was it always like this?

Every device is accounted for. Right now, the only USB peripheral I have plugged in is my Sidewinder pro joystick. I also had my kensington mouse plugged in, but moved it to p/s2. No difference there. It just says USB controller is not functioning...all of the USB ports work. I think it may be that I don't have SP1, which, I think, has the USB 2.0 drivers in it.

monkely

OK, can you download and install Service Pack 1 ?

You may need to assign an IRQ for USB in BIOS.

get SP1... can't say much else

you know it contains USB drivers, you need to install them, I know it crashsed first time, that hopefully was "one of those things"

get all the device drivers loaded and see if it continues, have you put your stop code into google or MS's technet?

Yes, I have searched for the particular code, but the exact stop code did not come up. Like I said before, some places say bad memory, others say device/driver conflict.

Mictlantecuhtli: how do I assign an IRQ? What is the process?

As far as SP1 goes, I wonder if anybody else had it crash on them...I would hate to lose a months worth of work for it to go nuts up on me again

monkely

Well make a backup of it to be sure. That is the safest way to get around things that worry you with the installation of SP1.

When your computer starts up, you need to press del or F2 (check from motherboard manual) to get to BIOS. Instructions should be displayed on screen too. The setting is usually in "PnP/PCI configuration" page, something like "Allocate IRQ to USB", though your mileage may vary - again, check from motherboard's manual.

Ok, I disabled USB 2.0 in the BIOS, now I don't get the conflict. I will check this out tonight and see if the PC still reboots.

Thank you all

monkely

Yup, still doing it. Damn windowz!