"driver_irql_not_less_or_equal" Bsod

[Smellypenguin]

Hey there.

Had my system for a number of years now, its always been slightly off with random restarts and freezes, Yet now its deciding to give me the BSOD too

I attached some minidumps and would appreciate it if anyone could give me a hand with this problem. Both of the RAM sticks (512) are working and ran memtest on them with no errors.

Any feedback appreciated.

 

[howard_hopkinso]

Hello and welcome to Techspot.

Your minidumps crash with various culprits. However, one minidumps has a bugcheck of 9C and this is almost always caused by a hardware failure.

0x0000009C: MACHINE_CHECK_EXCEPTION

This is a hardware issue: an unrecoverable hardware error has occurred. The parameters have different meanings depending on what type of CPU you have but, while diagnostic, rarely lead to a clear solution. Most commonly it results from overheating, from failed hardware (RAM, CPU, hardware bus, power supply, etc.), or from pushing hardware beyond its capabilities (e.g., overclocking a CPU).

You will need to carefully diagnose which hardware is at fault.

Please be aware that some faulty ram can pass Memtest.

Regards Howard :wave: :wave:

 

[Smellypenguin]

Hey Howard, Thanks for the reply.
My PC isnt overclocked, But overheating could be an issue which i shall check out now.

Is there any software i can check out to test if any other bits of hardware are failing?

Thanks, SP

 

[howard_hopkinso]

You can test your ram with Memtest, instructions HERE.

You can test your hard drive with your hard drive manufacturers diagnostic utility. If you can`t find it, take a look at this thread HERE.

Regards Howard

 

[Smellypenguin]

So i downloaded speedfan 4.33 to check some temperatures inside.

Apparently 2 of my 6 temperatures are burning up, One at 69C (Asus ASB100) and the other 127C (Located at LM75) Not sure what the second is but the first is my MB, Presuming

Not so sure about the 127C one, Faulty sensor or is that possible to overheat that much after the PC has been on <1 hour.

Any feedback appreciated

 

[howard_hopkinso]

127 degrees does seem an awful lot to me. Possible, it`s a faulty sensor.

Try the free Everest programme and see if the results are the same.

Also, check your temps in bios.

Regards Howard

 

[Smellypenguin]

Motherboard - 29C
HDD - 37C
CPU - 72C

Guessing that could be the problem
Anyway i could reduce the temperature through the PC itself?

AMD Athlon XP 2800+ CPU is what im using.

 

[howard_hopkinso]

Your cpu temp is high and may well be causing your stability issues.

Turn off your computer and disconnect it from the mains.

Open your case and clean out any dust and debris, especially from the heatsinks etc.

Take off the heatsink and clean off the old thermal pad/paste from the heatsink and the cpu die.

Apply a think layer of new thermal paste to the cpu die and reattach the heatsink.

See HERE for instructions on how to apply thermal paste.

Close the case and reconnect to the mains.

Power on the system and once in Windows, check your temps again with Everest.

Let me know the results.

Regards Howard