irq_not_less_or_equal eoors randomly occuring

hi,
my windows xp pro box has started to give me those irq_not_lessor_equal errors a lot lately, i recently put rounded cables in and they didnt agree with my ATA 133 controller card, so i removed one and the problem went away, but now its back, but not as often as it was, the logs dont show any errors like they previously did (delayed write failed, paging operation errors etc)

the box in question is an AMD 2100, 512 meg RAM, 4 hard drives (2 80 gigs a 20 and a 40 gig) and a GF4 ti4200 grafix card

ive run memtest86, checked the cables, the CPU doesnt run hot at all, im not really sure what the error means as ive searched around and cant find a simple explanation for it, the rounded cable that goes to the onboard controller is ok tho, the connector on the ATA card worked fine with a different cable on it too which is kinda weird, is there any free software that i can get that might help me diagnnose the problem, since nothing shows up in the system logs for it

the errors i was getting when i was using the other cable were a paging error on /device/HArdDisk0/D and a delayed write failed to drive E, drive D and E were the ones on the rounded cable going to the controller card, so im not really sure what is going on...

That's odd. IRQ for Primary IDE is 14 and for Secondary is 15. (never changes)
If it was me...I would remove all except the primary IDE drive (ensure it is at the end of the cable) and see if the error stops. Then add drives (checking to make sure they are slaves) and the pins on the primary are set correctly. Some drives say 'Master' while others say 'Master & Slave'.

Good luck

My first suspect would be faulty RAM, but as you've run memtest86 ... and it showed no errors, the RAM is probably ok.

Perhaps one of your HDs is on the way out?

I've found that HDs sometimes don't fail "instantly" but become gradually worse over time before letting go completely.

A common symptom is for the HD to shut down while being used. If you have the case open you can usually hear this (assuming there aren't too many fans). A power cycle usually coaxes it back into life (at least temporarily).

Quite why this would result in BSODs I don't know (usually just makes the system hang waiting for the failed HD to recover), but maybe there is some data corruption (which should theoretically never happen)

I'd take extra care of your backups if I were you :) - Make backups daily and test the media.

irql_not_less_or_equal means there is a problem with devices and/or devicedrivers using a shared irq,specially pci devices often cause it.
to fix the problem you should find out wich devices share irqs,
uninstall the soft and hardware,boot the system clean,and go on to reinstall the hard&software step by step.
maybe it is recommended to change the slots when pci.

normally the error gives more information like the devicedriver where the problem occurs.
did it?

stanger,
funny you might say that, when i changed the cables around i also changed a couple of my PCI boards around too, it doesnt say anything about thwat driver or anything that caused it, just the irq blah blah error and nothing else, it counts to 100% with a dump of physical ram to disk, if i let this dump the ram to disk is it posible i could find out where it dumps it to and examine that and possibly come up with an answer from that?

Hey i can relate leachy...i get that blue screen of death error also. It happens quite a bit when i'm runnin remote admin from my other room...i'll notice the computer on the other end locks up and i come in and its on that irq not less than or equal junk...i was gonna start figurin out what it could be but then it just kinda went away...i'm waitin for it to happen again. My specs r...
pent. 4 3.0ghz
ATI Radeon 9800
256 ram
1 nic...1 modem....wireless mouse and reg. keyboard

Well hope u find out the problem is...if u find anything else lemme know...also u might wanna check microsofts knowledge base...they have alot of refrence to these errors...next time it happens take down the error numbers and punch them in on the search of microsofts knowledge base and u should find something. If u find anything or somethin to fix it lemme know.

i really do not know what to do with that memory dump...

i had same kind of trouble by changing the pci slot of my ethernetcard
only when i got disconnected by my isp the pc crashed.
when i disconnected everything was fine.

you may try to reset your BIOS to something called "default" or "best settings".
(this should force the [....eemz..] NMI or however it is called to get updated.)

[edit] @deftones12 does it crash when you send a bad password ?

ok an update for all of you, ive rid myself of the bsod's by doing a reinstall of windoze and any programs that were causing a bsod, now instead of bsod the whole thing just freezes and does nothing at all, no system log, nothing, so i dont even know what the problem is anymore

ive also changed the cd drives to run in PIO mode b/c they are using a rounded cable and i havn't had a problem with them

honestly its got me completely stuffed for any ideas of what it could be, ive reinstalled drivers and checked BIOS settings all to no avail....

I had a friend who had the same problem under Windows 98, Windows 2000, Windows XP Pro. The error problem was the same in Windows XP. Is problem was is memory. He was 2 module of ram, a 256 and 128. He remove is 128 and no more problem... Very stable now... So I HIGHLY suggest removing some ram bcuz you probably a detect ram module.

I had that problem with a few systems, traced it back to the ram, seemed the ram wasnt reading the right value, in other words I was sitting with a 128Mb stick that had magicaly reduced itself to 18Mb, replacing it fixed the problem.

Get hold of Memtest and run it for a while, it might be able to tell you if it's the ram, if it is...take it back and get a new stick.

have a question about the same sort of error....

mine is the IRQL_Not_Less_Or_Equal

and technical information is:
(0x00000000, 0x00000002, 0x00000001, 0x804DC6CC)

I don't know how to interpret this message.

Can anyone help me out? This problem occurs every time I have turned on the computer since I updated Windows with the Service Pack 2.

Service Pack 2 didn't create the problem, but it made it worse. I can't get into Windows normally anymore because of the stupid blue screen error.

I had had this problem before....it has shown the blue screen a couple times, but when it did, it always allowed me to start Windows after a few times...and often when I turn the computer on, the computer restarts itself several times...then finally stays on until I shut it down and restart it the next time. When it does start up, I also almost always get a message that "Windows has recovered from a serious error"..that message usually came up multiple times....sometimes as many as 30 after I started the computer and it didn't shut donw...then those messages would stop, and the computer would be fine. At least before the Service Pack 2 was installed it could at least get into Windows...soemtimes I would have to go into Safe Mode, then turn it off, restart it in normal mode...and it would work. Now that won't even work :(

My computer is being mean :(

http://www.microsoft.com/resources/d...d_stp_hwpg.asp

Quote:

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Resolving the Problem

The following suggestions are specific to Stop 0xA errors. For additional troubleshooting suggestions that apply to all Stop errors, see "Stop Message Checklist" later in this appendix.

* A Stop 0xA message might occur after installing a faulty device driver, system service, or firmware. If a Stop message lists a driver by name, disable, remove, or roll back the driver to correct the problem. If disabling or removing drivers resolves the issues, contact the manufacturer about a possible update. Using updated software is especially important for multimedia applications, antivirus scanners, and CD mastering tools.
* A Stop 0xA message might also be due to failing or defective hardware. If a Stop message points to a category of devices (video or disk adapters, for example), try removing or replacing the hardware to determine if it is causing the problem.
* If you encounter a Stop 0xA message while upgrading to Windows XP Professional, the problem might be due to an incompatible driver, system service, virus scanner, or backup. To avoid problems while upgrading, simplify your hardware configuration and remove all third-party device drivers and system services (including virus scanners) prior to running setup. After you have successfully installed Windows XP Professional, contact the hardware manufacturer to obtain compatible updates. For more information about simplifying your system for troubleshooting purposes, see " Troubleshooting Concepts and Strategies" and "Troubleshooting Startup" in this book.

For more information about Stop 0xA messages, see the Microsoft Knowledge Base link on the Web Resources page at http://www.microsoft.com/windows/reskits/webresources. Search using keywords winnt, 0x0000000A, and 0xA.

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From the MS-Windbg help on irql_not_less_or_equal

Quote:

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Check the System Log in Event Viewer for error messages that might identify the device or driver that caused the error.
Try disabling memory caching of the BIOS.
Run the hardware diagnostics supplied by the system manufacturer, especially the memory scanner. For details on these procedures, see the owner's manual for your computer.

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You can use verifier (run command) to verify driver integrity, BE CAREFULL with this because it can be a double-edged blade. Its meant for hardware developers to test their drivers.
If you can idenitfy the problem in 'event viewer' it might be worth a shot.
http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/devtoo.../verifier.mspx

If your not too confident about debugging the fault the allready mentioned 'replace the ram' does magic on more then one occasion.

Come on guy! The thread is dead since allmost a year!

He still needed help though.

Last time mrleachy was on AO was 4 months ago!!!

He wasn't trying to aid in Mr.Leachy's problem. He had a problem and he thought it was along the same line's. So instead of starting a new thread he asked his question in here. He probably should have made a new thread for it but he didn't and I don't really see much of a problem with that.