Fucking goddamn system errors

Harrier

I have a Dell Dimension XPS Gen 2 laptop running Windows XP Professional, have had it for about three years now. Within the past month and a half my computer has been randomly crashing with the blue screen error message "DRIVER_IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL". This roughly coincided with my purchase and subsequent installation of the Orange Box from Valve. I have since uninstalled every program that came with the Orange Box, including Steam itself. Reading that it might be a USB problem, I have attempted to use my computer without USB attached devices like my printer and mouse. I have also performed a System Restore to back before I installed the Orange Box.

None of these measures has alleviated the problem; in fact, the errors seem to be coming more frequently now. What the hell could be wrong, and how can I fix it?

Here's what one of the error messages entailed; the details change, but the overall format is the same each time:

blue screen of agony wrote:

DRIVER_IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL

[system has encountered a problem, shut down to prevent damage to your computer, blah, blah, blah, tl;dr]

STOP: 0x000000D1 (0x00000018, 0x00000002, 0x00000001, 0xF77BB83B)

tosrfusb.sys- Address F77BB83B

base at F77BB000, Datestamp U3c5cc25

Primesghost

Right-click on "My Computer" and selct "Manage". Click on "Event Viewer" and select the "System" log. What errors do you see in here? Typically this is caused by virus/spyware or a failing hard drive.

DrFrylock

Two seconds of Googling tells me that the driver that it failed in is your Bluetooth driver. Can you disable bluetooth in the BIOS and see if that helps? If not, you could pull the module from the laptop maybe. Of course, you've only posted one BSOD report and so it may happen in a different driver every time. If it does, something else is faulty - possibly RAM, possibly the mainboard or the video module too...

Ruckus

Find and download Download Memtest86, burn the ISO to make a bootable CD, then let it run through at least the first 6 tests.

Sunday last week I started getting this bluescreen while playing my "heavier" games (CoD4, Jericho). Memtest ended up consistantly failing test #3 and #4 at about my 1300'th MB of RAM (which is my #3 module). Removal of this module resulted in clean test results, and I've not had a bluescreen since.

It always worked fine up until last Sunday, being installed for well over a year. My current working theory is that maybe that module got too warm or something.

Oh and if you do check your event viewer, look under System and you'll most likely see nothing except for the first entry after it reboots, "The Previous shutdown at (date/time) was unexpected".

Erandus

My HP laptop had the exact same error message. It turned out to be the RAM I added to it. It was non-hp branded ram and that laptop model was apparently very pickey about the brands of ram it would accept.

If you've added any ram, try removing it. Otherwise, it's possible you may have a stick that's gone bad. If your laptop has more than one, try taking out one and then the other. If it only has one, that's more difficult to troubleshoot.

EDIT: Just wanted to add, I googled my error at that time, and came up with the bluetooth issue as well. I disabled all my bluetooth devices with no effect, and eventually tracked it down to my RAM issue.

vonPoonBurGer

Hmm, based on Erandus' post, I've changed my mind about this advice. I'd start with memory as per Ruckus, maybe see if HP has any other diagnostic tools available.

Also, I've never had much luck with System Restore. If your RAM checks out Ok, I'd advise doing a clean reinstall of Windows.

DellCA

I second the suggestions to run memtest86 and disable or remove the bluetooth module to see if that fixes the problem. The service manual for the system is available on the Dell support website if you want to try physically removing the bluetooth card and/or the memory for testing.

If you'd like, I'll be more than happy to check the warranty status of the system for you. If it is still in warranty it will be a simple matter to replace any failed hardware. I can also answer any questions ab out the system you might have.

Larry
Dell Customer Advocate

Nocren

Wow... this is great. Come in on a random shot with the same damn problem.

I wonder if I need to buy a couple more fans for my box. Anyway, good to know that this is a bad stick of RAM and not something overly complicated.