Blue screen errors with A8N SLI Deluxe

[figmasigma]

Hey, first post but seemingly big problem. I just o/ced my system (specs below), it checks out with Prime95, but any time I attempt to run half-life 2 my computer locks up with a sweet 98meish blue screen (didn't we leave those behind already!) with the following error msgs:

DRIVER_IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL
...
[message about rebooting etc...]
...
tech info
*** stop: 0x000000D1 (... more memory addresses...)
*** NVRM.SYS - Adress F6795E19 base at F6786000

This happens every single time i run half-life2, but not when i run doom3 and seemingly no other program. Also Half-life2 never even gets to boot, the system freezes when i start steam and steam begins to download updates. I'm totally perplexed as to what to do and am tempted to deoverclock my system, but i have no idea what could be causing this issue. Also after steam tries to start with windows twice causing that error, windows successfully boots and gives the following msg:

steam.exe (main exception) : C Multifield Blob (p serialized): Field Id Defined twice

Any help with this issue would be great, even a place to start, my specs are listed below.

 

[ahurtt]

This is a crappy driver issue. Which drivers are you using?

[edit] nevermind I see in your sig, you are using 66.93. Try to find the WHQL 71.81 Beta ForceWare drivers and give those a shot. 66.93 was crappy for me with my 2 BFG 6600GT OC cards. 71.81 is working well though.

 

[figmasigma]

Forceware v 66.93
Nforce 4 v 6.39

ok I'll give that a shot

 

[figmasigma]

Could anyone reccomend a site where I can download the forceware 71.81 drivers, I've tried downloading them from guru3d, but the files are corrupted for some reason when i unzip them.

-ralph-

 

[ahurtt]

hmm, I got mine from there and they were fine. Which leads me to the next possibility. I see you also have the most recent nForce drivers on your system. You are getting corrupt downloads and also Steam is giving you problems. This reminds me that a lot of people had problems when they installed the nVidia ethernet drivers from the most recent nForce set. Try to reinstall just the original ethernet drivers off your motherboard CD and see if that fixes stuff.

[EDIT] I am also using a Maxtor SATA HD but mine is the 250 GB NCQ one. I had to disable NCQ due to corruptions and also I have been using the 1004-001 Beta BIOS from ASUS without any problem. This board is also known to have issues with newer Maxtor SATA drives.

[One more edit] Maybe you should start by only un-overclocking your video card and see if it helps.

 

[figmasigma]

I installed forceware 71.81, reinstalled all the nforce 6.39 drivers (the drivers that come on the installation cd aren't whql certified...) and uninstalled rivatuner. And I'm still getting the blue screen error. blah...

-ralph-

 

[GuitarDaddy]

I had the same problem, with HL2 deathmatch and X2 the threat.

I fixed my problems by upping the DDR volts.

Which is really odd, because just like you my system would run hours of Prime95 and memtest and any other benchmark or torture test I threw at it. But these two games BSOD'd reqularly with the same error you described. I upped the volts by .5v and now I can run those games for hours with no problems?

 

[figmasigma]

So what voltage is your memory currently at? Is it safe to put corsair memory up to 2.85 volts?

-ralph-

 

[GuitarDaddy]

I,m not sure about the Corsair, my OCZ plat. rev2 is warrantied to 3.0.

I upped from 2.85 to 2.90

 

[ahurtt]

Pretty much all memory should be safe from frying up to 3.0v. I don't think the BIOS will even allow you to up it above that anyway. Also, give the ethernet drivers ONLY from the motherboard CD a try. Use the latest of the other nForce drivers but the ethernet ones from the CD. Just becuase they aren't WHQL certified doesn't mean they won't work.

 

[figmasigma]

Ok, you guys rule, thank you so much. Upping the voltage to 2.85 didn't do anything, but at 2.9 everything seems to be good, running steam as we speak. And I also reverted to the installation cd's ethernet drivers. I think the newer drivers were indeed causing problems as well, because before I was having randomn programs like norton liveupdate that were unable to access the internet, no longer a problem.

Thanks again,
-ralph-

Oh and the reason I was having problems with the drivers from guru3d is i didnt realize you have to put in a password (guru3d.com) at the prompt. I dont remember them doing that before...

 

[Tanclearas]

You could try what I suggested here.

It worked for me. The other thing you can try is to install the ethernet driver off the install CD.

 

[figmasigma]

Hmm i tried that solution, but inside my boot.ini file i dont see and /Noexecute command:
[boot loader]
timeout=1
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /fastdetect

-ralph-

 

[Tanclearas]

Scratch my suggestion. Apparently it's the new updates for Steam that are causing the BSOD problem in the nVidia ethernet driver. I ended up having to go back to the driver off of the CD.

It's hard to know who to be pissed off at; nVidia for doing something messed up in their driver, or Valve/Steam for forcing updates you don't really care about down your throat that break the usability of your system. Or maybe just a little bit of both.

 

[figmasigma]

Yeah same here, went back to the driver off the cd and all is well.

-ralph-