DRIVER_IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL

02ranger

Golden Member
Mar 22, 2006
1,046
0
76
Hey, I'm a new poster here, but have been reading these forums for some time. I've been asked to look at a Dell Dimension 2400 that keeps getting a blue screen when booting up. It won't make it to the logon screen, but just gives me the error in my title. There is no filename in the error code, and I think I've narrowed it down to the onboard NIC. It'll start up completely everytime I have my network cable uplugged, but if I plug it in I get a blue screen. I've downloaded the latest Dell drivers and installed those, and it worked for a while. Now I get the error message again. I know some problems with this message were associated with Kerio Firewall, which this PC has, but I disabled it in msconfig and it still gives me problems. I think this computer has had a virus on it as there were about seven copies of all the desktop and start menu shortcuts, and the desktop.ini files. After fixing all of this and running virus scan, I think it's all fixed but my blue screen. I've tried swapping out memory since a lot of people said that was the cause of their error message, but it doesn't affect it. Should I try another NIC in this computer or is there something else to try. I'd have done it already, but I don't want to waste my money or my friends if that's probably not the problem. Also, what is the best NIC brand for the money? I've always used Linksys but I found a lot of bad experiences with Linksys online. Thanks for any help you can give me.

 

framerateuk

Senior member
Apr 16, 2002
224
0
0
If its worked for a while then i would say its a software/driver issue and not a hardware one.

What virus scanning, adware scanning programs do you have installed? Id suggest you boot in safe mode and run the trial version of NOD32 (a good virus scanner that viruses dont seem to be able to block) aswell as micrsoft's anti-spywear. Run them in safe mode a few times, and then in normal mode to catch any viruses you think you might have.

Trying another network card would be cheap enough too, it doesent really matter what brand you buy, just get a cheap one (unless you really want gigabit networking). I dont think ive ever paid more than £15 for a network card, and if you check Amazon, you could probably get a D-Link card for much cheaper than that even.
 

dclive

Elite Member
Oct 23, 2003
5,626
2
81
Originally posted by: 02ranger
Hey, I'm a new poster here, but have been reading these forums for some time. I've been asked to look at a Dell Dimension 2400 that keeps getting a blue screen when booting up. It won't make it to the logon screen, but just gives me the error in my title. There is no filename in the error code, and I think I've narrowed it down to the onboard NIC. It'll start up completely everytime I have my network cable uplugged, but if I plug it in I get a blue screen. I've downloaded the latest Dell drivers and installed those, and it worked for a while. Now I get the error message again. I know some problems with this message were associated with Kerio Firewall, which this PC has, but I disabled it in msconfig and it still gives me problems. I think this computer has had a virus on it as there were about seven copies of all the desktop and start menu shortcuts, and the desktop.ini files. After fixing all of this and running virus scan, I think it's all fixed but my blue screen. I've tried swapping out memory since a lot of people said that was the cause of their error message, but it doesn't affect it. Should I try another NIC in this computer or is there something else to try. I'd have done it already, but I don't want to waste my money or my friends if that's probably not the problem. Also, what is the best NIC brand for the money? I've always used Linksys but I found a lot of bad experiences with Linksys online. Thanks for any help you can give me.

What, exactly, did you disable in MSConfig?

Send me the dumps from c:\windows\minidump when you have this problem.
Run MPS Reports and send me the resulting .cab file.
See my .sig for full info - need URL back to this topic in e-mails too.

I can look at the dumps and see if I see anything that would cause this problem.
 

BadThad

Lifer
Feb 22, 2000
12,099
47
91
Disabling in MSCONFIG may not truely disable that firewall, I'm not very familiar with it, but I suspect there's also a running service. The only way to truely kill the firewall is to uninstall it and reboot.....which I recommend for troubleshooting purposes.

Also, since the BSOD only occurs when you plug in the cable, there's also a chance that your network settings or TCP/IP are corrupted. There's also a probability of a malware infestation.....unless you've thoroughly scanned the system. A lot of poorly coded malware can cause BSOD.
 

02ranger

Golden Member
Mar 22, 2006
1,046
0
76
Right now the computer has Kaspersky Anti-Virus, Kerio Personal Firewall, and Webroot SpySweeper. I've never heard of this software, but it may be good. I have scanned the computer and found LOTS of spyware, but removed it all and it didn't find any viruses. I think it had a virus and the user removed it, but I haven't had a chance to ask them. The only thing I disabled in msconfig was the line for Kerio Personal Firewall, and I've noticed it usually starts before I get to log in as any particular user. However, now it doesn't show up in Task Manager either, which is why I think it's disabled. My TCP/IP settings are the same as my other computer at home, which works fine. Also, when I started working on it, I set up the network and rebooted, and while it was rebooting I was getting my network cables together. I wound up plugging the network cable in while the computer was on and the internet worked fine. After restarting I got the blue screen. But I hadn't thought about them being corrupted, but you may be right BadThad. I remember I was going to try and delete the LAN connection I created and make a new one, but it never would let me. I forgot all about that. The people that own the comptuer use AOL Broadband, and Internet Explorer has four AOL connections with no differences between them and they can't be deleted, possibly adding to my network problem. Like I said, this thing has had a virus or something, and I think I'm still cleaning up from it. I'll try all the other things you've all told me to try as soon as I can, but I work and go to school so it may be the weekend before I get it done. Thanks again for your help. Sorry if I seem to ramble, but I haven't had much sleep.
 

Tobolo

Diamond Member
Aug 17, 2005
3,697
0
0
I had this problem on mine and it was solved when Installed SP2 (could be updated windows drivers in it) BEats me what caused it though
 

RebateMonger

Elite Member
Dec 24, 2005
11,586
0
0
Since you are finding "lots of spyware", the problem could very well be software-related. I'd start with restoring your System. It's less time-consuming that spending hours or days scanning for malware and trying to fix any software issues caused by malware.

Here's what I would do:

1) Pick up an external USB hard drive, if you don't already own one. You should have one for doing ongiong system and data backups anyway. It'd probably be easiest and cheapest if you buy a separate USB housing and a hard drive large at least as large as your current PC's drive. Unless you have some super-large drive in that Dell, we aren't talking more than $120 here if you buy from Newegg.com.

2) If you can boot into Windows, then copy all your important data to the new USB drive and then re-install your Dell system and applications.

3) If you CAN'T boot into Windows, then remove the Dell drive and place it into the new USB housing. Replace the Dell drive with your new hard drive. Then restore your Dell system and applications to the new hard drive. Make sure you patch XP to the current level, and continue doing so at all times.

4) NOW see if the problem is fixed. If it's not, then you can proceed to hardware testing.

5) Once the problem is fixed, restore your data to your Dell. Continue to make ongoing backups of your system to the USB drive.

6) Install a single antivirus, a single active antispyware application, and use XP SP2's firewall. Create a User account with "Restricted User" priviliges and use that for normal work. Create an "Administrator-level" account only for working on your system or installing new programs.

7) Familiarize yourself with safe web surfing and email practices to avoid "finding lots of spyware" next time.
 

dclive

Elite Member
Oct 23, 2003
5,626
2
81
Originally posted by: BadThad
Disabling in MSCONFIG may not truely disable that firewall, I'm not very familiar with it, but I suspect there's also a running service. The only way to truely kill the firewall is to uninstall it and reboot.....which I recommend for troubleshooting purposes.

Also, since the BSOD only occurs when you plug in the cable, there's also a chance that your network settings or TCP/IP are corrupted. There's also a probability of a malware infestation.....unless you've thoroughly scanned the system. A lot of poorly coded malware can cause BSOD.

MSConfig can disable services, but will not stop filter drivers.
 

dclive

Elite Member
Oct 23, 2003
5,626
2
81
Originally posted by: 02ranger
Right now the computer has Kaspersky Anti-Virus, Kerio Personal Firewall, and Webroot SpySweeper. I've never heard of this software, but it may be good. I have scanned the computer and found LOTS of spyware, but removed it all and it didn't find any viruses. I think it had a virus and the user removed it, but I haven't had a chance to ask them. The only thing I disabled in msconfig was the line for Kerio Personal Firewall, and I've noticed it usually starts before I get to log in as any particular user. However, now it doesn't show up in Task Manager either, which is why I think it's disabled. My TCP/IP settings are the same as my other computer at home, which works fine. Also, when I started working on it, I set up the network and rebooted, and while it was rebooting I was getting my network cables together. I wound up plugging the network cable in while the computer was on and the internet worked fine. After restarting I got the blue screen. But I hadn't thought about them being corrupted, but you may be right BadThad. I remember I was going to try and delete the LAN connection I created and make a new one, but it never would let me. I forgot all about that. The people that own the comptuer use AOL Broadband, and Internet Explorer has four AOL connections with no differences between them and they can't be deleted, possibly adding to my network problem. Like I said, this thing has had a virus or something, and I think I'm still cleaning up from it. I'll try all the other things you've all told me to try as soon as I can, but I work and go to school so it may be the weekend before I get it done. Thanks again for your help. Sorry if I seem to ramble, but I haven't had much sleep.

Easiest thing to do to find out why it's crashing is simply to open the dump files in a debugger. If it's software-related it usually points that out fairly quickly.

There are *so* many things to try though, if you didn't have access to a debugger or someone willing to look at it (aka me).

You could:

1. Try another NIC, to verify if the NIC has an issue. Very doubtful, but it's something to try.
2. Update the driver of the NIC, or roll it back to a previous version.
3. Boot in safe mode, confirm there is no problem, boot in safe mode with networking, and see what happens in both cases - booting with and without the NIC cabling plugged in.
4. What happens when you do a ipconfig /renew? What if you click on the graphic of the NIC and select the REPAIR feature? Anything happen then?
5. Boot with a BartPE CD, and install the Antivirus plugins. This will give you the best possible testing grounds; a scan from safe mode can still have filter drivers that will hide a virus.

But that's all a lot of work. The easiest first step when faced with a bluescreen is always just to open up the dump file in a debugger and look at it for a few minutes to see what caused the crash. :)
 

02ranger

Golden Member
Mar 22, 2006
1,046
0
76
Thanks again for all your help. I've gotten a LOT more responses than I really expected to get this quickly, but that's a good thing. I'll try all of this stuff as soon as I can, but I'm getting ready to go to work. As far as just restoring the system, this computer belongs to a friend of mine, it's not mine. I can't really restore it until I've tried everything else because they don't have install discs for all of the programs they want to keep, such as work related stuff. Why they don't have the discs is beyond me, but they don't so I need to save restoring for a last resort. But you're absolutely right, it's a lot less work to just start over, and I may have to. Thanks again, and I'm going to start working through all your suggestions as soon as I can.
 

dclive

Elite Member
Oct 23, 2003
5,626
2
81
I don't suggest starting over, and hope you weren't referring to my comments when you said that.

Again:
The easiest first step when faced with a bluescreen is always just to open up the dump file in a debugger and look at it for a few minutes to see what caused the crash.
 

02ranger

Golden Member
Mar 22, 2006
1,046
0
76
dclive, I wasn't referring to your comments. I can't find it now, but somebody had suggested to start over from scratch. If it were mine, I'd do just that because I like to format and start over every so often. Unfortunately, I can't really do that. Well, I've got a few hours before I've gotta leave again, so I'm getting ready to try and fix this thing. Thanks again.
 

02ranger

Golden Member
Mar 22, 2006
1,046
0
76
Well, I tried a BartPE CD and it found three viruses and 200 spyware files. I fixed those but BartPE also couldn't see my network adapter. This makes me think hardware again, since I booted directly to the CD. I also used my personal computer to create the boot cd instead of the problem computer, so I know nothing "spilled" over onto the cd. I still have the same blue screen, but am going to look for a NIC to try in it here at the house. Thanks again for all your help. Also, I tried to repair the LAN connection one time while it was booted without network cables plugged in, and it failed. I can't remember the exact message and forgot to try again, but I also know it won't let me delete the LAN connection for some reason. I guess that's all I've got for now.
 

dclive

Elite Member
Oct 23, 2003
5,626
2
81
BartPE probably couldn't find your NIC because it didn't have drivers for it. Did you add them to the BartPE CDROM?

You forgot to send MPSReports (see my first post in the thread for info). I need that.

Anyway, the problem appears to be Kerio Firewall. Uninstall that, completely, and then see if the problem goes away.
 

02ranger

Golden Member
Mar 22, 2006
1,046
0
76
I didn't even think about drivers. I feel pretty dumb now. I guess I'll try it again. I guess I just assumed that since it used the XP disc to make the BartPE disc, it would have the XP drivers. We all know what happens when you assume though, right? Sorry about the MPSReports, I'll do that as soon as I can. I remember there was one crash where it gave me a filename in my blue screen, and I think it was fwdrv.sys. I found out this was associated with Kerio, but didn't uninstall since it never gave that message again. I'll go home and try that too, though. Thanks yet again for your help. I thought until now I was pretty good with computers, but I'm learning really quickly that there's a whole lot I don't know. I guess the only way to learn is ask and try it.
 

dclive

Elite Member
Oct 23, 2003
5,626
2
81
BartPE does have XP drivers, but the core XP drivers (from mid-2001 timeframe) don't know a thing about a NIC (like the Dell 2400's NIC) build in the 2003-2004 timeframe.

(I'm guessing on the dates, but the point I'm illustrating doesn't change - unless the driver is in the core drivers list of XP, BartPE won't know a thing about it; if you would need to supply a drivers CD or disk if you reimaged your PC with a stock XP CD, Bart's PE won't know a thing about it.)

 

dclive

Elite Member
Oct 23, 2003
5,626
2
81
I got your e-mail concerning MPS Reports. You said you were going to try a new NIC. I can only imagine you didn't read my post 4 posts above this one, in which I said the problem was Kerio Firewall. Adding a new NIC won't help. You need to uninstall Kerio Firewall.

 

02ranger

Golden Member
Mar 22, 2006
1,046
0
76
Well, I uninstalled Kerio Firewall and it seems to have fixed the problem with the blue screen, just as dclive suggested. Unfortunately, there are still some problems. I can't seem to get it to connect to the internet. I think this is just a settings problem, so I'm just gonna try and keep messing with it until I get it fixed. I only have one more question. There shouldn't be any reason for an AOL subscriber to have four AOL connections in Internet Options, should there? Other than viruses or user error, I mean. Also, I can't remove any of them. I'm gonna keep looking, but if anybody's had this problem and figured it out, please let me know. Well, that's all for now. Thank you all for helping me, and I feel like I'm past the worst of the problems with the computer, I've just got to get the internet thing figured out.
 

dclive

Elite Member
Oct 23, 2003
5,626
2
81
In safe mode w/o networking, or safe mode w/networking, can you delete those connections?
 

02ranger

Golden Member
Mar 22, 2006
1,046
0
76
No. They won't delete in either version of safe mode. Are these connections stored in files somewhere that I can delete the file? I tried searching online, but couldn't find anything. I'm about ready to do a repair install on this computer, but I don't think that will fix the internet connections. The only reason I haven't done it sooner is because I did it on a Dell before and it lost all the user profiles and registry entries so that I had to reinstall all the programs. This was a well-known problem and supposedly fixed in SP1, but I'm a little worried about doing it. Oh well, I guess I'm gonna do it anyway. Thanks, and I'll let you know if it fixes it.
 

RebateMonger

Elite Member
Dec 24, 2005
11,586
0
0
Be sure apply XP Pack 2 and all subsequent patches after doing the Repair Install. You lose all your Windows Updates after doing the Repair Installation. If you still have malware, the Repair Install probably won't remove it.

As always, I recommend backing up any important data before doing the Repair Install. Also, you may want to first run Belarc Advisor (http://belarc.com) to discover any software keys, so you can reinstall some of your applications if you lose them.

Have you already tried a System Restore, from a time before you were infected by the Spyware/whatever ? A System Restore, which replaces the Registry with a previous, (and, hopefully, uninfected) version, is more likely to fix your problem than a Repair Installation of XP. And it's a lot less time-consuming.
 

dclive

Elite Member
Oct 23, 2003
5,626
2
81
Doing a repair install seems to me to be a last-ditch effort.

Have you uninstalled all AOL software, plus uninstalled any other software that might be interfering with networking activities?

Who is the ISP? AOL, IIRC, isn't an actual ISP, so it shouldn't be needed to get online. AOL might handle billing, but typically the actual broadband provider is a local cable/dsl company.

 

02ranger

Golden Member
Mar 22, 2006
1,046
0
76
I haven't tried a system restore, but the owner tried to do a system restore when he got the blue screen to begin with, and it didn't fix anything. He said he eventually didn't have any more restore points to roll back to, but I haven't checked behind him. The biggest reason I wanted to do a repair install was that I think there may be more wrong with the computer than just the internet problem. There are three links to Internet Options in the control panel, two for Add/Remove Programs, and then some other extra links. This may just be an aftereffect of the virus as I haven't seen any other symptoms besides the four AOL connections, but I may not be able to see them right away. Anyway, the internet connection I've been trying to set it up to use is my home connection through our home router. It is connected to cable internet, and I had it working before. I may just be overlooking something simple, I'll hvae to keep looking. Repair install is a last-ditch effort, but I'm thinking that maybe something got screwed up while I've been trying to fix it. I'll try deleting the AOL software and starting over as soon as I get the username and password and such from the owner.