Frequent Blue Screen Crashes - No Pattern

[Ajwhipple]

My computer was running fine until I installed an Asetek Waterchill watercooling system in my machine a few months ago. The cooler chills the CPU, GPU and Northbridge chips and runs a 12V pump that is powered by the PSU. Also uses a duel 120 mm radiator and has a USB connection to the MB for monitoring the pump and fan speed stats. I made no other changes other than the HW and monitoring SW installs.

Now I get frequent bluescreen crashes. They occur at all times. Gaming, web browsing, defrag, AV scans, or even just sitting there doing nothing. Most of the time the crashes are the DRIVER IRQ_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL type, with pointers to a variety of files like splitter.sys, ks.sys, etc. Sometimes it says Problem Detected with instructions to run CHKDSK /F, or to remove the defrag or AV applications.

I used to get them every few days. Now I get them several times a day. I disconnected the pump USB connection and uninstalled the pump monitoring software. I've defragmented the HD and run Norton One Button Checkup to fix any problems. No luck. I verified that my memory voltage is correct since that was the source of my problems the last time something like this happened.

I know that a failing PSU can cause these problems, but I don't know how to check it to see if it's failing. I'd like to diagnose this problem, rather than just start replacing random HW. I'm also considering a full reinstall of Windows XP. Can anyone get me started in the right direction?

Athlon 3000+ Winchester
ABIT AV8
Crucial Ballisitx 2x512 MB PC3200 DDR400
Gigabyte GeForce 6800 GT 256 MB
WD Raptor 74 GB SATA
Seagate Barracuda 120 GB SATA
Pioneer 108 DVR
SoundBlaster Audigy 2 ZS Gamer
Antec TruePower 550
Asetek Waterchill Cooler (CPU, GPU, NB)
Coolermaster CM Stacker

 

[Tenshodo]

Try discconectig the watercooling system. It probably takes too much power from the PSU. Put on a normal heatsink than test the copmputer.

 

[Ajwhipple]

Even with a 550 W PSU?

 

[Ajwhipple]

I didn't remove the cooling system, but I did connect the pump to a separate PSU, so the pump was taking no power from the rest of the computer. The crashes continue at about the same rate.

If anyone has suggestions on how to proceed, I'd very much appreciate it.

 

[fogeyman]

Originally posted by: AcidBath in this thread
The IRQL_NOT_LESS_THAN_OR_EQUAL_TO error is one I see sometimes when there is a problem with the hard drive and Windows cannot communicate with the drive. I think there is a Microsoft KB article on it.

Do you have another hard drive you can test with? Perhaps something was damaged in the installation. Other than that, no ideas. Sorry. There may also be a professional near where you live (there's one just down the street for me) who tests and fixes your computer. If you have no other options, try and find a professional to diagnose the problem.

 

[Aznblade]

The same thing has happened on my old computer while trying to run games, sometimes it happens randomly, i fixed it buy getting a new cd key, i have a Xp pro generator if you want, email me at your_friend_911@hotmail.com... then you can get all new updates, after i got ALL new updates it worked fine, if you still can't try format, i don't think its the problem with your watercooling system but i dunno.. just try everything out