WINDOWS XP HELP NEEDED

[Avatar228]

just started to install windows xp and i get a blue screen that says "irq not less or equal" and i'm sure hardware is plugged in right.



i think i posted in two category's so i'll delete one if someoen can tell me where a tthread like thsi would belong

 

[Fardringle]

IRQL errors usually give the name of the device or driver that caused the error immediately after the "IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL" section. What driver/file does it say is causing the problem?

 

[dclive]

Originally posted by: Avatar228
just started to install windows xp and i get a blue screen that says "irq not less or equal" and i'm sure hardware is plugged in right.



i think i posted in two category's so i'll delete one if someoen can tell me where a tthread like thsi would belong

Given that you're installing Windows, this isn't a driver issue - it's a hardware issue in that there's something wrong with your hardware - perhaps you're overclocking your RAM or your CPU.

Go to defaults on everything. Pop out any unneeded hardware - extra RAM chips, extra sound cards, anything you don't absolutely need to boot the box, and then try again.

 

[Avatar228]

okay i just ran memtest all night and got 648 errors starting at 1007.7mb so does that mean i take the dimm out of memory slot four and return it for another or is there another problem?

 

[Avatar228]

this is great... computer restarted itself and now i can't even see the first screen that shows the dfi logo on it... monitor status light just turns orange

 

[sykopath79]

Sounds like at a minimum you have a bad stick of RAM; possibly a bad motherboard too if it's not even POSTing now. Warranties are your best friend in these situations.

 

[Avatar228]

well i got my motherboard to work by clearing cmos or something and now i'm memtesting each stick but i'm not sure on how long i should be testing each one. about how many passes do i need?

 

[engineereeyore]

if the ram is going to fail, it will usually do so within the first 2-3 hours of testing, which usually takes 4-6 cycles. you may also want to check for dust in the ram slots themselves. blow them out real well and check that the contacts are good on your ram sticks. if clearing the cmos made your computer work again, then that would typically mean that the motherboard got a bad timing reading when it probed the ram, so when you reset the bios, it reset the timing.

conclusion, continue with what you are doing, check the connections, and check the ram one at a time in the exact same slot. if more than one stick fails, chances are higher that it is the motherboard. two sticks gone bad at the same time, though definitely possible, is less probable.