XP. Froze. Again. PAGE_FAULT_ON_NONPAGED_AREA or DRIVER_IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL

[NEVERwinter]

started from 2 days ago my WinXP likes to restart by itself or froze with no cause at all. I didn't install any new hardware & software. I got these messages shown on the BSOD:
PAGE_FAULT_ON_NONPAGED_AREA or DRIVER_IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL
I notice that this errors are always caused by a *.sys file.

I searched through the Net and got some advices (rebuld the pagefile, swap PCI peripherals, reinstall driver, rebuild the whole system and also reinstall windows) but no satisfying result. I still got that BSODs.

HELP!!!!

 

[Green Man]

which .sys file?

there should be a stop event logged. the event viewer can be found in administrative tools from the control panel

 

[AndyHui]

Normally, DRIVER_IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL indicates general system instability due to RAM. You may want to either back off on any overclocks, or test your system with some other RAM.

 

[AtomicAlien]

Originally posted by: AndyHui
Normally, DRIVER_IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL indicates general system instability due to RAM. You may want to either back off on any overclocks, or test your system with some other RAM.

Dang but he's good.

 

[ddiwayne123]

I have just started having this same problem with my machine (Win XP home). I get PAGE_FAULT_ON_NONPAGED_AREA or DRIVER_IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL frequently. Is there some software I can use to check the system memory in my PC, and possibly even identify the 'faulty' stick?

 

[bsobel]

Originally posted by: AndyHui
Normally, DRIVER_IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL indicates general system instability due to RAM. You may want to either back off on any overclocks, or test your system with some other RAM.

Andy, I normally agree with you, but I'll disagree in this case. This message is very very often due to a buggy driver, it's not a general instability. NEVERwinter didn't post which sys file (yet), but I suspect once he does we'll have a better idea of whats going on.

Bill

 

[SnapIT]

Originally posted by: bsobel

Originally posted by: AndyHui
Normally, DRIVER_IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL indicates general system instability due to RAM. You may want to either back off on any overclocks, or test your system with some other RAM.

Andy, I normally agree with you, but I'll disagree in this case. This message is very very often due to a buggy driver, it's not a general instability. NEVERwinter didn't post which sys file (yet), but I suspect once he does we'll have a better idea of whats going on.

Bill

Actually, you're both right, the message usually appears because of an unstable system, hardware OR software wise...

But i agree with Andy, IME it usually appears when someone overclocks their bus too high...

 

[Green Man]

Originally posted by: bsobel

Originally posted by: AndyHui
Normally, DRIVER_IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL indicates general system instability due to RAM. You may want to either back off on any overclocks, or test your system with some other RAM.

Andy, I normally agree with you, but I'll disagree in this case. This message is very very often due to a buggy driver, it's not a general instability. NEVERwinter didn't post which sys file (yet), but I suspect once he does we'll have a better idea of whats going on.

Bill

Normally with a IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL or a DRIVER_IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL error, I'm all about "it's usually a buggy driver". Coupled with the PAGE_FAULT_ON_NONPAGED_AREA, I think Andy may be on the right track, and I'm sure that played into his thoughts on this. I'm interested to see which .sys file is referenced.

edited for finger placement

 

[bsobel]

Normally with a IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL or a DRIVER_IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL error, I'm all about "it's usually a buffy driver". Coupled with the PAGE_FAULT_ON_NONPAGED_AREA, I think Andy may be on the right track, and I'm sure that played into his thoughts on this. I'm interested to see which .sys file is referenced.

I just re-read the thread, I think I didn't read the first post right before. If by saying its a *.sys the user meant it's a different one each (or most of the) time, I'll defer back to Andy's answer. I had read that as the user forgot the name. If it's the same one (all or most of the time), I'll stick with bad driver

Bill

 

[AndyHui]

No big deal. We can both sit and wait to see how NEVERwinter's problems turn out.

 

[orion7144]

I have had this happen quite offten when I was running AMD processors (check your temps with MBM not the BIOS). It turned out to be a bad CPU. When the temps got to hot (playing a game, browsing, etc.) whamo BSOD. RMA'd CPU and all was well. I have also seen this on another PC where it was the RAM. He had 2 sticks of PC133 and it turned out that the stick in slot 2 was bad.

 

[Barnaby W. Füi]

Yeah, I used to have this problem in windows on via boards alot. Personally I would never run windows on anything but an intel or amd chipset, the risk is just not worth taking IMO. Stupid, uncontrollable windows freezes are torturous!

 

[NEVERwinter]

Originally posted by: SpookyFish
which .sys file?

there should be a stop event logged. the event viewer can be found in administrative tools from the control panel

IT could be ANY *.sys file. at the 1st time it was tbcspud.sys (santa cruz) then I removed my soundcard and when it happened again, it always displays different *.sys file.

On the Event Viewer, windows only logged "save dump" without telling what the problem was. The only error i got there was "DCOM error" because I set the service to disable manually.

ok, I have reinstalled everything. Now only running WindowsXP without the St.Cruz. All drivers are windows' driver (no catalyst, win. update or whatever) and still got that problem. I backed off all overclocks to normal.

Now I start to believe that this caused by a hardware failure
I'll take my machine somewhere to check.. and I'll report here later.
so... from your replies... I guess it could be RAM or CPU >.<

 

[stevewm]

Originally posted by: NEVERwinter

Originally posted by: SpookyFish
which .sys file?

there should be a stop event logged. the event viewer can be found in administrative tools from the control panel

IT could be ANY *.sys file. at the 1st time it was tbcspud.sys (santa cruz) then I removed my soundcard and when it happened again, it always displays different *.sys file.

On the Event Viewer, windows only logged "save dump" without telling what the problem was. The only error i got there was "DCOM error" because I set the service to disable manually.

ok, I have reinstalled everything. Now only running WindowsXP without the St.Cruz. All drivers are windows' driver (no catalyst, win. update or whatever) and still got that problem. I backed off all overclocks to normal.

Now I start to believe that this caused by a hardware failure
I'll take my machine somewhere to check.. and I'll report here later.
so... from your replies... I guess it could be RAM or CPU >.<

"Its always a different .sys file..."

This is a sure sign of a memory problem. Its not unheard of for memory modules to go bad. When they do the IRQL error is one of the most common errors that shows.

 

[isaacmacdonald]

Originally posted by: orion7144
I have had this happen quite offten when I was running AMD processors (check your temps with MBM not the BIOS). It turned out to be a bad CPU. When the temps got to hot (playing a game, browsing, etc.) whamo BSOD. RMA'd CPU and all was well. I have also seen this on another PC where it was the RAM. He had 2 sticks of PC133 and it turned out that the stick in slot 2 was bad.

Ditto. I've had this happen a zillion times when overclocking, using crappy ram, and once using a newer gf2 in a first gen AGP slot (???). I'd say it's 99% hardware.

 

[EeyoreX]

Many times when both of these BSODs occure interchangably it is a RAM issue. At least in my experience. I had this problem a few months ago and went nuts trying to fix the problem. Finally, I pulled out one of my sticks of RAM, and like magic, the errors stopped. Tested the RAM with memtest and found thousands of errors. This was RAM that was less than 4 months old. Just goes to show you how fast it can go. I'd still bet the problem is RAM. I disagree with the theory that OCing is more likely than RAM, as I never OC my computers. (I don't want to have to work for stability, and I don't feel I will gain much as I do many business apps and content creation.)

Test the RAM, either memtest it, or swap it until you find the offending stick.

\Dan

 

[NogginBoink]

Originally posted by: AndyHui
Normally, DRIVER_IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL indicates general system instability due to RAM. You may want to either back off on any overclocks, or test your system with some other RAM.

This is not true.

The vast, vast majority of STOP 0x0A blue screens are caused by buggy drivers.

A STOP 0x1A, on the other hand, is almost certainly bad RAM.

 

[NogginBoink]

Originally posted by: SnapIT

Originally posted by: bsobel

Originally posted by: AndyHui
Normally, DRIVER_IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL indicates general system instability due to RAM. You may want to either back off on any overclocks, or test your system with some other RAM.

Andy, I normally agree with you, but I'll disagree in this case. This message is very very often due to a buggy driver, it's not a general instability. NEVERwinter didn't post which sys file (yet), but I suspect once he does we'll have a better idea of whats going on.

Bill

Actually, you're both right, the message usually appears because of an unstable system, hardware OR software wise...

But i agree with Andy, IME it usually appears when someone overclocks their bus too high...

A STOP 0x0A means that a driver attempted to access pageable memory when the processor's IRQL was above dispatch level. 90%+ of the time, it's a bug in a driver.

A STOP 0x50 means a driver attempted to access a virtual address that hadn't been allocated by the memory manager. 90%+ of the time, it's a bug in a driver.

There *ARE* STOP codes that indicate probable hardware failure. These two are not among them.

Edit: given the followup information, it's either bad hardware, or a driver is corrupting pool. Run verifier.exe and see if driver verifier catches a driver corrupting pool. I don't have the instructions for enabling verifier on WinXP handy and have to run off to class now.

 

[NEVERwinter]

Just a quick info: I searched throught the net and MS's website and I come to this information: Those error msgs could be caused by:
1. faulty/buggy driver
2. faulty software, possibly antivirus
3. faulty memory (could be swapfile, RAM stick or even L1/L2 cache <-- bye bye CPU)