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(Win8.1 Pro) Blue Screen of Death: IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL

Question
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I'm getting intermittent BSODs, usually with the message "IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL". It doesn't appear to be tied to a specific activity - sometimes it will happen when I'm not at the computer. I tried doing a Memory Diagnostic test and it found no errors. As per one of the suggestions on the forum here, I tried running the Driver Verifier process, but then it couldn't boot into Windows at all (had to go in in safe mode and reset the verifier). A couple of weeks ago, I had a few BSODs with the message "DPC_WATCHDOG_VIOLATION" though that appears not to have happened for a while.
Any help would be appreciated - I'm sort of out of my depth here. DMP and Sysinfo Link below..
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/cajd7ozeb7zxzez/Gs76gj28z2
System: Windows 8.1 Pro
Computer: DELL INSPIRON N5010 / Processor: Intel Core i5 / Memory: 8GB / System Type: 64-bit
Cheers,
C
Tuesday, April 29, 2014 2:11 PM
Answers
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Hi,
We have a ton of crash dumps here, and I went through what I can.
MEMORY_MANAGEMENT (1a)
This indicates that a severe memory management error occurred.
BugCheck 1A, {41287, 61d00125f640, 0, 0}
The 1st parameter of the bug check is 41287 which indicates an illegal page fault occurred while holding working set synchronization.
DPC_WATCHDOG_VIOLATION (133)
This bug check indicates that the DPC watchdog executed, either because it detected a single long-running deferred procedure call (DPC), or because the system spent a prolonged time at an interrupt request level (IRQL) of DISPATCH_LEVEL or above.
I need a kernel-dump to debug this type of bug check.
IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL (a)
This indicates that Microsoft Windows or a kernel-mode driver accessed paged memory at DISPATCH_LEVEL or above.
This bug check is issued if paged memory (or invalid memory) is accessed when the IRQL is too high. The error that generates this bug check usually occurs after the installation of a faulty device driver, system service, or BIOS.
2: kd> k Child-SP RetAddr Call Site ffffd000`22e8d338 fffff801`dbbd57e9 nt!KeBugCheckEx ffffd000`22e8d340 fffff801`dbbd403a nt!KiBugCheckDispatch+0x69 ffffd000`22e8d480 fffff801`dbb62e71 nt!KiPageFault+0x23a ffffd000`22e8d610 fffff801`dbab0452 nt!MiReplenishPageSlist+0x139 ffffd000`22e8d680 fffff801`dbaad342 nt!MiRemoveAnyPage+0x202 ffffd000`22e8d740 fffff801`dbaa9f07 nt!MiGetPage+0x3f2 ffffd000`22e8d810 fffff801`dbaaf762 nt!MiResolveMappedFileFault+0x3b7 ffffd000`22e8d930 fffff801`dbaae4fb nt!MiResolveProtoPteFault+0x642 ffffd000`22e8d9d0 fffff801`dbab8124 nt!MiDispatchFault+0x9ab ffffd000`22e8db00 fffff801`dbbd3f2f nt!MmAccessFault+0x364 ffffd000`22e8dc40 00007ffc`cae945cd nt!KiPageFault+0x12f 0000009e`cc89be60 00000000`00000000 0x00007ffc`cae945cd
nt!MiReplenishPageSlist calls a pagefault, and prior to this we have various memory related routines as well.
----------------------
This looks like faulty RAM to me, so please go ahead and start by running Memtest for NO LESS than ~8 passes (several hours):
Memtest86+:
Download Memtest86+ here:
http://www.memtest.org/
Which should I download?
You can either download the pre-compiled ISO that you would burn to a CD and then boot from the CD, or you can download the auto-installer for the USB key. What this will do is format your USB drive, make it a bootable device, and then install the necessary files. Both do the same job, it's just up to you which you choose, or which you have available (whether it's CD or USB).
Do note that some older generation motherboards do not support USB-based booting, therefore your only option is CD (or Floppy if you really wanted to).
How Memtest works:
Memtest86 writes a series of test patterns to most memory addresses, reads back the data written, and compares it for errors.
The default pass does 9 different tests, varying in access patterns and test data. A tenth test, bit fade, is selectable from the menu. It writes all memory with zeroes, then sleeps for 90 minutes before checking to see if bits have changed (perhaps because of refresh problems). This is repeated with all ones for a total time of 3 hours per pass.
Many chipsets can report RAM speeds and timings via SPD (Serial Presence Detect) or EPP (Enhanced Performance Profiles), and some even support changing the expected memory speed. If the expected memory speed is overclocked, Memtest86 can test that memory performance is error-free with these faster settings.
Some hardware is able to report the "PAT status" (PAT: enabled or PAT: disabled). This is a reference to Intel Performance acceleration technology; there may be BIOS settings which affect this aspect of memory timing.
This information, if available to the program, can be displayed via a menu option.
Any other questions, they can most likely be answered by reading this great guide here:
http://forum.canardpc.com/threads/28864-FAQ-please-read-before-posting
Regards,
Patrick“Be kind whenever possible. It is always possible.” - Dalai Lama
Tuesday, April 29, 2014 7:01 PM
All replies
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Hi,
We have a ton of crash dumps here, and I went through what I can.
MEMORY_MANAGEMENT (1a)
This indicates that a severe memory management error occurred.
BugCheck 1A, {41287, 61d00125f640, 0, 0}
The 1st parameter of the bug check is 41287 which indicates an illegal page fault occurred while holding working set synchronization.
DPC_WATCHDOG_VIOLATION (133)
This bug check indicates that the DPC watchdog executed, either because it detected a single long-running deferred procedure call (DPC), or because the system spent a prolonged time at an interrupt request level (IRQL) of DISPATCH_LEVEL or above.
I need a kernel-dump to debug this type of bug check.
IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL (a)
This indicates that Microsoft Windows or a kernel-mode driver accessed paged memory at DISPATCH_LEVEL or above.
This bug check is issued if paged memory (or invalid memory) is accessed when the IRQL is too high. The error that generates this bug check usually occurs after the installation of a faulty device driver, system service, or BIOS.
2: kd> k Child-SP RetAddr Call Site ffffd000`22e8d338 fffff801`dbbd57e9 nt!KeBugCheckEx ffffd000`22e8d340 fffff801`dbbd403a nt!KiBugCheckDispatch+0x69 ffffd000`22e8d480 fffff801`dbb62e71 nt!KiPageFault+0x23a ffffd000`22e8d610 fffff801`dbab0452 nt!MiReplenishPageSlist+0x139 ffffd000`22e8d680 fffff801`dbaad342 nt!MiRemoveAnyPage+0x202 ffffd000`22e8d740 fffff801`dbaa9f07 nt!MiGetPage+0x3f2 ffffd000`22e8d810 fffff801`dbaaf762 nt!MiResolveMappedFileFault+0x3b7 ffffd000`22e8d930 fffff801`dbaae4fb nt!MiResolveProtoPteFault+0x642 ffffd000`22e8d9d0 fffff801`dbab8124 nt!MiDispatchFault+0x9ab ffffd000`22e8db00 fffff801`dbbd3f2f nt!MmAccessFault+0x364 ffffd000`22e8dc40 00007ffc`cae945cd nt!KiPageFault+0x12f 0000009e`cc89be60 00000000`00000000 0x00007ffc`cae945cd
nt!MiReplenishPageSlist calls a pagefault, and prior to this we have various memory related routines as well.
----------------------
This looks like faulty RAM to me, so please go ahead and start by running Memtest for NO LESS than ~8 passes (several hours):
Memtest86+:
Download Memtest86+ here:
http://www.memtest.org/
Which should I download?
You can either download the pre-compiled ISO that you would burn to a CD and then boot from the CD, or you can download the auto-installer for the USB key. What this will do is format your USB drive, make it a bootable device, and then install the necessary files. Both do the same job, it's just up to you which you choose, or which you have available (whether it's CD or USB).
Do note that some older generation motherboards do not support USB-based booting, therefore your only option is CD (or Floppy if you really wanted to).
How Memtest works:
Memtest86 writes a series of test patterns to most memory addresses, reads back the data written, and compares it for errors.
The default pass does 9 different tests, varying in access patterns and test data. A tenth test, bit fade, is selectable from the menu. It writes all memory with zeroes, then sleeps for 90 minutes before checking to see if bits have changed (perhaps because of refresh problems). This is repeated with all ones for a total time of 3 hours per pass.
Many chipsets can report RAM speeds and timings via SPD (Serial Presence Detect) or EPP (Enhanced Performance Profiles), and some even support changing the expected memory speed. If the expected memory speed is overclocked, Memtest86 can test that memory performance is error-free with these faster settings.
Some hardware is able to report the "PAT status" (PAT: enabled or PAT: disabled). This is a reference to Intel Performance acceleration technology; there may be BIOS settings which affect this aspect of memory timing.
This information, if available to the program, can be displayed via a menu option.
Any other questions, they can most likely be answered by reading this great guide here:
http://forum.canardpc.com/threads/28864-FAQ-please-read-before-posting
Regards,
Patrick“Be kind whenever possible. It is always possible.” - Dalai Lama
Tuesday, April 29, 2014 7:01 PM -
So I ran Memtest and almost immediately got a ton of errors (several hundred by the time I left it for a few hours). I then ran it again with just one of the 2 4GB modules. The first again almost immediately hit errors. The second one I let run for 8 complete passes, and had no errors. So it does seem as if its a bad memory module. I've had the good module in the laptop all day today and not had a single BSOD.
I think the memory is still under warranty, so unless there's something I'm missing here, I'm going to go ahead and see about getting the bad one replaced.
As for the DPC Watchdog Violation, that hasn't happened for a while, so I'm going to wait and see if it happens again.
Thanks very much for your help, Patrick. This is all a good level or three above my understanding.
Colin.
Thursday, May 1, 2014 2:23 PM -
My pleasure, Colin. I'm glad to hear things are working well with the bad DIMM removed!
Generally the manufacturer will ask for all the sticks back as they want you to replace all of them with a brand new kit to avoid incompatibility. With that said, if they ask for all the sticks, don't be alarmed.
Regards,
Patrick“Be kind whenever possible. It is always possible.” - Dalai Lama
Thursday, May 1, 2014 7:24 PM