Foxtrot360 Posted June 11, 2008 Share Posted June 11, 2008 (edited) So until recently I havent had many (if any) problems with my PC since I last upgraded to new parts and later a new video card last December, now about I estimate around 1 month or so ago my PC has started randomly rebooting in games. At first I figured it was just the game since it hadnt done it in other games before, but then I had the same problem in a few other games. The game will just out of nowhere automatically reboot itself and once I get back to the Windows XP screen I get a "Your computer has recovered from a serious error." message. Earlier I also had it happen and then I got to the login where XP told me my PC needed to be reactivated because my hardware had undergone major changes which wasnt true. I went to the Activate Windows icon in Accessories/System Tools and selected activate over the internet, after connecting I think it said "Thank you your copy of XP has been activated", I thought all of that part was truely odd since nothing could have changed physically. I reported the error to MS and it told me to enable a dump file that I could send to them, so I enabled it, I also enabled BSOD instead of reboot. I played some NFS High Stakes ( A pretty old game that shouldnt be very taxing ) and it soon went to a BSOD, this is what the error said - IRQ_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL STOP: 0X0000000A (0XFFE00124,0X00000002,0X00000001,0X8040B848) After taking note of the BSOD I go back to Winblows and login and then it tells me about reporting the serious error again, I do just that and report it which brinds me to a MS page that says - "Problem caused by Device Driver You received this message because a device driver installed on your computer caused Windows to stop unexpectedly. This type of error is referred to as a "stop error." A stop error requires you to restart your computer. More information Problem report summary Problem type Windows stop error (a message appears on a blue screen with error code information) Solution available? No What does this problem mean? Windows has encountered a problem it cannot recover from and it needs to be restarted Cause Unknown Computer symptoms A message appears on a blue screen with error code information (for example: 0x0000001E, KMODE_EXCEPTION_NOT_HANDLED) Additional steps for you to take Please continue to send problem reports so analysts at Microsoft can study and try to correct the problem as quickly as possible" My Specs - AMD Athlon XP 3200+ 2.2GHz w/ Zalman Heatsink x2 512mb Corsair (1 GB Total) Nvidia GeForce 7600 GT AGP 256mb ASUS A7N8X-E Pioneer DVD/CD Burner 3 Various ATA HDDs Corsair 450w PSU Apevia X-Pleasure Full Tower Case + x2 80mm Intake / x2 120mm Outtake fans LTB True 5.1 Surround Sound USB Headphones No problems indicated in Device Manager other than some manually disabled network adapters. DXDiag reports no problems. Games otherwise appear fine. IIRC This problem has never happened outside of video games, Windows seems to run fine. The problem happens only ingame and has even happened in just the menu of one game (AFAIK not 3D, music was playing though). Havent run anything like Memtest or Prime95. Lastly, this is registered in the event viewer - Event Type: Error Event Source: System Error Event Category: (102) Event ID: 1003 Date: 5/24/2008 Time: 5:16:58 PM User: N/A Computer: BLACKEAGLE Description: Error code 1000000a, parameter1 ffe00124, parameter2 00000002, parameter3 00000001, parameter4 804db848. For more information, see Help and Support Center at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp. Data: 0000: 53 79 73 74 65 6d 20 45 System E 0008: 72 72 6f 72 20 20 45 72 rror Er 0010: 72 6f 72 20 63 6f 64 65 ror code 0018: 20 31 30 30 30 30 30 30 1000000 0020: 61 20 20 50 61 72 61 6d a Param 0028: 65 74 65 72 73 20 66 66 eters ff 0030: 65 30 30 31 32 34 2c 20 e00124, 0038: 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 32 00000002 0040: 2c 20 30 30 30 30 30 30 , 000000 0048: 30 31 2c 20 38 30 34 64 01, 804d Edited June 11, 2008 by Foxtrot360 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NoQuarter Posted June 11, 2008 Share Posted June 11, 2008 Baring any potential hardware failure or a new driver or update take did not take, it wouldn't hurt if (assuming you haven't done so already) you tore down your box, inspect the parts for damage/problems, cleaned it up, and then put it together again, double-checking your connections/seatings. Do you have a system stress test program you can run to see if it points to your GPU as the source? Not much help...sorry. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dannik Posted June 11, 2008 Share Posted June 11, 2008 NoQuarter has it right, unfortunately. Even Microsoft doesn't know what that error means beyond driver issue or hardware issue. So vague, it's almost useless. From my gut and memory, you MAY have a stick of RAM going south, or have a HD with some bad sectors. I'd suggest pulling a stick of RAM, seeing how it goes, and then swapping them (not swapping sockets on the MB, but just A/B them) first, because it's easy. Also easy is to run a diskscan on (likely) reboot from the HD properties. Apps like Memtest86 are freeware and well tuned, but not easy, in the consumer POV. If nothing has changed, and I mean NOTHING, it's most likely dust (NoQuarter's root explanation) or RAM or HD sectors going south. Good luck. I've been there, and solved it a few times, but not every time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colin Posted June 11, 2008 Share Posted June 11, 2008 The above is good also have you installed sp3 for xp by any chance.?? http://www.informationweek.com/news/window...cleID=207800691 http://www.msfn.org/board/New-AMD-build-XP...Ds-t118461.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nutlink Posted June 11, 2008 Share Posted June 11, 2008 It could also be your video card is overheating. Does it only happen when gaming? Have you checked your tempts at all? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Foxtrot360 Posted June 11, 2008 Author Share Posted June 11, 2008 (edited) Yes, I installed SP3 around the begininng of May. I think this may have started happening after installation of that. I could just do a complete reinstall of Windows if that is the case, but I'd have to backup all my stuff on DVD. Its also probably worth noting I used nLite & RyanVM's update pack to slipstream SP2 and new updates to a copy of my XP CD to save me time downloading (I have dialup), and thats the install I'm using right now, incase SP3 has compatibility problems with it. Some of the things I've done that could have triggered this was - Installation of AVG 8 Installation of SP3 Installation of Games Using CCleaner Installation of Pioneer DVD/CD Burner It appears to only happen when gaming, I thought of temps too so I might go switch on the logging of temps in the Nvidia Control Panel. I guess I might have some dust in the CPU heatsink but I think otherwise the dust isnt running rampant. After some more troubleshooting I think I'll try Memtest & Prime95 and other such stress tools. Might be a good time for me to backup my data aswell. And I'll probably take a look in the case and make sure everything is setup fine. Right now I notice I have a molex connector that goes to the side fan just hanging off the video card, is that ok? The thing is, it just came out of nowhere, I didnt physically change much of anything that I can think of except the DVD drive in which maybe something got moved. IIRC the temps of the CPU in BIOs after BSOD/Reboot is probably around 50 celcius/150+ farenheight but I dont remember for sure. Video temps at idle (not playing games) is around 53 celcius. It really seems to be pretty random, it can do it, reboot, I go back to the game, it doesent do it, or it does it withing a few minutes. Edited June 11, 2008 by Foxtrot360 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
viiiper Posted June 11, 2008 Share Posted June 11, 2008 The SP3 issue manifests itself immediately, or it did for me, so I'd rule that one out. From experience, I would hope for a recent driver (if you updated one) or hardware failure. From personal experience ruling out drivers I'd plonk for memory or hard drive, normally HD failure has a tell tail sound of a ping from the drive, if you don't hear that, then memory. Memory being cheap I'd buy 2Gb of cheap memory ($50) and replace the current stock. I had a stick go down about 2 months ago, it BSOD every now and then, another time the PC did not boot. It's had tracking intermittent faults. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Foxtrot360 Posted June 11, 2008 Author Share Posted June 11, 2008 I dont recall updating any drivers lately, and the biggest hardware change was probably replacing my old CDRW with a new Pioneer DVD/CD Burner drive. Software wise, the biggest update was probably SP3. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CrowmanUK Posted June 11, 2008 Share Posted June 11, 2008 I'd go with testing each stick of memory separately as Dannik suggests, I had a dodgy stick in an old pc that kept throwing up these "driver" errors. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Foxtrot360 Posted June 11, 2008 Author Share Posted June 11, 2008 Well since this seems to be the thing I read about and has been suggested most here, I will try testing RAM under stress program and also removing each and see how it runs ingame (Undoubtly laggier ). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KRP 56 Posted June 11, 2008 Share Posted June 11, 2008 Well since this seems to be the thing I read about and has been suggested most here, I will try testing RAM under stress program and also removing each and see how it runs ingame (Undoubtly laggier ). That's what my problem was when my PC started the CTD, reboot sequence while gaming. If I recall right it was listed in the event viewer as a serious error reboot because of a bug check,or something like that. Then when I Googled it most of the replys dealt with a bad stick of memory. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Foxtrot360 Posted June 12, 2008 Author Share Posted June 12, 2008 I downloaded a program called HeavyLoad by JAM-Software and ran it. Its a program that stresses the system. I left it on for a while and came back and went to stop the program, while attempting to stop it (by clicking the applicable button on the program) it went to a BSOD, but the first number was different than I got last time. Note this program isnt a 3D app but it does put pressure on the system. I just reported it to MS again since the popup of a recovery serious error. I know its just MS but I'm just looking for some clues. It said device driver again which may or may not be the case I guess. I'll run Memtest when I go to sleep tonight, see what that says, and later I may remove a stick and vice-versa and try. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Foxtrot360 Posted June 12, 2008 Author Share Posted June 12, 2008 I ran Memtest86 last night with I think it was 24 passes and no errors and it ran for 12 hours and 13 minutes. I'll also try Prime95 later. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Foxtrot360 Posted June 19, 2008 Author Share Posted June 19, 2008 (edited) Well, a few days ago I opened the PC up and did some cleaning, I noticed the heatsink had more dust than I probably expected, so with a can of air and a toothpick I picked dust out of the heatsink and case. I also reinserted and cleaned my ram, I might have swapped the slots the sticks were in but if I did it wasnt on purpose. I also cleaned some dust off the RAM, and pushed a bit on the video card to make sure it was getting good connectivity. I havent had a BSOD or Reboot since then, knock on wood, I hope that fixed it. I guess it really might have been a heat/dust issue. Edited June 19, 2008 by Foxtrot360 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GreyHaired Posted June 20, 2008 Share Posted June 20, 2008 So you're now treating your PC with care? Need to change your sig then Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ROCO*AFZ* Posted June 20, 2008 Share Posted June 20, 2008 What is your system temps? if it's not overheat it could be a failing powersupply. It would only show itself when stresses sometimes randomly. For your stop error, read this http://www.tweaksforgeeks.com/IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL.html Or for your other stop error http://support.microsoft.com/kb/294728 Avg lets a lot of these get by.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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