RAM problem or something else?

SnowTiger

windup wrote: »

The price and design of a psu, and the installed ram has no connection with a IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL error, it's caused by shoddy drivers or software.

It can be caused by hardware issues too.

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/314063:

This Stop error message usually occurs during installation when there was an attempt in kernel mode to touch pageable memory at too high a process internal request level (IRQL). Typically, this error occurs when a driver uses an incorrect memory address. Other possible causes of this error include an incompatible device driver, a general hardware problem, or incompatible software.

windup

The final sentence is clearly a cover all bases statement, like many others that can be found on the internet that are equally useless in providing a correct diagnosis, the penultimate sentence is where the op should be concentrating, after checking the state of the disk, cmos battery, and recreating the hibernation file.

full context : https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/314063

rhcp

windup wrote: »

The price and design of a psu, and the installed ram has no connection with a IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL error, it's caused by shoddy drivers or software.

OP needs to try a new cmos battery followed by a chkdsk and windows reinstallation, before considering any replacement hardware. Having said that, anything running xp is going to be a little long in the tooth now.

I've put in a new battery and done a chkdsk, but it has made no difference. I don't have a disc for a re installation, but I did do a complete back up about a year ago to a external hard drive, so may be I could try and put that back on.

When I start the computer, it sometimes does an adapter scan, but nothing happens. I even let it run for a couple of hours, but nothing.

It also like to check the D drive disk on start up, no sure what it is looking for on there.

enfield_freddy

" adapter scan"


sorry , what adaptor?

windup

what is the make of this machine, does it have a restore partition,what is d, hard disk or cd/dvd, are the bios settings correct for the disk/dvd/cd drives installed, is it checking for drives on channels that are unconnected, are the drives sata or pata or scsi, is it holding the time and date, what else in hardware terms is attached, which graphics card is installed, what did you use to do a backup, when did these problems begin, what are the current symptoms, (no difference is vague - you've listed about 7 different errors so far), did chkdsk find anything and if so did you set it to fix.

rhcp

enfield_freddy wrote: »

" adapter scan"


sorry , what adaptor?

I have no idea! When the computer initially starts up and you can press F2 for bios settings etc, that is where it appears. I have no idea why or what it is looking for.

windup wrote: »

what is the make of this machine, does it have a restore partition,what is d, hard disk or cd/dvd, are the bios settings correct for the disk/dvd/cd drives installed, is it holding the time and date, what did you use to do a backup, when did these problems begin, what are the current symptoms, (no difference is vague - you've listed about 7 different errors so far), did chkdsk find anything and if so did you set it to fix.

Computer is a Fujitsu Siemens Computer, Pentium(R) 4 CPU 2.93 Ghz.
It does have a restore partition.
The computer has a hard drive with two partitions, C drive for the programs and D drive for photos, word documents etc.
Time and date is holding.
Backup was on a Segate portable drive.
Problems began about 2 months ago. Started when firefox kept crashing, so tried to uninstall it and reinstall it, but it wouldn't reinstall, and they just seem to snowball from there.
Chkdsk found about 5 files that it corrected.
Problems now that the cpu is going at about 90%+, not done that before, pages aren't loading properly on the internet, and it has crashed 3 times, and I got a new error code DRIVER_IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL

windup

you could system restore to two months ago, meanwhile look at what is using 90% of the cpu in task manager.

the question about backup was about the software used, some allow you to restore a fully working system from a boot disc, some don't, presumably a year old backup is going to leave you missing some data?

which antivirus is being used, what about internet explorer, what add-ons are installed.

elaborate on how firefox won't install, what else has been installed or updated recently

if it's trying to chkdsk d, let it do it.

is there a quiet boot setting in the bios, and if so what is it set to

rhcp

windup wrote: »

you could system restore to two months ago, meanwhile look at what is using 90% of the cpu in task manager.

the question about backup was about the software used, some allow you to restore a fully working system from a boot disc, some don't, presumably a year old backup is going to leave you missing some data?

which antivirus is being used, what about internet explorer, what add-ons are installed.

elaborate on how firefox won't install, what else has been installed or updated recently

if it's trying to chkdsk d, let it do it.

is there a quiet boot setting in the bios, and if so what is it set to

It doesn't have a restore point of 2 months ago, not one that I can find. The cpu usage appears to be from chrome (80%+).

The back up was done using windows xp's own back up program. It has a restore wizard where you can restore some or all of what you backed up. I have already backed up my files to a usb stick, so that is not a problem, it will just be the programs that will need updating.

I have avast as my antivirus, I have internet explorer on the computer but never use since windows stopped updating xp. I use chrome and opera. With chrome I have google docs add on, but never use, and there is also avast, but this is not enabled as it says that this may have been corrupted. With Opera, when I try to open it, sometimes it opens, and other times it doesn't with the message that at least one file with resources (.pak) is corrupted. Please reinstall opera. Reinstalling it doesn't make a difference, I still get the message.

When I try to download firefox, it comes up with a message that it could not download as a file is corrupt.

The only program I have downloaded recently is speccy and opera. Programs that have been updated recently are: adobe flashplayer, ccleaner, foxit reader, malwarebytes, superantispyware, opera and chrome.

i let it chkdsk the D drive, but it never finds a problem.

Just got another new bsod error message: MEMORY_MANAGEMENT

windup

the list of problems is getting longer by the minute. I'd be doing a disk manufacturer diagnostic, a fresh backup (macrium is free and feature rich compared to windows backup), followed by a factory restore or restore from backup. If it's pre sp1/2/3, download or find them beforehand, there will be a mountain of patching to do. If safe mode is problem free, there's a software problem somewhere, and chrome seems to be an issue - so use another.

firefox has a portable version that doesn't require an install in the normal sense of the word.

avast is running or not? if you have bundles of scanners like superantispyware, spybot and the like, uninstall any that have resident elements.

the memtest thing could be something, could be nothing, disable quiet boot in the bios if it's enabled to see if any ram error appears.

if malwarebytes shows it to be clean, you could also try an avast or kaspersky boot disc scan

usb sticks, ok for a secondary copy, but use the portable disk too if you do any type of reinstall/restore. if the data is on d: that adds another layer of protection if you only change c

OR bite the bullet and upgrade:

this is an example rather than a recommendation

http://www.ebuyer.com/658955-lenovo-thinkcentre-e50-00-twr-desktop-90bx001huk

Nilrem

Reading that he's tried different memory but still getting an error with memtest would have me looking at memory settings in the bios (especially as the cmos battery has died), making sure they're correct.

Motherboards have been meant to detect the memory type/speed for a long time, but I seem to remember it being a little hit and miss in the past and P4's are quite old chips now.

If the memory timings and voltages are correct then given the number of errors and the memtest error I'd be looking at the memory controller.

Dodgy ram can cause all sorts of weird errors, I had a machine here that worked fine for about a week after I built it then accumulated more and more problems until it didn't boot into windows, it turned out one of the sticks had started going faulty around 2 days after I built it, but took several more days to really show.