I've on several occasions gotten the "Blue Screen of Death" (a crash), where the problem was identified as:

IRQL_not_less_or_equal

and the "Stop code" as:

Stop 0x0000000A
(0x00000000, 0x00000002, 0x00000001, 0x80521AE8)

How the hell do I figure out what the stop code refers to (ie. what the actual problem is, so I can figure out how to fix it)?

RPGPundit

IRQL_not_less_or_equal describes the problem: either the kernel or a driver tried to read from an invalid memory location.  Either you have bad drivers or you have bad memory.

If it's the first, you can try updating all your drivers, or disabling components one-by-one until the problem goes away.

(If you recently added a new piece of hardware or bought more memory, that's almost certainly it.)

You think that's bad the other day I got an...

has caused an error in kernel.exe (or some such) followed by IE crashing, a error message about Explorer doing something and, well, I just did what I always do.  Ctrl-Alt-Dlt to reboot.  Which, of course, returned a dialogue box about a nameless program being busy so, well, power strip off/on.

All of this while I was in the middle of poking at config/setting-up stuff.  I may have also had a couple other windows open and a image editing program or two open but, surely, such multitasking is what the Win OS is designed for?

:rolleyes:

Quote from: hgjsIRQL_not_less_or_equal describes the problem: either the kernel or a driver tried to read from an invalid memory location.  Either you have bad drivers or you have bad memory.

If it's the first, you can try updating all your drivers, or disabling components one-by-one until the problem goes away.

(If you recently added a new piece of hardware or bought more memory, that's almost certainly it.)

Well here's the thing: this is an entirely new computer.

When I bought it, some three weeks ago, this same error happened about 4 times in the first 2 days. So of course, I sent it back to the store, where the guy claimed that he'd changed all my RAM and updated all the drivers.

Ok, great. And for the next three weeks, I don't have the problem even once. But today, it happened again, and it was the exact same error code.

Still, its only happened once now, in three weeks.. maybe that's not a problem..

But look my question in this thread is: what the fuck is the "Stop" code? from how I understand it, there should be some way for me to be able to identify EXACTLY what the problem is based on that code, if only I knew how to "decode" it.

So does anyone here know how to decode it?

RPGPundit

Those numers are memory addresses. Fuck if I can understand it, but I at least ken what they are.

What OS are you using? I'm guessing Vista since you said it's new. Which means I can't think of anything to help ya, as I still haven't taken it out of the box.

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechnol/windows2000serv/reskit/w2000Msgs/6077.mspx?mfr=true might be some help though.

Vista ?

 Gawd,  he's fucked then.

Yeah, but I like to offer hope. Keeps the masses from getting uppity.

Looks very much like bad RAM.  Could be the guy didn't switch them all out.  If you have several ram sets, you can take them out one by one and run the computer, see if the problem keeps recurring.  Depends if you can still run Vista without all of your ram boards in (doubtful).

The thing is, with problems like this, the software is often not capable of detecting the problem.  It can give you hints and pointers, but that doesn't necessarily reveal the actual source of the problem.  It looks like it is saying that it is getting blocked at certain sectors in the ram, but that could be a side effect of something else.

But statistically, it's usually the ram chip. It's not even that improbable that you would get one piece of bad ram and then have another piece that replaces it that was also bad.  It could be that your computer guy got a bad batch from a single vendor.

No, not Vista. I went with keeping Windows XP.

RPGPundit

Quote from: walkerpLooks very much like bad RAM.  Could be the guy didn't switch them all out.  If you have several ram sets, you can take them out one by one and run the computer, see if the problem keeps recurring.  Depends if you can still run Vista without all of your ram boards in (doubtful).

The thing is, with problems like this, the software is often not capable of detecting the problem.  It can give you hints and pointers, but that doesn't necessarily reveal the actual source of the problem.  It looks like it is saying that it is getting blocked at certain sectors in the ram, but that could be a side effect of something else.

But statistically, it's usually the ram chip. It's not even that improbable that you would get one piece of bad ram and then have another piece that replaces it that was also bad.  It could be that your computer guy got a bad batch from a single vendor.

Ok now, again, keep in mind I know little or nothing about computers... but if the problem was with the RAM, why is it that after he "replaced" my RAM, everything was working hunky-dory for three weeks, and then suddenly the problem popped up again? Any idea why that would happen?

And no, I wasn't using any rare program or doing anything out of the ordinary.

RPGPundit

Quote from: RPGPunditNo, not Vista. I went with keeping Windows XP.

RPGPundit

Good, that's one less problem to worry about.

What application were you using when this happened?
Because it could be a problem with the application or with WinXP itself.

Quote from: UmaSamaWhat application were you using when this happened?
Because it could be a problem with the application or with WinXP itself.

The only applications I had running at the time were Emule and Firefox (and of course, my antivirus (Avast) and my firewall (Comodo)).

In other words, the applications I usually have running all the fucking time.

RPGPundit

Quote from: RPGPunditOk now, again, keep in mind I know little or nothing about computers... but if the problem was with the RAM, why is it that after he "replaced" my RAM, everything was working hunky-dory for three weeks, and then suddenly the problem popped up again? Any idea why that would happen?

Did you move your computer case or do anything out of the ordinary?

Depending on the configuration of your mother board it may or may not be. . .

Something is overheating, which is affecting your ram sticks.  (Least likely.)

If it's in a awkward position and the guy was a bit slack it could be an improperly installed ram stick.  (I once had a ram stick that wasn't quite inserted but it was touching, barely, the connections and I had problems, until I snapped it securely in place.)

If all else all else fails blame Gecko's.  I once opened up a computer to find it full of these teeny tiny eggs, all hatched, that were about the size of a lizard egg.  I'm assuming Gecko's.

The error message itself ... yeah, that's a bad memory address, and odds are it is (in fact) a memory address that should be good, but the memory that lives there isn't reporting properly.

Now if that were the whole of the disease then swapping out the memory sticks would have fixed the problem.  Odds of your getting two faulty memory sticks, with modern production methods, are ... low.  I mean, they'd be better once you'd already had one (observer bias and all that), but still the odds are strong that your new chips would be fine.

So, here's where I get to go all House, M.D. and take the next step:  Something in your computer is stopping your memory sticks from doing their job.  So many options there, unfortunately.

That three-week lag could be a clue, though.  A faulty memory controller chip (the bit that tells the memory what to do, and when to respond, and which they would not have swapped out as it's usually embedded in the integrated circuitry of the motherboard) would probably not have taken a three week vacation from making your life hell.  It just would have kept on keepin' on.

Overheating (as folks have said) might well be the culprit ... some local temperature issue that is causing the electrical materials of the sticks themselves to degrade.  If so, you've got a machine that will parboil new memory sticks in about a month.  Not a great thing, but (fortunately) easy to address:  Upgrade your case fan to something special ordered (I recommend newegg.com, but I don't know how big a factor shipping is going to be for you) and maybe buy some heat dissipators for the memory particularly.  The fan will move more air, reducing hot-spots and keeping the entire case cooler.  The heat dissipators will clip onto the memory chips and help radiate the heat generated inside of them more efficiently into the case as a whole.

But ... it might not be overheating.  The other thought that pops into my head is that you might have a faulty voltage regulator somewhere in your power system ... so that your chips are not being boiled, but rather electrocuted.  A little electricity is good for them, too much is too much.

It might not even be "faulty" as such.  It might just be that you've got the wrong type of memory for the computer you're running.  Motherboards operate at certain memory speeds, and memory sticks are only rated for certain motherboards.  If someone has tried to build your machine a little on the cheap then they might have stuck in some memory that really isn't capable of consistently keeping speed with the rest of the system ... with the result (I think) that it's taking a little too much juice every so often.  If you want to dig into your motherboard diagnostics (and maybe download a testing suite like ... urgh ... "Sondra"?  "Sandra"? ... I forget ... to test your memory's actual speed, as opposed to the speed it's sold under) then you might be able to adjust the speed or voltage (or just memory timing) back a skooch and sacrifice a modicum of performance for system stability.

However, if the voltage regulator is not mis-set, but rather just faulty ... well then I'm personally stumped on what to recommend:  Wouldn't know how to diagnose it with any certainty, and I sure wouldn't know how to fix it.

Rough luck.  I hope you're right, and that after this one last hurrah for that particular blue-screen on your computer you never see it again.