Someone PLEASE help me (IRQL Not Less or Equal)

[FurBurglar]

I keep getting a BSOD and the dump says IRQL NOT LESS OR EQUAL I have searched and tried most things I have found. I have run memtest, RAM is fine. I did a complete format and fresh install of XP Pro. I am getting the BSOD and random crashes to desktop when I am playing BF2 Demo. System specs are in my sig. Any help is greatly appreciated!!

[hypno-toad]

Usually in my experience that's been caused by a bad driver. The error message should mention a file as well? From that you might be able to infer which driver.

Are you using the nVidia drivers that came with the BF2 demo?

[FurBurglar]

Nope, the error message never referenced a certain file. I'm pretty sure I figured it out anyway. It seems I am getting bit by the shaky memory controller on my Athlon 64. I ran with each 512 stick individually and everything was fine. I found a new bios that said it had updated DRAM timings and updated to that which seems to have fixed the problem. However, I can't touch any of my memory timings or I can't even boot. Frustrating that it runs with basically no headroom.

[Phoenix86]

If memtest gives it a clean bill of health, move on. This is commonly caused by bad drivers, what is the rest of the STOP message? What are the 0x0000000 numbers? Have you updated any system drivers recently (could also be a corrupt file, so it doesn't have to be a recently updated one)?

[FurBurglar]

I still had the problem after a full format and fresh install of XP. The only thing that cured the problem was the newest bios for the mobo. It still doesn't make sense that I can't change anything as far as memory timings and still get it to boot up. I have never had a system that you couldn't play a little.