computer locking up minutes after starting

L

Lucifer Morning Star

Weaksauce
Joined
Aug 12, 2006
Messages
105
I'd been having a problem with crashing to blue screen and getting the error of "IRQL IS NOT LESS OR EQUAL TO" for about a year. Now for the past 3 days my computer has started completely freezing either as soon as my desktop shows or 10-15min after statup. The only major change i've done is adding a second hard drive last weekend. But as stated, i didn't start having this problem til about 3 days ago, so i'm pretty sure it isn't the additional hard drive i added. Any help is appreciated. At this point i'm thinking that my only option is to just reformat.
 
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That's usually RAM or drive issue IIRC.

[Testing the RAM]
Download Memtest86+ v2.11 or whatever the latest version is, unzip it, burn the ISO file to a CD, and then boot from it, just like you would do with the XP/Vista install CD. Let Memtest+ run for at least three hours on each stick of RAM separately as well as test the RAM all together. Go for a full 24 hours if you want to be completely sure that the RAM is not a problem. If you start seeing errors, than your RAM is defective or you have incorrect settings for the RAM.

[Testing the Hard drive]
Download the CD image of Hitachi Drive Fitness Test, burn the ISO file to a CD, and then boot from it, just like you would do with the XP/Vista install CD. Test the hard drive and see if any problems are found. DFT will run on most manufacturers' hard drives. Alternatively, you can use Seagate's SeaTools for DOS to test a Seagate or Maxtor drive. For a Western Digital drive, you could use Data Lifeguard Tools for DOS to test a Western Digital drive.

[Testing the CPU]
Use Prime 95, OCCT, Orthos or Intel Burn Tool to stress test the CPU.

[Testing the GPU]
Use Furmark or ATI Tool to stress test the GPU. If you see any artifacts, the GPU could be overheating, too overclocked, or faulty.
 
You could also go into your bios and turn off all items that are unused, example a second ethernet port, onboard audio if you have a dedicated sound card, parallel port, serial port etc etc, as turning those things off free's up some IRQ's.
 
I'd first like to thank both of you for taking the time to respond, I have a memtest cd and will be using it this weekend. EVIL it's very interesting that you mentioned the disabling of ports through BIOS. A few months back when I just haveing the blue screen IRQL problem, I briefly started having a problem with booting into desktop at all. I'd turn on my computer, the mobo intro screen would pop up like usual, and that's all. It would just hang there. The only way I was able to get it to boot up normally was by unplugging 1-2 of my usb cables from the back of my computer. Eventually the problem went away though.
 
Try the memtest stuff. Also try some basic stuff with the hard drives to rule out the possibility that it is the new hard drive doing somethign funky.

Disconnect the new hard drive. If you really need it hopefully you might have an e-sata connection somewhere on the case and try keeping it connected with esata.

If the memtest checks out okay and the new HDD is okay try reformatting.
 
Memtest turned out ok, so i decided to just reformat. Everything works fine now but now i'm having driver issues:rolleyes: I tried to use my dell issued drivers disc, but it wouldn't work because apparently my pc is no longer recognized as a Dell pc.

Does anyone know of any other way of getting drivers for my windows xp install. A guy recommended that I call Dell and ask for another drivers disc but i'd really like to get this all situated within the next couple of days. Is there a website I can get the drivers from and just throw on to a flash drive? Thanx in advance.
 
Go to http://support.dell.com/ and click on download drivers. Then choose to enter your service tag, enter it, and proceed to download the necessary drivers (chipset, vidcard, audio, etc).
 
thank you. Do you know how big a drivers download will be? Because i'll most likely have to go out and buy a flash drive to put them on.
 
Out of the dozen different Dell systems I have the drivers for, the most is 200MB total for a single system (drivers/manuals only -- no apps).
 
i'm not really sure what i need to download from the driver page. I don't even think it has to be from dell, I just need a driver that will allow me to connect to the internet. I'm using a comcast cable modem and my mobo is a p35 BloodIron. Should I try the drivers cd that came with my mobo?
 
The simplest thing to do for Dell systems is to get the drivers from Dell's support page. Its not hard. All you mainly need are the chipset, NIC, and audio. If after installing those 3 there are still unknown devices in device manager, report back.
 
but that's just it, my system really isn't a dell system anymore. A year back I bought a few new parts:case,psu,cpu,mobo, and vid card; then pulled the ram, hard drive, burner and dvd drive from my dell system.

So with all that i've changed, do i really need to d/l the chip set drivers when they're not for the mobo I have now? The only thing that could be stopping my computer from connecting to the net would have to be that i'm missing some sort of modem/network drivers.
 
Well it would have helped to know that beforehand. :p What are the specs of your current system? We need model #s. The best place to get drivers is from the manufacturers' websites.
 
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