irql_not_less_or_equal Pre & Post Hardware Fix

Good evening, all. I am working with a Dell M1330 running Windows Home Premium 32bit. Recently I started to have monitor issues (where the screen would go wonky and unviewable) shortly thereafter the computer would crash and reboot and for awhile worked ok. I contacted Dell Support and had them do an initial diagnosis and they believed the problem to be related to a faulty video card and heat sink. They replaced them but my BSoD has not gone away. Rather every time I boot the machine the system gets to the log-in screen and then hits a blue screen shortly thereafter. And I have contacted Dell a second time and their solution was to do a Factory Image Restore. This is...unappealing...to me, as I have plenty of software that I can't immediately replace. Currently I can only run in Safe Mode.

I have attached, as I saw in other posts the contents of my latest minidump file... so any help would be appreciated.

rtwl668 said:

Good evening, all. I am working with a Dell M1330 running Windows Home Premium 32bit. Recently I started to have monitor issues (where the screen would go wonky and unviewable) shortly thereafter the computer would crash and reboot and for awhile worked ok. I contacted Dell Support and had them do an initial diagnosis and they believed the problem to be related to a faulty video card and heat sink. They replaced them but my BSoD has not gone away. Rather every time I boot the machine the system gets to the log-in screen and then hits a blue screen shortly thereafter. And I have contacted Dell a second time and their solution was to do a Factory Image Restore. This is...unappealing...to me, as I have plenty of software that I can't immediately replace. Currently I can only run in Safe Mode.

I have attached, as I saw in other posts the contents of my latest minidump file... so any help would be appreciated.

Click to expand...

irql_not_less_or_equal
You can diagnose it here:http://www.vistax64.com/software/219790-reading-bsod-crash-files.html

This error usually occurs after the installation of a buggy device driver, system service, or BIOS
To resolve Quickly you can try "last good configuration" (F8 at startup)

Stop message indicates that a kernel-mode process or driver attempted to access a memory address to which it did not have permission to access. The most common cause of this error is an incorrect or corrupted pointer that references an incorrect location in memory. A pointer is a variable used by a program to refer to a block of memory. If the variable has an incorrect value in it, the program tries to access memory that it should not. When this occurs in a user-mode application, it generates an access violation. When it occurs in kernel mode, it generates a STOP 0x0000000A message. If you encounter this error while upgrading to a newer version of Windows, it might be caused by a device driver, a system service, a virus scanner, or a backup tool that is incompatible with the new version.

and/or
Check to see if you have File atribute, integrity corruption. It may fix it, otherwise you will have to restore/re-install

see post #11 for Instructions:
http://www.vistax64.com/general-discussion/243281-every-other-startup-has-freeze-2.html

A quick review of the minidump shows that SRTSPL.SYS is involved.
This is a component of a Norton/Symantec product.

I would suggest the following:
- Download a free antivirus program for use while testing (I like Avira Free for x86 systems - Free antivirus - Avira AntiVir
- Uninstall the Norton/Symantec products using this free tool: Download and run the Norton Removal Tool
- IMMEDIATELY install the free antivirus and IMMEDIATELY update it.
- Test to see if this has cured the BSOD's.

If this doesn't work, please zip up the entire contents of the C:\Windows\Minidump directory and upload that .zip file with your next post.

USASMA: thanks for the know-how, will give your solution a shot. I briefly tried last month to attempt to update my Norton files on the machine, but was unsuccessful. At the time I chalked it up to the limited capabilities of installing/updating software in safe mode.

Will update later today.

usasma said:

A quick review of the minidump shows that SRTSPL.SYS is involved.
This is a component of a Norton/Symantec product.

I would suggest the following:
- Download a free antivirus program for use while testing (I like Avira Free for x86 systems - Free antivirus - Avira AntiVir
- Uninstall the Norton/Symantec products using this free tool: Download and run the Norton Removal Tool
- IMMEDIATELY install the free antivirus and IMMEDIATELY update it.
- Test to see if this has cured the BSOD's.

If this doesn't work, please zip up the entire contents of the C:\Windows\Minidump directory and upload that .zip file with your next post.

Click to expand...

OK, I've downloaded the new AntiVirus Software...and the Norton Removal Tool...BUT, I can't complete the running of the Removal Tool until I "Remove" the Symantec Files from the Add/Remove Programs screen in the Control Panel. Alas, I can't do this in Safe Mode. So I guess I have to remove the Symantec Files manually, per the instructions on the Symantec website? Or is there another way?

I've gone ahead and zipped up the Full Minidump folder from my Windows Directory. Thanks again for the advice.

Thanks for the help. Finally got the bottom of this issue after quite some time...USASMA, you were correct. The root cause was a corrupt Symantec file. And let me just say that Symantec/Norton does not make it easy to get its software to stop running. Once I got it to not run automatically the BSoD stopped. And I have run the recommended antiviral and come away clean.

Currently my M1330 is running fine in normal mode. Thanks again - M

rtwl668 said:

Good evening, all. I am working with a Dell M1330 running Windows Home Premium 32bit. Recently I started to have monitor issues (where the screen would go wonky and unviewable) shortly thereafter the computer would crash and reboot and for awhile worked ok. I contacted Dell Support and had them do an initial diagnosis and they believed the problem to be related to a faulty video card and heat sink. They replaced them but my BSoD has not gone away. Rather every time I boot the machine the system gets to the log-in screen and then hits a blue screen shortly thereafter. And I have contacted Dell a second time and their solution was to do a Factory Image Restore. This is...unappealing...to me, as I have plenty of software that I can't immediately replace. Currently I can only run in Safe Mode.

I have attached, as I saw in other posts the contents of my latest minidump file... so any help would be appreciated.

Click to expand...

RTW

I would wait for some one with a true debugger. I dont have one but in quickly looking at it srtspl.sys is the culprit. If so you are running symantec endpoint. If that is the case (and only if) there is a fix for the symantec problem here Techies: SRTSPL.SYS - Blue Screen of Dump With Stop 0x0000007E with SRTSPL.SYS

Hope this helps

Ken