Blue Screen of Death...again

Well, this is bugging the hell out of me, because I have no clue what's causing this problem.

Every time I try to boot up Windows normally from being shutdown, it always crashes into the dreaded blue screen of death saying IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL. This happens every time UNTIL I tell Windows to boot to Safe Mode first, and then restart the computer, which then boots normally.

I know what the error is saying and what it means, but I don't know what's causing it. And it's obviously harder to find the problem with a laptop than you can with a desktop. The only external peripherals I have attached to my laptop are the Creative SoundBlaster Live! 24-bit External and the Logitech MX-518 Gaming-Grade optical mouse, which doesn't matter anyway, because even when they aren't attached the problem still occurs. The only other major things I've done to this laptop is change my nVidia drivers to 95.97 from 91.38, and installed I8KfanGUI.

I'm at my wits' end. What can I do to stop this problem?

 

Having googled "IRQL", it does sound drivery... Tried killing off some drivers and reinstalling the default ones, or plugged the stop number into google?

 

Do you get a filename or any other info on the blue screen?

Have you overclocked anything? When exactly does it happen? (At which point in the boot process)

Prevent all non-essential programs from launching at startup.

Update all the drivers you can find.

Update bios.

Did the problem occur with the 95.97 drivers?

 

I may be mistaken (and frequently am ) but I believe the drivers for both of the peripherals you mentioned will load, regardless of whether or not they're plugged in. The best course of action is A) See if you have a system restore point you can backup to that was previous to the installation of those components you mentioned or B) Uninstall all of the aforementioned drivers and apps and try again. My money's on the I8KfanGUI.

Might also try boot logging and see which driver craps out.

 

It doesn't give me a Stop Number. It just tells me it was the IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL, and then it tells me what to do when this problem happens, then it says doing a memory dump, did the memory dump and to contact the admin.

Nothing is overclocked. It happens after the XP loading bar but before the login screen shows up. All non-essential drivers are off, all drivers are up to date, bios is up to date. 95.97 drivers didn't seem to start this problem.

It might be I8KfanGUI. I'll disable the auto-start option to see if that kills the problem.

 

I would bet on the nVidia driver. Go to Dell's site and get the latest driver they recommend for the card/laptop. Sometimes the standard nvidia drivers will error out on machines.

Keep us up to date.

 

No, it was I8KfanGUI. Uninstalled it and that screen no longer shows up.

Of course, now this begs another question. Since my laptop doesn't seem to like I8KfanGUI, I need something that is similar to it so that I can keep an eye on my laptop's temperatures. This is important because I also just overclocked my 7900 GS from the standard 375/1000 to 450/1100. Any ideas?

Oh, and I wouldn't even bother going back to the laptop nVidia drivers. Those are so out-of-date that I, as a gamer, would never be able to play any games on it. And that just won't do for me.

 

I was wrong. ttupa was right, it was the 95.97 nVidia drivers. So, I reverted back to 93.81. Now it really is fine. No more errors. So, I8KfanGUI can be reloaded without any problems (I hope).

I still wouldn't touch the official laptop drivers with a 10-foot pole, though.