# Constant Blue Screen with Error: IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL (Win 10)



## avrona (Feb 23, 2019)

I've had my PC crash 5 times now today with this error message. It never happened before and it was behaving completely normally before today. Does anyone know how to fix this?


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## eidairaman1 (Feb 23, 2019)

avrona said:


> I've had my PC crash 5 times now today with this error message. It never happened before and it was behaving completely normally before today. Does anyone know how to fix this?



Reset bios, save optimized defaults, see if it stays stable, if it does you are good to go.

Do you know if W10 updated recently?


Put some active air cooling over the VRM heatsinks on that mobo.

Install newer chipset driver, remove nv gpu driver using ddu and install fresh driver.


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## sneekypeet (Feb 23, 2019)

Remove the RAM OC and see if it persists.


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## avrona (Feb 23, 2019)

sneekypeet said:


> Remove the RAM OC and see if it persists.


It's not OCd though.


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## eidairaman1 (Feb 23, 2019)

See my last reply


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## sneekypeet (Feb 23, 2019)

avrona said:


> It's not OCd though.



Your specs say the RAM is running at 2207MHz. As far as I am aware, nobody sold 2000MHz memory. I assumed you were overclocking a lower binned set. So you are underclocking the ram?


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## avrona (Feb 23, 2019)

sneekypeet said:


> You specs say the RAM is running at 2207MHz. As far as I am aware, nobody sold 2000MHz memory. I assumed you were overclocking a lower binned set. So you are underclocking the ram?


No I haven't done anything to the RAM.


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## sneekypeet (Feb 23, 2019)

avrona said:


> No I haven't done anything to the RAM.



So look into what eidy says and see if any of that helps. 
I am not calling you a liar, but something is going on with that DDR3


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## eidairaman1 (Feb 23, 2019)

sneekypeet said:


> So look into what eidy says and see if any of that helps.
> I am not calling you a liar, but something is going on with that DDR3



Sounds like a XMP table is off.

I wonder if he is using mixed ram.


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## avrona (Feb 23, 2019)

eidairaman1 said:


> Sounds like a XMP table is off.
> 
> I wonder if he is using mixed ram.


As in different types of RAM sticks? If that's the case then no, they are the same.


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## NdMk2o1o (Feb 23, 2019)

avrona said:


> As in different types of RAM sticks? If that's the case then no, they are the same.


Post a ss of cpuz under the memory and spd tabs, you can open 2 instances and put them side by side to make it easier.


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## avrona (Feb 23, 2019)

NdMk2o1o said:


> Post a ss of cpuz under the memory and spd tabs, you can open 2 instances and put them side by side to make it easier.


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## sneekypeet (Feb 23, 2019)

That makes more sense, the ram is running at 1600 not 2000. Look into what eidy said in post #2


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## avrona (Feb 23, 2019)

sneekypeet said:


> That makes more sense, the ram is running at 1600 not 2000. Look into what eidy said in post #2


Oh I just read one of the boxes in CPUZ and just thought it meant it runs at 2207.


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## sneekypeet (Feb 23, 2019)

avrona said:


> Oh I just read one of the boxes in CPUZ and just thought it meant it runs at 2207.



The first CPUZ window shows DRAM frequency at 800MHz, which is half the rated speed of the RAM, or 1600MHz.


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## NdMk2o1o (Feb 23, 2019)

You can look in event viewer to see if there's more info in there as to what caused the crash though I would start off with resetting the bios defaults first and just see how you get on with that. Also make sure all your drivers are up to date as well as Windows updates and any AV you might have installed.


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## kastriot (Feb 23, 2019)

Use system restore if it's on and go 1-7 days earlier and see does it help.


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## IceScreamer (Feb 23, 2019)

Install a program called WhoCrashed. After installing press "analyze" in the top left corner. Scrolling down you should see a list of blue screens that occured, and the top one will be the one that happened last. It will tell you what crashed your computer, and if it's a driver you can update it.


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## EarthDog (Feb 23, 2019)

Knowing that motherboard and what you have in it, I'd cool those vrms with a fan. No heatsink even with a stock 8370 is a concern....board may be starting to give up the ghost.

I think it's time to buy your ryzen and move on.
https://www.techpowerup.com/forums/threads/any-news-on-ryzen-3000-pricing-so-far.252421/


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## avrona (Feb 23, 2019)

EarthDog said:


> Knowing that motherboard and what you have in it, I'd cool those vrms with a fan. No heatsink even with a stock 8370 is a concern....board may be starting to give up the ghost.
> 
> I think it's time to buy your ryzen and move on.
> https://www.techpowerup.com/forums/threads/any-news-on-ryzen-3000-pricing-so-far.252421/


How do you cool VRMs though? The board does have heatsinks on them, and as far as I know you can't attach fans to VRMs. Also if I had the money I may upgrade to Ryzen, but I don't so I can't, I'll probably only do it when I have to.


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## EarthDog (Feb 23, 2019)

avrona said:


> How do you cool VRMs though? The board does have heatsinks on them, and as far as I know you can't attach fans to VRMs


This is going to be like the memory speed confusion...isnt it? 

The board in your system specs has a weak vrm (3+1 I think) and NO heatsink on the vrm (see the area directly to the left of the socket...those are your vrms). It can struggle with octos at stock. You can buy small heatsinks for them then point a fan at them (be creative).

When you say it BSODs does it do it when idle or under load...what exactly is happening when it does that to you? Gaming? In a browser?

Also, please update your system specs to reflect the accurate ram speeds.


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## IceScreamer (Feb 23, 2019)

EarthDog said:


> This is going to be like the memory speed confusion...isnt it?
> 
> The board in your system specs has a weak vrm (3+1 I think) and NO heatsink on the vrm. It scan struggle with octos at stock.


The M5A97 in his specs actually has decent VRM cooling, I'm not saying it's not causing issues but that VRM cooler actually looks to be OK.


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## eidairaman1 (Feb 23, 2019)

avrona said:


> How do you cool VRMs though? The board does have heatsinks on them, and as far as I know you can't attach fans to VRMs. Also if I had the money I may upgrade to Ryzen, but I don't so I can't, I'll probably only do it when I have to.



60 mm fans or chipset fans


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## EarthDog (Feb 23, 2019)

Maybe I'm googling the wrong board...

Oops, the LE is what I landed on..my fault! I do believe it's still the same anemic 3+1 setup though...but with a heatsink.


Yeah, just try some airflow across that area.


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## eidairaman1 (Feb 23, 2019)

IceScreamer said:


> The M5A97 in his specs actually has decent VRM cooling, I'm not saying it's not causing issues but that VRM cooler actually looks to be OK.



3+1 phase is strained for a 8350


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## IceScreamer (Feb 23, 2019)

eidairaman1 said:


> 3+1 phase is strained for a 8350


Was just commenting on the VRM cooling, tho I feel it should at least be stable at stock, even the OP said it started happening all of a sudden.


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## silentbogo (Feb 23, 2019)

According to specs and reviews its 4+2 (at least for rev. 2.0) and has a heatsink. 
FX-8350 is in the supported CPU list, so at least from the spec perspective VRM is more than capable of driving 125W CPU without OC.

To the OP:
The main problem though, is the board quality. Judging by my previous experience there were lots of 970-based boards that died within 4 years due to chipset failure (mostly MSI and AsRock, but my personal stats may be skewed due to popularity of this brand). AMD was going through rough times at that period, so it's no surprise that they've had some issues with low and mid range chipsets.
I'd start with checking RAM, but from what it looks like you may actually need to replace the motherboard. Maybe you'll be able to get a decent deal on 990fx.


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## NdMk2o1o (Feb 23, 2019)

eidairaman1 said:


> 60 mm fans or chipset fans


or just ghetto mod a 120mm/90mm W/e you have over the VRM area, chipset specific fan not really neccesary, they cost too much for what they are and don't really perform great either imo.

@avrona did you reset bios defaults and check your chipset, gpu, lan drivers etc were all up to date and check for Windows update and AV as suggested previously?


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## avrona (Feb 23, 2019)

NdMk2o1o said:


> or just ghetto mod a 120mm/90mm W/e you have over the VRM area, chipset specific fan not really neccesary, they cost too much for what they are and don't really perform great either imo.
> 
> @avrona did you reset bios defaults and check your chipset, gpu, lan drivers etc were all up to date and check for Windows update and AV as suggested previously?


I did upgrade the graphics card drivers, and the issue hasn't happened since, but I want to give it some more time to see if that solved it or if something will happen again. Since I didn't really check what I was doing when it happened, I don't really know how to properly test it, so I'll probably just throw a variety of tasks at it to be sure.


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## EarthDog (Feb 23, 2019)

avrona said:


> I did upgrade the graphics card drivers, and the issue hasn't happened since, but I want to give it some more time to see if that solved it


THis would have been good to know up front. Let us know if that stops it... until then........peace! 



silentbogo said:


> I'd start with checking RAM, but from what it looks like you may actually need to replace the motherboard. Maybe you'll be able to get a decent deal on 990fx.


If he has to do that....... he should  just scrape together his cash for the new system he had us put together because he was buying 'soon' and make it happen.


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## eidairaman1 (Feb 23, 2019)

silentbogo said:


> According to specs and reviews its 4+2 (at least for rev. 2.0) and has a heatsink.
> FX-8350 is in the supported CPU list, so at least from the spec perspective VRM is more than capable of driving 125W CPU without OC.
> 
> To the OP:
> ...



Got a Asrock 970 Extreme 4 here


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## silentbogo (Feb 23, 2019)

EarthDog said:


> If he has to do that....... he should just scrape together his cash for the new system he had us put together because he was buying 'soon' and make it happen.


It depends on a deal. 990FX boards are getting cheaper by the day. Just last week I went with my friend to pick up nearly perfect and shiny Sabertooth for around $80 in UAH equivalent, and that's a friggin' top of the line for that platform, and that's with original box and full set of accessories.


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## EarthDog (Feb 23, 2019)

To each their own. I wouldnt put $80 into that platform unless I had no choice though.


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## avrona (Feb 23, 2019)

EarthDog said:


> THis would have been good to know up front. Let us know if that stops it... until then........peace!
> 
> If he has to do that....... he should  just scrape together his cash for the new system he had us put together because he was buying 'soon' and make it happen.


And sadly it didn't. It went without crashing for several hours, the longest today, and then it did while playing some Apex Legends. This time, the BSOD was super low-res and instead of just being stuck at 100% like before, the computer shut down when it hit 100%.


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## EarthDog (Feb 23, 2019)

So it's under load...it seems..all during games?

Try running a CPU only stress test like aida64(default) or p95 (blend). If it doesnt shutdown overnight, loop unigine heaven for several hours at highest settings (or a similar benchmark that can loop - no furmark...) and see if that fails. If they both dont... do both at the same time and see if that fails...

...that that end, I wonder about the psu. Xfx had some solid units back in the day...how old is it? Do you have another psu you can use in your PC?  That will tell you if it's the psu.


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## avrona (Feb 23, 2019)

EarthDog said:


> So it's under load...it seems..all during games?
> 
> Try running a CPU only stress test like aida64(default) or p95 (blend). If it doesnt shutdown overnight, loop unigine heaven for several hours at highest settings (or a similar benchmark that can loop - no furmark...) and see if that fails. If they both dont... do both at the same time and see if that fails...
> 
> ...that that end, I wonder about the psu. Xfx had some solid units back in the day...how old is it? Do you have another psu you can use in your PC?  That will tell you if it's the psu.


It just did it again, also in Apex, so I guess you are right it's something to do with load. The PSU is from 2014. I'll run some stress tests now.


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## avrona (Feb 24, 2019)

And it still hasn't been fixed with manually installing drivers or using an MSI mode utility.


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## eidairaman1 (Feb 24, 2019)

Board/ram/psu at this point.

Time to build fresh.


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## avrona (Feb 24, 2019)

eidairaman1 said:


> Board/ram/psu at this point.
> 
> Time to build fresh.


Well is there is anything else I could try as I don't have the money for any new parts.


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## EarthDog (Feb 24, 2019)

Fresh OS install.. SErase any SSD and start from scratch.

Try a different psu just in case....


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## eidairaman1 (Feb 24, 2019)

avrona said:


> Well is there is anything else I could try as I don't have the money for any new parts.



Save is all we can do at this point.

Another note, get a dump of your event viewer and post it here.


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## avrona (Feb 24, 2019)

eidairaman1 said:


> Save is all we can do at this point.
> 
> Another note, get a dump of your event viewer and post it here.



How exactly would I do that?


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## EarthDog (Feb 24, 2019)

https://www.google.com/search?q=how...droid-verizon&sourceid=chrome-mobile&ie=UTF-8

You'll have to initialize the ssd (in another system) so windows can install to it.


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## eidairaman1 (Feb 25, 2019)

If you want to know look for it on the net.


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## Caring1 (Feb 25, 2019)

avrona said:


> It just did it again, also in Apex, so I guess you are right it's something to do with load. The PSU is from 2014. I'll run some stress tests now.


550W Bronze rated PSU running a 1080Ti and that Processor?
Get a better Power Supply.
You could pull the Graphics card out and stress test the CPU to confirm the PSU is under too much load, if it's RAM, which I doubt it will still BSOD.


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## eidairaman1 (Feb 25, 2019)

Caring1 said:


> 550W Bronze rated PSU running a 1080Ti and that Processor?
> Get a better Power Supply.
> You could pull the Graphics card out and stress test the CPU to confirm the PSU is under too much load, if it's RAM, which I doubt it will still BSOD.



He wouldn't have a display then. No IGP on a FX CPU...


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## EarthDog (Feb 25, 2019)

Caring1 said:


> 550W Bronze rated PSU running a 1080Ti and that Processor?
> Get a better Power Supply.
> You could pull the Graphics card out and stress test the CPU to confirm the PSU is under too much load, if it's RAM, which I doubt it will still BSOD.


Bronze doesn't mean a thing, really... just an efficiency rating. Everything is at stock so there isn't any worries IF the unit was putting out what it was supposed to.

His CPU does not have a iGPU so that is pretty tough as is.


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## tabascosauz (Feb 25, 2019)

How long have you had the M5A97? Is it the original or the more popular EVO? I had an Asus P67 LE that would not quit throwing BSODs (it was so long ago, I can't remember what the error was ), and after exhaustively testing every part including CPU and RAM I ended up just tossing it. It seems it was just at the end of its life. Coincidentally, both boards from Asus - P67 and 970 - are verging on 8 years old at this point.

Are you using a stock cooler? How is the airflow in the case?

The M5A97's 4+2 can handle the 8350 just fine at stock speeds like OP has kept his at. OP says there are heatsinks so it's not the LE. That RAM does make me raise an eyebrow, though, 1600 CAS11 is old and slow and the high latencies and lack of manufacturer in CPU-Z suggest that it's an OEM part.

The XFX TS/Core Edition is a great little power supply, based on Seasonic S12II. It's just fine on quality, for the group-regulated unit it is. I wouldn't count it out as being defective, though.


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## eidairaman1 (Feb 25, 2019)

tabascosauz said:


> How long have you had the M5A97? Is it the original or the more popular EVO? I had an Asus P67 LE that would not quit throwing BSODs (it was so long ago, I can't remember what the error was ), and after exhaustively testing every part including CPU and RAM I ended up just tossing it. It seems it was just at the end of its life. Coincidentally, both boards from Asus - P67 and 970 - are verging on 8 years old at this point.
> 
> Are you using a stock cooler? How is the airflow in the case?
> 
> ...



Too many variables, could be an OS address screw up too.

Im gonna post 2 vids on how to make W10 not auto restart along with how to make bsods more detailed like W7 and older were.

Follow this link for the video and help links.

https://www.techpowerup.com/forums/...without-any-errors.252957/page-2#post-4001337


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## lexluthermiester (Feb 25, 2019)

Gonna have to agree with the PSU conclusion. Given the details shared and the discussion, it seems the most likely culprit. A quality PSU with enough wattage can be had on Amazon for around $50USD.
https://www.amazon.com/Cooler-Master-Supply-support-Warranty/dp/B07BDPXVMF
https://www.amazon.com/Thermaltake-Certified-Continuous-Active-PS-SPD-0700NPCWUS-W/dp/B014W3EMAO
https://www.amazon.com/Thermaltake-Certified-Continuous-Active-PS-SPD-0700NPCWUS-W/dp/B014W3EAX8


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## Bones (Feb 25, 2019)

"IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL" is typically a RAM voltage error due to not enough voltage to the sticks for the speeds and timings they are set for - This is a common error seen when OC'ing. 

@ the OP, be sure you have the correct amount of voltage in use for the sticks such as if they are rated for 1.50v's for example. You'd want to make sure they are getting at least that much is not a little more. If you must, a little more won't hurt them and would probrably take care of the error popping up. 

If the set is rated for 1.50/1.55v's for example giving them about 1.60/1.62v's (Max) won't hurt them, just be sure whatever RAM voltage you decide to use is set manually in the BIOS. 
If all else fails make sure the board isn't setting them up with timings and speeds they don't want to run at and you can make sure of it by setting timings and speeds manually, preferably by their specs. 
You can tweak later because right now the focus is to solve your error problem first. 

Speaking of that, since the PSU itself is in question I'd tackle that first, THEN go for the RAM settings but that's what the error itself is normally about.


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## lexluthermiester (Feb 25, 2019)

Bones said:


> This is a common error seen when OC'ing.


I think he already stated he's not overclocking.


Bones said:


> If the set is rated for 1.50/1.55v's for example giving them about 1.60/1.62v's (Max) won't hurt them


I wouldn't go that high. I'd go 1.575v at the most.


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## avrona (Feb 25, 2019)

tabascosauz said:


> How long have you had the M5A97? Is it the original or the more popular EVO? I had an Asus P67 LE that would not quit throwing BSODs (it was so long ago, I can't remember what the error was ), and after exhaustively testing every part including CPU and RAM I ended up just tossing it. It seems it was just at the end of its life. Coincidentally, both boards from Asus - P67 and 970 - are verging on 8 years old at this point.
> 
> Are you using a stock cooler? How is the airflow in the case?
> 
> ...


I've had that board since I bought the PC in 2014 and it's not a stock cooler, with there being a total of I think 3 or 4 fans in the case.


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## Voluman (Feb 25, 2019)

If i remember correctly vga driver related issue can cause similar error mesage.


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## avrona (Feb 25, 2019)

So I've replaced my RAM sticks to see if maybe that would help but it sadly didn't. Still happening.


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## Vayra86 (Feb 25, 2019)

Isn't this that typical case of an FX proc on a weak board that is slowly but inevitably running into death row?

I think this ship has sailed and damage is done. Its 2019 by now... If after a fresh install of Windows and proper chipset/drivers etc. the BSODs persist, I wouldn't even bother with RAM. Time for that Ryzen build. I feel this is troubleshooting against common sense...


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## lexluthermiester (Feb 25, 2019)

avrona said:


> So I've replaced my RAM sticks to see if maybe that would help but it sadly didn't. Still happening.


That more or less leaves the power supply. I doubt it's the mobo as you'd be having all sorts of other problems, which you're not. It has been said that you could do with a new CPU/Mobo combo, however if you can't afford it, a PSU is your best option. You're going to need one anyway.


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## avrona (Feb 25, 2019)

Vayra86 said:


> Isn't this that typical case of an FX proc on a weak board that is slowly but inevitably running into death row?
> 
> I think this ship has sailed and damage is done. Its 2019 by now... If after a fresh install of Windows and proper chipset/drivers etc. the BSODs persist, I wouldn't even bother with RAM. Time for that Ryzen build. I feel this is troubleshooting against common sense...


It's not a weak board though, and I don't really have the money for any new parts. I can always just borrow parts from a music workstation we have, like the RAM today morning to check if that would fix it, but I simply can't buy anything extra.


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## Vayra86 (Feb 25, 2019)

avrona said:


> It's not a weak board though, and I don't really have the money for any new parts. I can always just borrow parts from a music workstation we have, like the RAM today morning to check if that would fix it, but I simply can't buy anything extra.



Be it as it may, just know its a ticking time bomb and replacing is inevitable. Especially on a tight budget, my point mostly is, don't invest more into old hardware like this. If you have donor parts, sure!


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## avrona (Feb 25, 2019)

Vayra86 said:


> Be it as it may, just know its a ticking time bomb and replacing is inevitable. Especially on a tight budget, my point mostly is, don't invest more into old hardware like this. If you have donor parts, sure!


I wasn't planning on investing in it, but I do need a working PC, and an upgrade is still ages away. And the parts from that workstation I can't even keep if there is something that does need replacing in terms of hardware.


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## lexluthermiester (Feb 25, 2019)

Vayra86 said:


> Be it as it may, just know its a ticking time bomb


You are way over-reacting.


avrona said:


> I can always just borrow parts from a music workstation we have


Have you tried swapping the PSU from that system?


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## Bones (Feb 25, 2019)

lexluthermiester said:


> I think he already stated he's not overclocking.
> 
> I wouldn't go that high. I'd go 1.575v at the most.



I saw he wasn't OC'ing but related to the error itself it still applies OC'ed or not.

I also believe at least 1.60v's won't hurt them, esp if rated for 1.55v's like many sets are.
That's not enough over stock to make much difference yet could be enough to stabilize things.

Have a few sets rated for 1.55v's and I run those all the time at or even over 1.60v's and they are doing just fine after years of it - Now.... This doesn't mean I go crazy with voltage with those particular sticks but any set rated for 1.55v's should be able to handle 1.60v's without issues.

I say that because I've noticed that sticks can easily run at least 0.05v's over stock and have no problems from doing that if need be based on my own experiences, I have sets here (30+ sets at least) that ranges from at least 5 years to well over a decade old that's still kicking after all that being done to them, from regular DDR to DDR3 sets.

It's when you start going for crazy speeds and really tight timings is when one would volt them up like mad and start killing them but that's not the case here and I'm proposing anything crazy be done.

I do have to say again, get the PSU issues sorted first then if the problem persists that's something the OP could try.


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## avrona (Feb 25, 2019)

lexluthermiester said:


> Have you tried swapping the PSU from that system?


No not yet, I'm seeing if updating board drivers will help first, as switching PSUs is a pain and a half.


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## MIRTAZAPINE (Feb 25, 2019)

How constant is your irql less or not equal? I have this on my pc occasionally too and I just got one yesterday too.  It was alot more often 2 months back when I overclocked my system. Found out later my power supply is not playing well and I got a new one selling the old one after RMA. PSU error are hard to diagnose their symptoms are not obvious until you change them. I change to a bronze evga 500w psu from by then gold silverstone sfx 600g. 
System become alot more stable after that.  IRQL is also a ram related issue happens to me alot on my old G3258 build and also an experimental FX8320E that I had using the "old" ram.

I doubt it is your board, they are pretty hardy. If all else don't work you can try but by then I am don't think it worth it fixing your it for the expense unless for sentimental values or running old windows version.


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## avrona (Feb 25, 2019)

MIRTAZAPINE said:


> How constant is your irql less or not equal? I have this on my pc occasionally too and I just got one yesterday too.  It was alot more often 2 months back when I overclocked my system. Found out later my power supply is not playing well and I got a new one selling the old one after RMA. PSU error are hard to diagnose their symptoms are not obvious until you change them. I change to a bronze evga 500w psu from by then gold silverstone sfx 600g.
> System become alot more stable after that.  IRQL is also a ram related issue happens to me alot on my old G3258 build and also an experimental FX8320E that I had using the "old" ram.
> 
> I doubt it is your board, they are pretty hardy. If all else don't work you can try but by then I am don't think it worth it fixing your it for the expense unless for sentimental values or running old windows version.


I get them sometimes once every few hours and other times every 20 minutes or so. They only started appearing on saturday though, never had it before.

Update: So I updated the board's USB and audio drivers, and now not only does the error keep popping up, but now also all my USB 3 ports don't work. Still using the borrowed RAM BTW.


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## lexluthermiester (Feb 26, 2019)

avrona said:


> Update: So I updated the board's USB and audio drivers, and now not only does the error keep popping up, but now also all my USB 3 ports don't work. Still using the borrowed RAM BTW.


Try that PSU. If that's not it, you might be having a storage(SSD/HDD) problem.


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## SydneySideSteve (Feb 26, 2019)

avrona said:


> No not yet, I'm seeing if updating board drivers will help first, as switching PSUs is a pain and a half.



You can just pull the PSU from one machine and plug that donor PSU into the graphics card only, for testing purposes. You will need to jump the 24 pin connector on the donor PSU counting from left to right the pins #4 and #5 need to be bridged with a paperclip or wire. Meaning you do not need to extract and refit two PSU's in two machines!


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## lexluthermiester (Feb 26, 2019)

SydneySideSteve said:


> You can just pull the PSU from one machine and plug that donor PSU into the graphics card only, for testing purposes.


Welcome to the forums! That is an interesting testing method. It has the potential to get really messy though. 

@avrona  I'd still advise swapping PSU's fully to test. It will only take a bit of extra time and then you'll know that answer.


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## eidairaman1 (Feb 26, 2019)

lexluthermiester said:


> Welcome to the forums! That is an interesting testing method. It has the potential to get really messy though.
> 
> @avrona  I'd still advise swapping PSU's fully to test. It will only take a bit of extra time and then you'll know that answer.




My preference pull mobo out, leave bumb psu in, bench test it lol


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## SydneySideSteve (Feb 26, 2019)

lexluthermiester said:


> Welcome to the forums! That is an interesting testing method. It has the potential to get really messy though.
> 
> @avrona  I'd still advise swapping PSU's fully to test. It will only take a bit of extra time and then you'll know that answer.


@lexluthermiester thank you


eidairaman1 said:


> My preference pull mobo out, leave bumb psu in, bench test it lol



Apparently fitting a larger GPU than what your PSU can power is something that is quite common, with this kind of error in device manager. It was a question that the they asked me (Nvidia customer help) when I was chatting with them about this same error, point four in the link "Windows has stopped this device because it has reported problems (Code 43) for my graphics card"


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## eidairaman1 (Feb 26, 2019)

SydneySideSteve said:


> @lexluthermiester thank you
> 
> 
> Apparently fitting a larger GPU than what your PSU can power is something that is quite common, with this kind of error in device manager. It was a question that the they asked me (Nvidia customer help) when I was chatting with them about this same error, point four in the link "Windows has stopped this device because it has reported problems (Code 43) for my graphics card"



Code43 can be a hard fault too.

What you just said to me aint news, been doing this for 20+ years now.


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## SydneySideSteve (Feb 26, 2019)

eidairaman1 said:


> Code43 can be a hard fault too.
> 
> What you just said to me aint news, been doing this for 20+ years now.



@eidairaman1 was not trying to undermine your knowledge base at all, but every issue I have with a machine, for example, my video card's error 43, is a new chapter for me in a much smaller book than yours!


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## eidairaman1 (Feb 26, 2019)

SydneySideSteve said:


> @eidairaman1 was not trying to undermine your knowledge base at all, but every issue I have with a machine, for example, my video card's error 43, is a new chapter for me in a much smaller book than yours!



Thanks for clarifying, I'm pretty sure you might be able to contribute something here I may not think of at the time.

I recently learned of a tool called WhoCrashed lol


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## SydneySideSteve (Feb 26, 2019)

eidairaman1 said:


> Thanks for clarifying, I'm pretty sure you might be able to contribute something here I may not think of at the time.
> 
> I recently learned of a tool called WhoCrashed lol



It is good to be learning new things (speaking as a mature aged university student), does WhoCrashed do a similar job to or is it better supported than the old NirSoft (Nir Sofer) tools such as BlueScreenView, WinCrashReport, WhatIsHang, AppCrashView, etc.?


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## eidairaman1 (Feb 26, 2019)

SydneySideSteve said:


> It is good to be learning new things (speaking as a mature aged university student), does WhoCrashed do a similar job to or is it better supported than the old NirSoft (Nir Sofer) tools such as BlueScreenView, WinCrashReport, WhatIsHang, AppCrashView, etc.?



Im not sure really. Id probably use all of them.

I used a site called aumha.org for BSOD descriptions, since XP days.


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## avrona (Feb 26, 2019)

So I just reset the CMOS and after fighting with some weird CPU fan errors that prevented me from booting to Windows, I got everything working again just for it to not solve the issue.


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## EarthDog (Feb 26, 2019)

Let me guess... you dont have a fan plugged into the CPU header and you needed to disable monitoring for it..


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## avrona (Feb 26, 2019)

EarthDog said:


> Let me guess... you dont have a fan plugged into the CPU header and you needed to disable monitoring for it..


I mean I do have a CPU fan plugged in somewhere, but probably not the CPU header seeing how it wasn't detected. So yeah I had to ignore its motoring.


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## EarthDog (Feb 26, 2019)

Maybe plug it in there so you do not have to disable it every time you reset the BIOS.


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## eidairaman1 (Feb 26, 2019)

avrona said:


> I mean I do have a CPU fan plugged in somewhere, but probably not the CPU header seeing how it wasn't detected. So yeah I had to ignore its motoring.



Read your board manual foe the cpu fan header and plug it in there.


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## avrona (Feb 26, 2019)

eidairaman1 said:


> Read your board manual foe the cpu fan header and plug it in there.


I don't have a manual for it so I'm just looking for it online now. Besides I found a way round it anyway, so I'll try to find some more potential solutions to my bigger problem first.


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## eidairaman1 (Feb 26, 2019)

avrona said:


> I don't have a manual for it so I'm just looking for it online now. Besides I found a way round it anyway, so I'll try to find some more potential solutions to my bigger problem first.



Asus.com has your manuals for your specific board


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## avrona (Feb 26, 2019)

eidairaman1 said:


> Asus.com has your manuals for your specific board


Ok good, because I don't have a manual for that or any other parts of my PC.


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## EarthDog (Feb 26, 2019)

avrona said:


> Ok good, because I don't have a manual for that or any other parts of my PC.


We've mentioned previously to go to the website and DL the manual. If not on this PC, another PC... a phone... etc.

So long as you are not literally blind, there is a label on the fan header for the CPU. It is typically found................. wait for it.................. around the CPU (upper right corner typically). Just look for it, and plug it in there and the problem goes away.


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## Aaron_Henderson (Feb 26, 2019)

I would try a fresh install of a different OS...and do some error checking / load testing there...potentially from a live usb os with SSd/HDD disconnected...one thing you can do to test your PSU without swapping...underclock your CPU and GPU heavily, and do some load tests...also...run one stick of Ram and try it in several different slots.


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## avrona (Feb 26, 2019)

Aaron_Henderson said:


> I would try a fresh install of a different OS...and do some error checking / load testing there...potentially from a live usb os with SSd/HDD disconnected...one thing you can do to test your PSU without swapping...underclock your CPU and GPU heavily, and do some load tests...also...run one stick of Ram and try it in several different slots.


That's actually similar to what I am doing now. I underclocked my CPU from its stock speeds of 4GHz it normally runs on to 3GHz to see if it's something to do with VRMs.


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## avrona (Feb 27, 2019)

So I ran Blue Screen View and here is the error log from that:

==================================================
Dump File         : 022719-13921-01.dmp
Crash Time        : 27/02/2019 13:35:36
Bug Check String  : IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL
Bug Check Code    : 0x0000000a
Parameter 1       : 0000003b`fc5ff910
Parameter 2       : 00000000`0000000f
Parameter 3       : 00000000`00000001
Parameter 4       : fffff802`5c2978b7
Caused By Driver  : hal.dll
Caused By Address : hal.dll+178b7
File Description  : Hardware Abstraction Layer DLL
Product Name      : Microsoft® Windows® Operating System
Company           : Microsoft Corporation
File Version      : 10.0.17763.194 (WinBuild.160101.0800)
Processor         : x64
Crash Address     : ntoskrnl.exe+1b3440
Stack Address 1   : 
Stack Address 2   : 
Stack Address 3   : 
Computer Name     : 
Full Path         : C:\WINDOWS\Minidump\022719-13921-01.dmp
Processors Count  : 8
Major Version     : 15
Minor Version     : 17763
Dump File Size    : 444,201
Dump File Time    : 27/02/2019 13:36:21
==================================================


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## lexluthermiester (Feb 27, 2019)

avrona said:


> So I ran Blue Screen View and here is the error log from that:
> 
> ==================================================
> Dump File         : 022719-13921-01.dmp
> ...


Given that information, it seems very likely to be a PSU problem. ntoskrnl.exe and hal.dll are two of the most stable and well refined parts of Windows. For them to be crashing and throwing out those errors is a strong indication of a brown-out(voltage droop) situation being present in the system. Replace your PSU with a decent quality 600w or better unit and this problem will very likely go away.


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## Shambles1980 (Feb 28, 2019)

you should use the pool command to check the address(s) that the bsod has told you about, it could be a page file issue.
i would also use driver verifier as a sanity checker.
crashes under load are usually a psu issue. but could be an addressing issue.


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## avrona (Feb 28, 2019)

Shambles1980 said:


> you should use the pool command to check the address(s) that the bsod has told you about, it could be a page file issue.
> i would also use driver verifier as a sanity checker.
> crashes under load are usually a psu issue. but could be an addressing issue.


For now I just reinstalled Windows to see if that could fix those broken files.


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## Final_Fighter (Feb 28, 2019)

you need to up the voltage to the ram. Bones is probably spot on. also, what does the board report the 12v, 5v, and 3.3v rails at? sometimes a bad power supply can be checked by just reading these voltages. try running something like hwinfo and put the pc under a load while monitoring the voltages to see how far they dip.

but seriously try raising the memory voltage to 1.65v it should be fine.


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## PsychoCaseFansCocainCrazy (Feb 28, 2019)

This is indeed a voltage issue. You should check the voltage requirement your ram runs on, and make sure that it's voltage doesn't drop below that. For example, I have Corsair Vengeance LPX 2x 8gb sticks, at 3200Mhz. Their voltage requirement is 1,35V.

If I set this to 1,34V, Windows10 will instantly BSoD with this error. Running them at 1,36V-1,40V is no problem.

One of the ways to do this is to use your motherboards chipset application, in my case AMD Command Center, and manually set the DRAM Voltage slider on atleast the required voltage. This is not a persistent way to do it(resets on restart), but I'm sure there's a guide somewhere that'll explain how to make it persistent. Probably in your BIOS.


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## Jetster (Feb 28, 2019)

Have you played with the registry at all? Tweaked any other system settings?


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## avrona (Feb 28, 2019)

Jetster said:


> Have you played with the registry at all? Tweaked any other system settings?


No I haven't changed any of that before it started happening.

Ok I've reinstalled Windows, and that seems to have potentially solved the issue.


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