Question:
Blue screen of death - DRIVER_IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL?
Goofball Tiggerâ„¢
2008-07-01 12:32:11 UTC
I get this error when I play The Sims 2.

this is what I get

*** STOP: 0*000000d1 (0*000000b8, 0*00000002, 0*00000001, 0*b2a445a8)
*** gwausb.sys - Address B2A445A8 base at B2A41000, datestamp 433314a3

so, Microsoft says no solution is available (@#$% them!). BUT WHAT DO I DO ABOUT IT?

is it my ADSL D-Link driver? should I update it or something?
Five answers:
Deke
2008-07-01 18:20:25 UTC
"gwausb.sys" points to a driver for a modem. Did you recently install a modem, or perhaps just install the Sims game software?



http://wer.microsoft.com/responses/Response.aspx/1314/en-us/5.1.2600.2.00010300.2.0?SGD=48058d58-7a63-43d6-9f0a-61463d0fbdea



I would do a system restore to the point just before you installed the Sims game or the modem, whichever is more recent. It is most likely a driver conflict of some kind, and that should remove the conflict in question.



You could also try updating the BIOS, but I do not recommend this if you don't consider yourself computer savvy enough to do. It's a relatively simple process, but if done incorrectly, it can cause a lot of problems. A LOT of problems.



http://channel9.msdn.com/forums/Coffeehouse/11933-DRIVERIRQLNOTLESSOREQUAL-problem/



The link above contains a discussion on the issue you're talking about. I use MSDN's board for reference at work, this might help you.



And you're hawt.
anonymous
2008-07-01 12:39:15 UTC
It sounds like a video driver problem. I would download and install the latest video drivers and see if that fixes it.



I agree with Deke it could be the modem driver, check with your ISP of the modem manufactures website and see if there is an update for the modem. But most game related crashes are related to the video driver so I would definitely update the video drive (it can't hurt).
?
2008-07-01 12:38:19 UTC
Hi you could try firstly restoring your pc back to a previous state if the problem is only recently occuring. Or unistall the Sims 2 and re-install the program, or if you overclock the system try returning it back as i had that blue scree when my ram was overclocked.
hald a
2008-07-02 19:57:03 UTC
Could be a problem with device drivers, hardware or software. This problem can be solved by uninstalling new softwares, updating device drivers and making minor configuration changes . From http://fixit.in/bluescreenofdeath.html . You can also run a free registry scan using utilities from http://re7.info
foxefire_120032000
2008-07-01 12:46:47 UTC
Here is the definition of the "Blue Screen Of Death" and I will let you decited as to what action to take. But you just might have to take it to a computer store to get it fix . Good Luck



In Windows NT, Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows Server 2003 and Windows Vista, the blue screen of death occurs when the kernel or a driver running in kernel mode encounters an error from which it cannot recover. This is usually caused by an illegal operation being performed. The only safe action the operating system can take in this situation is to manually restart the computer. As a result, data may be lost, as users are not given an opportunity to save data that has not yet been saved to the hard drive.



Blue screens are known as "Stop errors" in the Windows Resource Kit documentation. They are referred to as "bug checks" in the Windows Software development kit and Driver development kit documentation.



The text on the error screen contains the code of the error and its symbolic name (e.g. "0x0000001E, KMODE_EXCEPTION_NOT_HANDLED") along with four error-dependent values in parentheses that are there to help software engineers fix the problem that occurred. Depending on the error code, it may display the address where the problem occurred, along with the driver which is loaded at that address. Under Windows NT and 2000, the second and third sections of the screen may contain information on all loaded drivers and a stack dump, respectively. The driver information is in three columns; the first lists the base address of the driver, the second lists the driver's creation date (as a Unix timestamp), and the third lists the name of the driver.[1]



By default, Windows will create a memory dump file when a blue screen error occurs. Depending on the OS version, there may be several formats this can be saved in, ranging from a 64 KB "mini dump" to a "complete dump" which is effectively a copy of the entire contents of physical RAM. The resulting memory dump file may be debugged later, using a kernel debugger. A debugger is necessary to obtain a stack trace, and may be required to ascertain the true cause of the problem; as the information onscreen is limited and thus possibly misleading, it may hide the true source of the error.



Microsoft Windows can also be configured to send live debugging information to a kernel debugger running on a separate computer. Windows XP also allows for kernel debugging from the machine that is running the OS. If a blue screen error is encountered while a live kernel debugger is attached to the system, Windows will halt execution and cause the debugger to break in, rather than displaying the BSoD. The debugger can then be used to examine the contents of memory and determine the source of the problem.



The Windows debugger is available as a free download from Microsoft.[2]



Windows includes a feature that can be used to cause a blue screen manually. To enable it, the user must add a value to the Windows registry (using regedit.exe) by following the instructions at http://pcsupport.about.com/od/tipstricks/ht/makebsodxp.htm. After that, a BSoD will appear when the user presses the SCROLL LOCK key twice while holding the right CTRL key.[3] This feature is primarily useful for obtaining a memory dump of the computer while it is in a given state. As such, it is generally used to aid in troubleshooting system hangs.



A Blue Screen can also be caused by terminating either csrss.exe or winlogon.exe. This cannot be done with Windows Task Manager, but can be done with a third-party software. One of these programs may also terminate if it fails.



By default, Windows XP is configured to save only a 64K minidump when it encounters a blue screen, and to then automatically reboot the computer. Because this process happens very quickly, the blue screen may be seen only for an instant or not at all. Users have sometimes noted this as a random reboot rather than a traditional stop error, and are only aware of an issue after Windows reboots and displays a notification that it has recovered from a serious error. This happens only when the computer has a function called "Auto Restart" enabled, which can be disabled in the Control Panel which in turn shows the BSoDs.



A BSoD can also be caused by a critical boot loader error, where the operating system is unable to access the boot partition due to incorrect storage drivers, a damaged file system or similar problems. The error code in this situation is STOP 0x0000007B (INACCESSIBLE_BOOT_DEVICE). In such cases, there is no memory dump saved. Since the system is unable to boot from the hard drive in this situation, correction of the problem often requires booting from the Microsoft Windows CD. After booting to the CD, it may be possible to correct the problem by performing a repair install or by using the Recovery Console (with CHKDSK).



The color blue was chosen because the console colors of DEC Alpha, a platform that runs a version of Windows NT, could not be changed easily.[citation needed] For consistency reasons, blue became the color for Stop errors on all platforms (alpha/i386/mips/ppc).


This content was originally posted on Y! Answers, a Q&A website that shut down in 2021.
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