Question BSOD (again) usually IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL ntoskrnl.exe

jj360live

Commendable
Jun 20, 2017
51
0
1,530
Hey

I know this is probably going to find itself lost in a wave of people posting similar threads. Trust me- i have not been lazy, i have read all of these threads and still found no solution. I've also posted threads on here regarding the same issue but still the problem has persisted on and off for the best part of a year.

I will get a BSOD on average 1 x a day, however sometimes i wont see it for 3 days, a week, who knows at this point, and sometimes i will get 2 or 3 in a day. As someone who uses his PC for gaming and work, both of my uses are extremely impacted by this.

I will attached below a minidump of my most recent one, along with some screenshots that might help (?). For reference heres a list of the things i have tried to fix the problem:
Checked RAM with memtest
Done windows Diagnostic
Downloaded "BlueScreenView" to look further into it
Updated all my drivers- the ones windows said needed updating and i downloaded a third party software to find any outdated drivers
Updated my BIOS to most recent (still maybe 4 years old but was the closest)
Performed a full system reset to factory

I took my PC to a repair shop once and they didnt find an issue, which has made me speculate that it might be to do with one of my peripherals or maybe a faulty USB driver. I use a:
Razer Blackwidow Keyboard
Logitech G502 Mouse (had issues before i had this mouse)
Blue Yeti Blackout Microphone
DT 990 Pro Headphones

I really hope someone can help me because i honestly dont know what else to do. I am looking to upgrade my PC as most parts of it are old now. If there was a part that was likely to be the issue i would consider just swapping it out for an upgrade in the summer.

The Below DB link has a minidump and a few screengrabs, hope someone out there has the solution.
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/l306hkai4lkd9dm/AAC0kJ6bJLHlYBKjow6w4BHOa?dl=0

Thanks in advance
Jack


https://www.dropbox.com/sh/l306hkai4lkd9dm/AAC0kJ6bJLHlYBKjow6w4BHOa?dl=0
 
From the 2nd screenshot , BlueScreenView, you can see the error is the " Driver_xxxxx-xxx-xx". That means your hardware(s) don't have the right driver. or have the buggy driver, also you did test the RAM, and updated the drivers. Next you should try to remove those microphone, headphones, and other USB device to test your PC. If the PC works fine without those USB device, then add one, and run the PC. If the PC will run fine, then add other one, in this way you may find the problem.

Here is from the microsoft for the DRIVER_IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/wi...bug-check-0xd1--driver-irql-not-less-or-equal
 

gardenman

Splendid
Moderator
Hi, I ran the dump file through the debugger and got the following information: https://pste.eu/p/7ltj.html

File information:042919-8359-01.dmp (Apr 29 2019 - 16:20:39)
Bugcheck:DRIVER_IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL (D1)
Probably caused by:memory_corruption (Process: System)
Uptime:1 Day(s), 1 Hour(s), 38 Min(s), and 41 Sec(s)

Comment: The overclocking driver "XtuAcpiDriver.sys" was found on your system. (Intel Extreme Tuning Utility)

Possible Motherboard page: https://www.msi.com/Motherboard/support/Z97-G43

This information can be used by others to help you. I can't help you with this. Someone else will post with more information. Please wait for additional answers. Good luck.
 

Colif

Win 11 Master
Moderator
Is that the right motherboard? as Your bios number is V17.11 dated 02/18/2016 but according to motherboard website, the bios range is H & latest is H.B dated 2016-02-22 which could be the same one, its just the numbering makes no sense. I found indication on MSI forums its same thing.

Razer drivers are from 2016, they might be fine,m just a little old
MIght be newer version of LGS

cin19 might have best idea.
 
Thanks gardenman to run the dump file.

And you should update the drivers, and test the RAM ( one by one) with memtest, if you did it, just forget about it, usually you should test the RAM one by one, because you had 4 of them, and if you get the error, even single one, the RAM has problem.

Then
  1. update the LGS driver, like Colif posted.
  2. update the Razer drivers too. https://www.razer.com/
  3. Blue Yeti pro driver https://www.bluedesigns.com/yeti-pro-studio-support/
  4. Intel chipset driver https://www.msi.com/Motherboard/support/Z97-G43#down-driver&Win10 64
  5. uninstall the Intel Extreme Tuning, and do reinstall it.
  6. If you oc the i7, don't oc it.
  7. Use DDU uninstall the nvidia driver, then reinstall the driver. DDU https://www.guru3d.com/files_details/display_driver_uninstaller_download.html

Recommend to do like this:
Unplugging all the USB devices, using the software, like Revo or iobit uninstaller, https://www.techradar.com/news/the-best-software-uninstaller to uninstall these devices drivers, because they will clear up the driver leftovers files too. You may need to reboot the PC after uninstall the drivers.
After that plug in only one of them, install the driver, test the PC to see what happens, if the PC works fines, then add the next one, until add all your USB devices.
 

jj360live

Commendable
Jun 20, 2017
51
0
1,530
Thanks everyone for the quick and detailed replies, really appreciate all of you taking the time out of your day to have a look at my problem.

I'm going to do my best to answer all of you in one swift reply. First thing to address, i downloaded Speccy to give you guys the rundown of my specs:
Operating System
Windows 10 Pro 64-bit
CPU
Intel Core i7 4790K @ 4.00GHz 43 °C
Haswell 22nm Technology
RAM
16.0GB Dual-Channel DDR3 @ 933MHz (10-11-10-30)
Motherboard
MSI Z97-G43 (MS-7816) (SOCKET 0) 34 °C
Graphics
2460 (1920x1080@60Hz)
T24D390 (1920x1080@60Hz)
4095MB NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960 (MSI) 46 °C
Storage
1863GB Seagate ST2000LX001-1RG174 (SATA ) 26 °C
111GB SanDisk SDSSDA120G (SATA (SSD)) 26 °C
Optical Drives
HL-DT-ST DVDRAM GH24NSD0
Audio
NVIDIA Virtual Audio Device (Wave Extensible) (WDM)


Next thing to say, I will try unplugging all my USB devices and then adding them 1 by 1, but like i say the main problem with this method is, it is really hard to predict WHEN i will crash, so i get a lot of false positives thinking that i fixed it.

Love all the possible solutions you have suggested, and i will get on board with updating my drivers and removing the programs you suggested. This is one thing i have always wondered, I havent personally put overclocking onto my PC, and havent run OC, however i have heard online that Intel Extreme Tuning is OC software. Some of you said to remove it and reinstall - would it be a good idea to just uninstall it and leave it uninstalled, or is it something i need?

Finally- this might seem like a dumb question to ask but i guess thats why im here. You say i should update my Razer drivers, but i have the Razer software (GeForce Experience) and isnt that meant to just keep me updated with the best drivers? Or is that just one particular driver?

Thanks again, ill start getting on with updating and removing the things you suggested and get back to you if i have any news!
 
Some of you said to remove it and reinstall - would it be a good idea to just uninstall it and leave it uninstalled, or is it something i need?
If you don't want to oc, and don't install it, and don't use it at all.

Because you don't know which driver caused the problem, you need to try the device one by one, sorry.
 

jj360live

Commendable
Jun 20, 2017
51
0
1,530
No... don't use 3rd party driver programs, many of them will install wrong drivers, it causes more problems than it fixes.

Ok, i had in the past used DriverEasy to check but i think i will now just uninstall and use Revo (?) then try and let the drivers install themselves. Last night i ran DDU and updated some of my other drivers, hopefully this will solve it but only time will tell. Some of the drivers i couldnt get- for example the Blue Yeti one is for the Blue Yeti Pro and only works if you have that mic plugged in, otherwise the drivers just auto install when you plug your mic in.

One thing i read online and didnt know enough about to try was using Windows Driver Verifier, i heard this pushes your drivers until they crash so you can isolate the problem, sounded useful but maybe out of my ability and could end up being risky. What do you think?

If another BSoD happens ill come back with the DMP but i assume it will be the same as before. If that happens i guess i will just start unplugging things until i can isolate the hardware causing the problem. Do you think it would be worth getting a super cheap keyboard etc to plug in for the time being to check if thats the problem?
 

Colif

Win 11 Master
Moderator
revo should be okay, uninstallers are fine, installers can give you anything.

You can't flash new drivers onto the Blue Yeti?

Look at 2nd post in this thread if you decide to run driver verifier, I have 2 precautions to take before hand and even then they may not get you out of a boot loop. I don't recommend it normally unless the driver responsible is being a pain and not showing itself

https://forums.tomshardware.com/thr...nclude-in-blue-screen-of-death-posts.3468965/
 

jj360live

Commendable
Jun 20, 2017
51
0
1,530
Hey guys, still having issues. I've downloaded both Revo and Iobit but they seem to be software uninstallers? I can only see options for removing programs and no clear way to get rid of my drivers, have any of you used these programs before and could guide me through one of them?

Thanks in advance
 

Colif

Win 11 Master
Moderator
With Razer you normally uninstall Synapse as it is the driver software

Last dump didn't show any drivers for the blue yeti. Historically it would be associated with cmbusbac.sys (name was from memory, can be wrong) but that isn't seen in last dump as being active.

Headphone drivers are the same, they likely use the onboard audio on PC and your realtek drivers are up to date.
 

jj360live

Commendable
Jun 20, 2017
51
0
1,530
Ok thanks ill get rid of Synapse and hopefully that makes the difference. I also just checked my device manager and the Blue Yeti Driver was hidden, so i uninstalled it and then replugged the device and now its appearing in the list, so maybe that was the ticket? Who knows! Trial and error at this point
 

gardenman

Splendid
Moderator
I ran the dump file through the debugger and got the following information: https://pste.eu/p/ieK1.html

File information:051319-6843-01.dmp (May 12 2019 - 19:03:40)
Bugcheck:SYSTEM_SERVICE_EXCEPTION (3B)
Probably caused by:memory_corruption (Process: audiodg.exe)
Uptime:1 Day(s), 10 Hour(s), 59 Min(s), and 55 Sec(s)

cin19 mentioned earlier that you should test each of your RAM modules one at a time. I never seen if you answered that or not. If not, that is still something that you should do. Even try removing 2 and running your system with the other 2 of the modules would help. Then switch them out if you continue to crash. But I would test them one a time, each one for 8 passes each with memtest86. Not the Windows Memory Diagnostic test.

That was probably me who mentioned the XtuAcpiDriver.sys. It's a part of the Intel Xtreme Tuning Utility. Not only does this allow you to overclock your PC (often a source of BSODs), but it may actually overclock things just by the driver itself being loaded. Consider uninstalling it if you have it listed and do not plan on using it. Another option would be to disable that specific driver temporarily with AutoRuns. Warning: Be careful with AutoRuns. Don't go disabling other random things. Hide all Microsoft Entries (use the Options menu to do that) and then go to the Drivers tab, uncheck XtuAcpiDriver.sys and reboot. This essentially disables it.

Additional answers welcome.
 
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jj360live

Commendable
Jun 20, 2017
51
0
1,530
Thanks for the advice i will try and test the RAM again, i think maybe i did it wrong before. Do i simply load one stick of RAM in and then run memtest and repeat that for each 4 sticks? I might have to get that AutoRuns because i have uninstalled Xtreme Tuning Utility but for some reason the Driver is still in my System32 and when i try to delete it i get an error message saying "Driver in use cannot be deleted". But for the life of me i cant find in my processes WHERE it is in use.
 

gardenman

Splendid
Moderator
Do i simply load one stick of RAM in and then run memtest and repeat that for each 4 sticks?
Yes, one at a time in the first slot.

Yes, use AutoRuns instead of trying to delete the file. Also, check after a few reboots (few days of usage) to see if the driver has gotten reloaded. We've seen cases where other software will automatically download and reinstall that driver.
 
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Colif

Win 11 Master
Moderator
Do you have a webcam?

SYSTEM_SERVICE_EXCEPTION (KS.SYS) is one of Windows’ kernel CSA library files. This specific one is connected to the video camera on your computer. It is a process which is an integral part of Windows and a file that shouldn’t be deleted even if it causes errors. The kernel as a whole is considered a vital part of Windows, and you shouldn’t modify it in any way.

SYSTEM_SERVICE_EXCEPTION (KS.SYS) error, followed by a Blue Screen of Death, signals that the system has some sort of miscommunication with the drivers for your video camera. It tends to appear for owners of HP systems with integrated webcams, or owners of an HP webcam. It is usually triggered by an update for Skype, and the most often found one is updating from Skype 6.14.
https://appuals.com/system_service_exception-ks-sys/

if you don't have a webcam, thats really random. If Ram has errors, it might explain it( random errors are common with bad ram)


I have to guess Synapse was still on PC when you got BSOD and ran driver view.

You could download live update 6 from Utilities page of Motherboard website and run it, I wouldn't normally recommend that on an older board but the version is from last month and might help (I don't think they would update it on an older board otherwise, I mean, it could just be they update every link on their website when a new version released) - https://www.msi.com/Motherboard/support/Z97-G43#down-utility - only suggesting it as it could be a motherboard driver causing problem and not any of the things suggested so far
 

Satan-IR

Splendid
Ambassador
I ran the 051319-6843-01.dmp. As mentioned above it's a 3B bugcheck. The process name is indeed audiodg.exe and the driver ks.sys.

I suggest you update the audio drivers for your motherboard in addition to the steps said above by others, if you haven't already done that.

Yes, checking memory modules one by one by memtest is a very good idea, as the randomness of the BOSDs might indicate a problem with RAM.