Weirdest problem EVER guaranteed...

[behzadns]

Hello everyone. I'm new to this site and I don't often seek help on computer problems, cos I eventually manage to sort them out, but now I've hit such a weird problem that has just completely boggled my mind. It would be MUCH appretiated if you could put some time into reading this and helping me out.
I recently upgraded my computer with a a brand new Gigabyte GA-K8NF-9 motherboard, Athlon 64 3000+ and Radeon X800 XL. Previously I had Athlon XP 2400, Radeon 9600, and not sure about the motherboard, though I can look it up if anyone asks for it.
I have 768MB DDR266 RAM and Windows XP Professional installed. I did a clean install of Windows after the upgrade. If anyone needs any other info please don't hesitate to ask me.

Ok, my problem is as follows:

No service packs installed: My modem (Fujitsu FDX310) begins to synchronise. At the exact moment when it does synchronise, I get a BSOD with the following messeges: DRIVER_IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL, and also something about usbohci.sys (0x000000D1).
This happens every single time without fail, and im positive it is the modem synchronisation, because when I stop the modem from synchronising from it's control panel the BSOD never appears. The modem works fine on another computer that I have (Pentium 3 550MHz).
I have formatted and done a clean install of Win XP 5 times, trying to install motherboard drivers first, modem drivers first, various combinations, but it's the same every time.

Service pack 2 installed: Now here's where it gets interesting. If along the line I install service pack 2 weird things start to happen. Initially it seems the problem has been sorted out. The modem synchronises, no BSOD, and I can connect to the internet no problem.
Buuuut. After about 10-15 mins, the internet connection simply dies. I get NO disconnection messeges, the internet connection icon in the taskbar remains and WONT GO AWAY if I try to 'disconnect' it, and the modem synchronisation doesn't seem affected. In fact, If I wasn't connected to the internet I wouldn't have noticed anything, except that in that case the modem would de-synchronise and not ever attempt re-synchronising again.
The weirdest bit is still to come. When this happens, some other things stop functioning as well, for example, pressing Alt-Ctrl-Del fails to load task manager and gives an error window, saying 'Application failed to initialize properly 0xc0000017'. I've also noticed windows messenger and Winamp won't work. Also it won't restart properly from the start menu: instead of getting a whole new screen saying that windows is shutting off, I get a small window saying the same thing, and eventually the screen just goes black and nothing happens. I have a feeling a lot of other weird things happen that I haven't noticed.
The only solution is to restart, when things go back to normal again. Now, again if I prevent the modem from synchronising in the first place using it's control panel, NONE OF THIS WOULD HAPPEN. Alt-Ctrl-Del would work properly indefinitely. When I allow it to synchronise, same stuff happens after 10-15 mins. It seems after the modem synchronises a countdown starts to set off these events!

By the way, when I say 10-15 mins, it's because I haven't bothered to measure exactly how long it takes. I'm not sure if it's a set time at all, it may not be, but it seems to be about the same length.

Sooo, what do you guys make of it? I personally reckon it's something to do with my new hardware configuration (duh) and perhaps irq conflict of some sort? Please please help! I have a nice vanilla cookie for you!

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Honestly I didn't read through all of it... but the first thing I'd try is moving it to a different PCI slot.

EDIT: Oh yeah, and this isn't even the strangest I've seen today

EDIT2: oops, didn't realize you meant a DSL modem rather than 56k, sorry.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Is this an external DSL modem, that is connected to your PC via a USB connection? If so, then you would have to load "virtual ethernet" drivers for the modem, and it sounds like those are where the problem lies. (I've had similar problems with a Westell 2100 DSL modem from Verizon, connected to a Win98se machine via USB.) IMHO, these sorts of hardware devices are to be avoided, there seems to always be problems with them, more specifically the "virtual ethernet" drivers. Does your DSL modem also have a standard ethernet network jack on it? If so, then get a PCI ethernet card, or even a decent-quality USB-to-ethernet card, and then connect that to the ethernet jack on your Fujitsu DSL modem.

Edit: Some Googling turned up this and this, perhaps those will help. It appears that this device does not have a seperate physical ethernet jack, for shame. I would look into possibly replacing that DSL modem with another one with a seperate physical ethernet jack, depending on compatiblity and if your provider allows it. I've had good results with Westell 2100/2200 models, and they can be found cheaply on Ebay. (Plus, you could then use a SOHO NAT/Firewall router box.)

Btw.. you mention the connection on XP SP2 cutting out after 15 mins.. do you have any sort of USB power-management enabled? I would disable it, that could be part of your problem as well. UN-check "Allow Windows' to turn off this device to save power" in Device Manager, for both the USB modem, Root Hub, and USB Controller that it is attached to.

 

[AnarchyAT]

If you ever encounter a BSOD that displays any error your first instinct should be to look it up on Microsoft's Help center. That particular message, IRQ_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL, I believe means you have a driver problem. Download the latest drivers from the manufacturer. For more details I would look the message up.

 

[dhoytw]

Most likely you need to get the latest drivers for you motherboard possibly try a bios upgrade. I have a couple other ideas, could be memory, or maybe a PSU issue, just some ideas figured I would throw them out there. I have run into this error more then a few times, usually it's attributed to a driver issue, Microsoft is a good place to check for a solution but usually Microsoft has so many codes even Microsoft doesn't know what they all are. This particular code is not real uncommon but the number codes associated with it is usually diferent and can mean a number of diferent things.

 

[Reiniku]

Originally posted by: YOyoYOhowsDAjello
Honestly I didn't read through all of it... but the first thing I'd try is moving it to a different PCI slot.

EDIT: Oh yeah, and this isn't even the strangest I've seen today

EDIT2: oops, didn't realize you meant a DSL modem rather than 56k, sorry.

the same thing happened with our bigscreen... you could see a giant foot long cockroach right on the image

 

[MyK Von DyK]

I've seen this problem on newer SLI mobos and is usually PSU related. Basically, your PSU does not give your mobo enough voltage when it tries to raise your card. This is not in any way related to your card as it could as well be any other card like NIC, USB, IDE,... What kind of a PSU do you use? Recomendations are that you use at least 430W like LCPower, Antec,... (real 430W+ ones, not some "WillShureWork" 600W PSU made in China). Even better if you use newer 24pin ATX PSU.

P.S.: You could also try and RMA your mobo as this is quite often HW related problem. If it would be IRQ related then your system would return a higher IRQ address than the one you get. I've seen such low IRQ address (even lower) on my previous Asus SLI mobo just before PCI bus went "out of order". I RMA'd it and now all is dandy) Before you do try with different PSU just in case.

This is also an interesting page: http://www.hardwareanalysis.com/content/topic/38623

 

[timrsl]

see if you have wntsf.exe running. if you do, close it-it should fix the problem, then delete all mention of it in the registry.

 

[MyK Von DyK]

Just remembered I have my friend's PC with me that has such problem (only the first boot, then it seems all OK). Will try timrsl's advice and we'll see what happens...

 

[MyK Von DyK]

Nope, can't even find file named "wntsf.exe" or even "wntfs.exe" anywhere (file system, registry) an any of the 3 PCs with XP Pro SP2. Anyway, my friends PC must have problems with SLI (dual WinFast 6600GT's) or any of the two GPUs as this problem wasn't there when he owned two Gigabyte 6600....

 

[behzadns]

Guys great news!! I figured out what was wrong, and no it's NONE of anything that anyone suggested on any site. Tbh i'm still stunned at how random it seems. Also shows how wrong everyone can be. All the suggestions i got to change various bits of my hardware...!

I was just randomly looking around the Services and noticed that Universal Plug and Play Device Host was set to Manual and wasn't running, so I start it and hey presto! everything is sorted out...

I have messed about in there in past, but the thing is i FORMATTED my pc god knows how many times in the passed few days to try to fix the problem. Even if I had turned off the service in the passed (which i don't think i would have, im not that stupid), why on earth would stay off after a clean install? If not, why wouldn't the service be running in the first place?

Tbh i dont care, thought i'd share this with u guys!

 

[MyK Von DyK]

I guess we all thought you've already checked this and your description implied a HW problem anyway. Services up or down, this should not cause system wide crashes. I guess you're using some really crappy drivers or something... If you find the time please send what you've come up with to vendor of your OHCD in hope they fix this issue with new driver revision. Best, MyK.

 

[Bozo Galora]

dunno about your NF4 mobo, but some bios have plug and play option
If you install windows with it disabled, may install that way

IRQ less than or equal is not one of the wierdest, but one of the most common errors
A hardware device that does not play nice with ACPI IRQ assignment

Quote:

--The PC 2001 Specification calls for all compliant mainboards to
support "APIC", which FORMERLY was used with Multiprocessor Hardware,
but now is also used with single processor mainboards as well. APIC
(NOT ACPI) stands for Advanced Programmable Interrupt Controller.

Multi-Processor Operating Systems (Such as XP, and Windows 2000) can
take advantage of APIC to increase the available interrupts (up to IRQ
23), regardless of whether the hardware has one or more CPU's.

Because of the large migration to a multi-processor operating system
such as XP, multi-processor features may be unfamiliar to single
processor users.

Because your mainboard is PC 2001 compliant, XP should have installed
the ACPI Uniprocessor PC Hal.

To sum it up, both ACPI (which MSI sometimes misnames IPCA in the
Bios) and APIC should be enabled in the Bios. Then, XP should install
the "ACPI Uniprocessor PC" Hal.

Some older PCI cards MAY not support the manner in which XP allocates
IRQ's under APIC. In that case, it may be necessary to disable "APIC"
in the Bios and re-install XP, but this should only be done if one is
certain that APIC is the problem. Regardless, ACPI (MSI's IPCA) should
be left enabled. If APIC is disabled and ACPI enabled, XP will
(should) install the Advanced Configuration and Power Interface (ACPI)
PC HAL.---

 

[behzadns]

MyK, i know my problem implied a HW problem, i was messing about in services out of desperation, i had no idea this would fix it!

Bozo, checked that already, ACPI Uniprocessor PC was installed every time i formatted and installed windows. Once i even tried turning this into Standard PC, which absolutely fooked up everything and forced me to do yet another format. And oh, i checked in bios countless times. As far as i could say there were no problems whatsoever, and i tried various different settings. Made zilch difference.

 

[Markfw]

Two things to check . First get some PC3200 instead of that 2100. Next get a GOOD PSU to run it all.

 

[MyK Von DyK]

Markfw900 even that (not that it shouldn't be done) may not help as problems with my friends PC show.

And Bozo, once your HW layer gets messed up for real, there's no ACPI that'll give you meaningful error code. It simply fires out driver label and Mem/IRQ address (or even scope) for the first thing that hangs due to this problem. This is a bit like NIC cards... if you have more than one in your system and mess-up drivers for only one, the reported error will indicate problems with the next in queue...

Now, to be absolutely frank with all of you, I've had plenty of experience with all sorts of HW and have never seen crappy peace of mobo like this NF4 before (even though I own one + one NF3 and am no Intel fan boy - they have their own problems also). Perhaps the only light of hope here is DFI? Don't really know though...

Behzadns, take my advice and concentrate your efforts on your other machine if you have enough $, so in case you have to wait for new drivers/firmware you'll still have one operating PC on which you can work on. And if you have other family members then - once your PC works - it'll make a fine Christmas gift (If you get it workin' by then)

I know I'm being a bit sarcastic, but that's quality nowadays

 

[VirtualLarry]

Originally posted by: Bozo Galora
dunno about your NF4 mobo, but some bios have plug and play option
If you install windows with it disabled, may install that way

IRQ less than or equal is not one of the wierdest, but one of the most common errors
A hardware device that does not play nice with ACPI IRQ assignment

Just a small note, the error message is not "IRQ", it's "IRQL" - two totally different things. IRQLs are a software abstraction within NT for dealing with scheduling and pre-emption priority, and are not directly related to actual hardware IRQs at all. Software bugs in kernel-mode drivers can trigger the error, as can an unstable PSU, RAM, CPU, and a few other things.

Originally posted by: Bozo Galora
To sum it up, both ACPI (which MSI sometimes misnames IPCA in the
Bios) and APIC should be enabled in the Bios. Then, XP should install
the "ACPI Uniprocessor PC" Hal.

That's only because MSI isn't allowed to call it "ACPI" in the BIOS - the PC'xxxx hardware guidelines put out by MS, specifically forbid allowing the user to disable BIOS-level ACPI support, otherwise the OEMs can't get WHQL/Designed for Windows certification for their hardware. So they just call it something else. (Cruel of MS, isn't it?)

Originally posted by: Bozo Galora
Some older PCI cards MAY not support the manner in which XP allocates
IRQ's under APIC. In that case, it may be necessary to disable "APIC"
in the Bios and re-install XP, but this should only be done if one is
certain that APIC is the problem. Regardless, ACPI (MSI's IPCA) should
be left enabled. If APIC is disabled and ACPI enabled, XP will
(should) install the Advanced Configuration and Power Interface (ACPI)
PC HAL.---

I don't see any real advantage to disabling APIC support, while leaving ACPI enabled.