IRQL not less or equal BSOD on an old PC

Fortitude · 21 Jun 2018

My PC is rather old, but it functions satisfactorily. However, in the last few days it comes up, apparently randomly, with a BSOD indicating "IRQL NOT LESS OR EQUAL". At other times after I leave the PC for an hour without any activity, but with applications open, it becomes unresponsive even though I see the hard disk light flashing continuously.

My research on this matter did not come up with an obvious cause for the error. Other than recent software updates I cannot think of any other reason for it. I could however add that the temperature where the PC is located is fairly high at times.

I would appreciate any advice.

Fortitude · 22 Jun 2018

I managed to catch the latest BSOD just before it actually happened. I noticed in Task Manager 99% Memory use and 58% CPU activity. However, no single program appeared to have much use of memory (about 17-20 MB for some programs that I saw).

BSODHunter · 22 Jun 2018

Rule 4
No piracy or discussion of piracy allowed at all. Such as software, music, videos and other intellectual property violations (e.g. downloading youtube videos locally etc) - it is forum policy that no help shall be given to people who knowingly steal software or services.

One of the main reasons for this is that the act of pirating the software will inevitably change the working of the software and make investigation and repair impossible. Please install a legitimate copy of the software and if you are still experiencing the issue we will be please to assist - No further assistance will be provided until we are satisfied that the software is genuine.

Fortitude · 22 Jun 2018

I am running legitimate Windows software, with fully registered copies of Sandboxie, Bitdefender, HitmanPro Alert, Zemana antimalware, Voodooshield, Macrium Refllect etc. etc.

axe0 · 22 Jun 2018

Hi Fortitude,

After a quick look at your logs, I have found something that might be 1 of the reasons why BSODHunter assumes piracy is present, am not sure if it's everything BSODHunter found though.
Attachment 193193

Fortitude · 22 Jun 2018

I scanned my PC with all my antivirus and malware software that I have installed and found that there was a scheduled task for this program(?). It was set to run every minute! I deleted the task. Most of the websites that I saw when I searched about removing KMS-R@1n require me to install some of their software. I am reluctant to do so as I'm not sure about the credibility of the websites.

axe0 · 26 Jun 2018

Sorry for the delay in response, somehow I didn't see the notification about this thread.

AV software will be able to get rid of anything KMS related.

Fortitude · 27 Jun 2018

Thanks for the reply. I did something more drastic. I reinstalled Windows and I expect I shall have got rid of that particular nuisance!