Unusual culprit irql not less or equal error

Hello!

When most advanced users see a BSOD with the infamous "IRQL NOT LESS OR EQUAL" error, we mostly suspect a bad RAM module or a hard disk failure. That's mostly true, but I currently had this BSOD any time I restarted my PC for a rather unusual cause!

Every time I restarted my PC I had difficulty loading Windows again because of this BSOD. Windows failed to load and restarted before showing any BSOD, so I did not know the issue before. After 2-3 attempts, Troubleshoot Manager would start and try to load Windows. Even that would not succeed at the first time, only the second!

At first I thought something is wrong with Windows (since I could not see any BSOD), so I used both SFC and DISM recovery commands without success. I use this PC mostly for e-mails and office work, so I had turned off the speakers not to disturb the neighbors when using my PC. Today I wanted to play a video file and I turned on the speakers, but could not hear any sound. I tried the speakers at my smartphone and I found they are OK. I reinstalled the audio drivers but still no sound from the PC.

I then saw that some applications where frozen and I could not end task them, Task Manager also froze. I then suspected something was wrong with my audio card (an old SoundBlaster Audigy PCI), so I shutdown my PC and removed the card. Upon startup the PC loaded Windows without a single hiccup, so that what was causing the BSOD in the first place! Weird eh? I now resorted to the onboard Realtek HD, but I could upgrade to a better sound card some time later.

I wrote this post to inform others that if you see the "IRQL NOT LESS OR EQUAL" error and anything else fails, look for faulty devices. Windows tried unsuccessfully to allocate resources for the faulty device and hence this kind of BSOD.

Thank you for reading.

Well, I spoke too soon. I restarted once again and I got the following messages:

Kmode Exception Not Handled

Page Fault In Nonpaged Area

Windows would not start unless I replied Yes to the question to use System Restore to fix errors. But again, I'm not sure what the problem was and if it is fixed. To make sure the computer will never restart, I disabled Windows Update. I would like your opinion and how to fix this. I would absolutely avoid reinstalling Windows because it would take days to properly backup all my data and reinstall and configure all applications! Please do not recommend to reinstall Windows, anything but that! If you need any logs to pinpoint the issue, please let me know how to get these.

PSU is suspect. Possibly bad caps in the PSU. The OP's power supply unit info just says "500W" at the time of this post.

I guess it's time to replace the PSU... Its fan is rather noisy sometimes indicating some failure, but as long as it worked I hadn't replaced it. I mostly access this PC remotely via AnyDesk, so I didn't care about the noise. I'll replace the PSU and see what happens. Meanwhile I noticed that the system has restarted probably due to some update and it loaded Windows successfully. I am not sure the problem is solved, I have to investigate. Thanks.