BSODs while playing games, Error IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL

RedBalloon · 04 Sep 2017

Hello Windows Ten Forums,

I built a new gaming PC about six months ago which is unfortunately suffering BSODs while gaming. I think that this may be driver related, because I have run the Intel Processor Diagnostic Tool as well as four passes of MemTest86 which have not found any errors with the CPU or RAM. I also performed two clean installations of Windows which have not fixed my problems. This only seems to occur during gaming, though my system will sometimes also BSOD after a restart from a prior BSOD.

The common error message that I receive is IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL and it looks like this error occurs to the modules ntoskrnl.exe and ntkrnlmp.exe.

Could you please help me diagnose which driver might be causing this issue, or if I should continue to test my hardware for defects? I have attached the logs as advised in the BSOD Posting Instructions. Let me know if I can provide any additional detail.

Thank you,
RedBalloon

ICIT2LOL · 04 Sep 2017

Hello and welcome Evan mate am no great expert and there are better at this than me but for my tow cents worth I would running a memtest

Code:

BugCheck A, {196ad9a3206, 2, 0, fffff8014704f224}

Probably caused by : memory_corruption

Followup:     memory_corruption

Now to make absolutely we are on the same page the memtest linked here is the only *one we recommend and it MUST be run for at least 8 passes or you may as well not bother. It is rather lengthy and best left for a downtime for that machine - overnight is good. Having said that you can stop the test if errors show up while you are around and then it is a matter of tracking down the bad stick of RAM.* RAM - Test with Memtest86+ - Windows 7 Help Forums
(This is pretyped to save time)

If nothing else then it will eliminate any issues there.

RedBalloon · 05 Sep 2017

Thank you for your advice ICIT2LOL.

I completed eight passes of MemTest per your instructions and found zero errors. Please see the attached image taken after the eighth pass completed.

What are my next steps for diagnosing my BSODs, now that the RAM has been eliminated as the culprit?

higgsbizonu · 05 Sep 2017

RedBalloon said:

Thank you for your advice ICIT2LOL.

I completed eight passes of MemTest per your instructions and found zero errors. Please see the attached image taken after the eighth pass completed.

What are my next steps for diagnosing my BSODs, now that the RAM has been eliminated as the culprit?

I have that same problem. What is the model of your display card?

RedBalloon · 05 Sep 2017

higgsbizonu said:

I have that same problem. What is the model of your display card?

I am using the GIGABYTE GeForce GTX 1070 GV-N1070G1 8GB.

higgsbizonu · 05 Sep 2017

RedBalloon said:

I am using the GIGABYTE GeForce GTX 1070 GV-N1070G1 8GB.

I have an asus rog strix rx580 card. I have not been able to solve the problem for two weeks.

philc43 · 05 Sep 2017

@RedBalloon, I wonder if you have any overclocking or Turbo boost operating during game play which could be giving rise to these BSOD events. Make sure that the BIOS does not have overclocking enabled - turn off Intel Turbo Boost Technology to see if it makes a difference.

If disabling the Turbo boost setting does not help turn it back on and then see if your BIOS is set to use XMP for the memory. It is normally disabled but you could try to enable it.

Test these two settings one at a time

RedBalloon · 05 Sep 2017

Thank you for this advice @philc43.

I've disabled Intel Turbo Boost from the BIOS and have not yet had a game crash on me after testing this afternoon. XMP is enabled and set to 3200 for my RAM.

This solution makes sense because I had previously overclocked my CPU, and later had to remove the overclock due to system instability that arose. Since Turbo Boost is essentially "overclocking" from 4.0 GHz to 4.2 GHz on the i7 6700k, it seems that my CPU simply cannot handle the Turbo Boost anymore. I fear that my CPU may continue to deteriorate over time but hopefully this is not the case.

I'll continue testing my games and report back if the crashes and BSODs reoccur, or to mark this thread as solved.

Thank you,
RedBalloon

ICIT2LOL · 05 Sep 2017

Evan can you please checkout the temps on the machine you can use whatever you like but I like Speccy or just the BIOS would do. Speccy - Free Download - Piriform

Now just what AV are you using too mate??and by the by are you OCing the RAM?? because the mem corruption keeps popping up.

RedBalloon · 07 Sep 2017

I came back to mark this issue "Solved" as these crashes are definitely tied to my CPU clock speed.

I followed the advice of @philc43 to disable Intel Turbo Boost in the BIOS which drops the maximum clock speed from 4.2 GHz to 4.0 GHz. Since then, one of my games (Dying Light) has yet to crash to desktop. PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds (PUBG) has crashed once, but after about six matches as opposed to only two or three. I tried turning Intel Turbo Boost back on in the BIOS, and Dying Light crashed within 15 minutes of play, confirming this solution in my mind.

My guess is that my CPU is not handling Intel Turbo Boost well due to some prior overclocking which may have pushed the voltage too far on my CPU. I wonder if dialing in a higher CPU core voltage would solve these problems, but I am afraid to keep pushing the chip and I'm happy if I can continue playing my games at 4.0GHz until it's time for an upgrade.

Thank you for all of the help you've provided.

Cheers,
RedBalloon