BSOD When Installing Windows XP

[Crunchy Dragon]

Hello,

 

I'm currently trying to install Windows XP via CD, and I keep getting a blue screen when trying to install.

Error is DRIVER_IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL

 

Specs are as follows:

Two Athlon MP 2000+ CPUs

Asus A7M266-D Mainboard

4x512MB Crucial DDR-266 ECC memory

200GB Western Digital IDE drive(master) + 160GB Seagate IDE drive(slave)

Intel Gigabit LAN PCI-X card

Random RJ-11 card

Asus 4 port USB 2.0 expansion card

GeForce4 MX420 AGP

 

I did some googling and found this article from Microsoft:

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/939780/error-message-when-a-windows-xp-sp2-based-or-windows-server-2003-based

 

Quote

Symptoms

---

When you work with a Windows XP Service Pack 2-based or Windows Server 2003-based multiprocessor computer, you receive an error message that resembles the following:

STOP 0x000000D1 (parameter1, parameter2, parameter3, parameter4)
DRIVER_IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL

Note The values of the parameters vary in different situations.

This problem occurs if one of the following conditions is true:

• The computer is a portable computer.
• The computer is plugged into an uninterruptable power supply (UPS).

I get the same error, but what's confusing me is that Microsoft's conditions under which a system will give this error are both false for my setup. This computer is by no means portable, and is not plugged into a UPS.

 

I'm quite honestly lost here, any and all help is appreciated.

~Crunchy

[TheGlenlivet]

The install CD for sure has service pack 2 on it?  That or too much RAM (You are ok with 512x4 i think) are the normal causes I am seeing from some quick research.

[Fullmental]

I've seen this error appear with driver incompatibilities before. With the age of windows xp, it's entirely possible that a device is being recognized/initialized incorrectly and causing problems. Could you try the install again without the expansion cards, then if successful you add them back in one by one to see if it'll boot after the install?

[Crunchy Dragon]

Just now, TheGlenlivet said:

The install CD for sure has service pack 2 on it?  That or too much RAM (You are ok with 512x4 i think) are the normal causes I am seeing from some quick research.

Pretty sure it's SP2, I can double check real quick.

 

I never had problems with 4x512 prior to this; I've used this machine before also with Windows XP.

[Crunchy Dragon]

Just now, Fullmental said:

I've seen this error appear with driver incompatibilities before. With the age of windows xp, it's entirely possible that a device is mid-recognized and causing problems. Could you try the install again without the expansion cards, then if successful you add them back in one by one to see if it'll boot after the install?

Personally, I doubt age has anything to do with the problem as my hardware is also from the XP era.

 

I can definitely try removing expansion cards though. I'm forced to keep my GPU installed though, since my board has no video outputs and my CPUs don't have iGPUs.

[.Apex.]

@Crunchy Dragon
this basically means that a driver is failing to load and its causing this BSOD (duh)

i would guess it's the "Intel Gigabit LAN PCI-X card" ? or maybe something else that is too new for Windows XP

Edit: nevermind PCI-X is ancient, it's probably one of the other expansion cards, remove them all anyway and try.
 

[Crunchy Dragon]

2 minutes ago, syn2112 said:

@Crunchy Dragon
this basically means that a driver is failing to load and its causing this BSOD (duh)

i would guess it's the "Intel Gigabit LAN PCI-X card" ? or maybe something else that is too new for Windows XP

PCI-X is essentially higher bandwidth faster speed PCI. As mentioned above, all my hardware is from the XP era so nothing should be too new for XP.

 

6 minutes ago, TheGlenlivet said:

The install CD for sure has service pack 2 on it?  That or too much RAM (You are ok with 512x4 i think) are the normal causes I am seeing from some quick research.

I can't find the documentation saying that it is/isn't SP2, but I'm like 70% sure it is.

 

I can try a different GPU though, that may be causing this problem. What gets me though, is that this is occurring when trying to install XP, not necessarily use it.

[.Apex.]

also i think.. I THINK that "DRIVER_IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL" is also related to CPU or RAM overclocking / RAM instability 

[Crunchy Dragon]

Just now, syn2112 said:

also i think.. I THINK that "DRIVER_IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL" is also related to CPU or RAM overclocking / RAM instability 

CPUs don't overclock, RAM should be stable.

 

I can try reseating it though.

[TheGlenlivet]

Also make sure the optimize defaults are set on the motherboard and the BIOS is the most current.

[.Apex.]

Just now, Crunchy Dragon said:

CPUs don't overclock, RAM should be stable.

 

I can try reseating it though.

well this is a 2002 system, it's very possible that the RAM has gone defective in 16 years or there's poor contact from dust or even rust, maybe try removing some sticks and check.

[Crunchy Dragon]

Just now, syn2112 said:

well this is a 2002 system, it's very possible that the RAM has gone defective in 16 years or there's poor contact from dust or even rust, maybe try removing some sticks and check.

RAM is in good condition, no rust in sight.

 

1 minute ago, TheGlenlivet said:

Also make sure the optimize defaults are set on the motherboard and the BIOS is the most current.

Forgive my insolence, but the BIOS version shouldn't be a problem given that it worked previously in this system. I'll check though.

 

BIOS revision is just 2 versions out of date according to this site:

https://soggi.org/motherboards/asus/A7M266-D.htm#bios

 

I'm running 1010, everything newer than that just seems to be beta.

[TheGlenlivet]

1 minute ago, Crunchy Dragon said:

Forgive my insolence

No worries Crunch, just covering all the bases.

There are some posts from back in the day saying that on their 3rd or 4th try everything went fine and then never had any issues after that.  How many attempts have you made?  Has it crashed at the same place every time with the same errors?

[Crunchy Dragon]

Just now, TheGlenlivet said:

No worries Crunch, just covering all the bases.

There are some posts from back in the day saying that on their 3rd or 4th try everything went fine and then never had any issues after that.  How many attempts have you made?  Has it crashed at the same place every time with the same errors?

Errors haven't changed, this is currently my 3rd time trying to install.

 

All seems good now, it's giving me the "installing devices" loading bar.

I'll report back if there's another problem

[Crunchy Dragon]

2 minutes ago, TheGlenlivet said:

No worries Crunch, just covering all the bases.

There are some posts from back in the day saying that on their 3rd or 4th try everything went fine and then never had any issues after that.  How many attempts have you made?  Has it crashed at the same place every time with the same errors?

All is well, installing as normal. Thanks for your help!

[TheGlenlivet]

1 minute ago, Crunchy Dragon said:

Errors haven't changed, this is currently my 3rd time trying to install.

 

All seems good now, it's giving me the "installing devices" loading bar.

I'll report back if there's another problem

RAM RESEAT FTW!!!!!!!!!!!!