Russ: the bootlog indicates that the loading failed at ACPI Multiprocessor PC. This is a system file and I'm not sure how to proceed without reinstalling. Isn't this a critical file? Should I try uninstalling Service PAck 2? Doyle The Law has been broken.....He who breaks the Law shall be punished - back to the House of Pain! >Hi Doyle, > >Having written device drivers for Windows myself, I can tell you that this >message occurs when certain kernel functions are called at the wrong IRQ >level. If the hardware of the system is OK, then this would indicate a >problem with a driver. Sometimes it could be caused by a driver, due to >some >change in hardware or configuration that causes the driver to execute a >different code path than before. > >The fact that it boots up in safe mode indicates that it is probably being >caused by one of the drivers not loaded in safe mode. Here are a couple >suggestions to try.. > >1.) If the RAM is in more than one slot, try switching them around. This >might help isolate if it is RAM (since you say you don't have any spares to >try). > >2.) Just after POST, before the system starts to boot, preee 'F8', just >like >you are trying to go into safe mode, but instead select "Enable boot >logging", then let it try to boot with logging enabled. It will probably >blue screen like bfore, but next time you reboot, go into safe mode, and >then view the boot log file located as "c:\winnt\ntbtlog.txt". Perhaps the >last (or one of the last) drivers loaded as mentioned in the file is the >culprit. > >3.) If all else fails, try disabling all the devices except those that are >absolutely necessary, if it will boot, then enable each one by one in >device >manager to see if one will crash as you enable it. > >Russ Poffenberger >[log in to unmask] > >-----Original Message----- >From: PCBUILD - Personal Computer Hardware discussion List >[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Doyle Hirsch >Sent: Saturday, January 01, 2005 8:41 PM >To: [log in to unmask] >Subject: [PCBUILD] IRQL > > >My sister's Dell 8250 running XP Home has stopped funtionning.. It >bluescreens before the boot screen with the following error: > >IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL > >It will boot into safe mode. So I uninstalled the video drivers but it made >no difference. Either does trying system restore. She updated to Service >Pack 2 a couple of months ago. But it was running fine until last week. She >hasn't added any hardware. I removed Norton, but that made no difference. I >thought it might be a RAM failure but I can't check it because this >computer >is using that damn Rambus RAM and of course I don't have any extra. Any >ideas before a reinstall? I checked the Knowledge Base but it didn't clear >up much. > >Doyle Hirsch > > The NOSPIN Group is now accepting donations to help > defer the costs of providing PCBUILD and our website. > Visit http://freepctech.com to donate using PAYPAL The NOSPIN Group is now accepting donations to help defer the costs of providing PCBUILD and our website. Visit http://freepctech.com to donate using PAYPAL