computer crashing daily

[Ibrahim]

hey guys,

I am typically minding my own business, whether that is doing homework or browsing the interwebs, when all of a sudden I get a BSOD, and on it is says something along the lines of:

Driver_IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL.

and due to the settings I have for such eventualities, it lists the following thingy as the cause:

tcpip.sys

specifically:

ntoskrnl.exe ntoskrnl.exe+7c1e9 fffff800`03010000 fffff800`035f9000 0x005e9000 0x4e02aaa3 6/22/2011 7:53:23 PM Microsoft® Windows® Operating System NT Kernel & System 6.1.7601.17640

(win7sp1_gdr.110622-1506) Microsoft Corporation C:\Windows\system32\ntoskrnl.exe
tcpip.sys tcpip.sys+5b87e fffff880`01ad3000 fffff880`01cd7000 0x00204000 0x4e83e948 9/28/2011 8:43:04 PM

the kernel doohicky seems to crash (obviously), once the tcpip does as well. all crashes of this type list only these two, with the tcpip being the instigator. I am always online when this happens.

and yes, I know that the tcpip is about my internet protocal, but I'm not sure of the details. And it only happens when I'm in my dorm.

I have the following specs for interwebz connection:

-Atheros AR8131 PCI-E Gigabit Ethernet Controller (NDIS 6.20)

it's that 17.4" screened Asus i7 computer, with a window 7, 64-bit.

yes, I only use ethernet at home (the dorms).

any idea what is causing all this?

[Sigurd]

This could surely be many things.

You might be running two Ethernet units (onboard and extra card) - Driver_IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL = hardware conflict - trying to access same IRQ
Your RAM might be faulty (ntoskrnl.exe does memory management ) - Memory sticks are not working well together - remove one to see if this fixes things
Your Power supply might be insufficient (built this machine yourself?)
You could be running XP drivers of your ethernet card on a 64 bit system - check driver version.

[Tellos Athenaios]

I would first try and see if there was a driver update available for the Atheros card.

[Ibrahim]

This could surely be many things.

You might be running two Ethernet units (onboard and extra card) - Driver_IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL = hardware conflict - trying to access same IRQ
Your RAM might be faulty (ntoskrnl.exe does memory management ) - Memory sticks are not working well together - remove one to see if this fixes things
Your Power supply might be insufficient (built this machine yourself?)
You could be running XP drivers of your ethernet card on a 64 bit system - check driver version.

I tried them all. here's what I got:

-only running one. can't be it.
-tried it. and it wouldn't have mattered whether I was online or not when I crashed, would it? this is especially as it only happens when connected, and in my dorm. I can even show you my reliability report-it tanks withing days of coming back to my dorms from the holidays. during the holidays, it's extremely reliable.
-I didn't build it myself: it's that ASUS i7 brand they've been selling since the end of 2010 to beginning of 2011.
-just checked. it's for a 64-bit, which is what I would expect.


@ Tellos: I did. nothing to update.

[Sigurd]

I tried them all. here's what I got:

-tried it. and it wouldn't have mattered whether I was online or not when I crashed, would it? this is especially as it only happens when connected, and in my dorm. I can even show you my reliability report-it tanks withing days of coming back to my dorms from the holidays. during the holidays, it's extremely reliable.

That this is occurring only in one place and not another is a complete mystery. A Dorm you say? Could it be attempted hacked, by some idiot having spoofing running on your network? Some poorly designed trojan that you have on it distributed by the same culprit? Or designed to do this for the lulz... Just brainstorming here.

The general BSOD message suggests either two things, but could be caused by my previous list.
But since this only happens in one place (your dorm, I am afraid that I am out of suggestions) Have you checked the event viewer?

To do a thorough memory check, you need to be running Memtest. (In combination of removing all sticks and test them one by one and in different slots)
Also to check your drivers use Driver Verifier

If you have any warranty left on it, I would suggest taking it in, because BSOD can sometimes be a combination of faulty Motherboard, RAM slots/sticks which would only be solved if replaced.

[Ibrahim]

That this is occurring only in one place and not another is a complete mystery. A Dorm you say? Could it be attempted hacked, by some idiot having spoofing running on your network? Some poorly designed trojan that you have on it distributed by the same culprit? Or designed to do this for the lulz... Just brainstorming here.

The general BSOD message suggests either two things, but could be caused by my previous list.
But since this only happens in one place (your dorm, I am afraid that I am out of suggestions) Have you checked the event viewer?

To do a thorough memory check, you need to be running Memtest. (In combination of removing all sticks and test them one by one and in different slots)
Also to check your drivers use Driver Verifier

If you have any warranty left on it, I would suggest taking it in, because BSOD can sometimes be a combination of faulty Motherboard, RAM slots/sticks which would only be solved if replaced.

well, I've had a new development, but I'll address these suggestions anyways:

-I ran memtest a while ago. nothing wrong, beyond the tcpip.sys obviously. same with driver verifier. the only thing the latter mentioned was that several drivers were not working-which happen to be the ones I shut down on purpose, to prevent the freezing I mentioned in another thread. These are drivers that have little to do with the internet.
-I doubt it. I have literally the best antiviruses I can find (including malwarebytes), and they surely would have detected it-since it would be a crap one. I have detected yesterday a trojan horse, but this one seems to have infected my computer only in the last few days (the last full scan showed nothing-it was exactly a week previous). my problem has been going on for almost two months. added to that that I move in much earlier than other students, and the problem starts even before everyone else moves in, and I have what is by all accounts the best security of anybody in my dorm outside the hardcore computer nerds......
-I already took it to the technicians. they are just as clueless.

come to think of it, I have a suspicion that the problem is actually software caused. what if the tcpip is causing two hardware components to crash, and thus making look like a hardware problem?

so I did the following:

I opened up my cmd, and type the following:

netsh int ip reset

this I am told resets/reinstalls my tcpip. I rebooted my computer, and let it run as normal. I even left it for an hour while logged on. no crashes so far. If this is indeed the solution, and I suffer no crashes in the next week or so (or ever), then we have a cause. if not, we're back to square one, though with the question: why didn't it crash in the two days after reinstallation?

If it did work, then I still have one problem? what happened to my tcpip to cause the computer crashes?

[Ibrahim]

OK, so on the third day (i.e., today), it crashed.

here is the report:

021912-29686-01.dmp 2/19/2012 12:36:09 PM DRIVER_IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL 0x000000d1 00000000`0000001c 00000000`00000002 00000000`00000001 fffff880`01d3f87e tcpip.sys tcpip.sys+5b87e x64 ntoskrnl.exe+7cc40 C:\Windows\Minidump\021912-29686-01.dmp 8 15 7601 286,972
021612-70715-01.dmp 2/16/2012 8:43:07 PM DRIVER_IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL 0x000000d1 00000000`0000001c 00000000`00000002 00000000`00000001 fffff880`01b2e87e tcpip.sys tcpip.sys+5b87e x64 ntoskrnl.exe+7cc40 C:\Windows\Minidump\021612-70715-01.dmp 8 15 7601 288,892

I wasn't even logged on. luckily, it didn't crash again on restarting.

[Sigurd]

-I ran memtest a while ago. nothing wrong, beyond the tcpip.sys obviously. same with driver verifier. the only thing the latter mentioned was that several drivers were not working-which happen to be the ones I shut down on purpose, to prevent the freezing I mentioned in another thread. These are drivers that have little to do with the internet.
-I doubt it. I have literally the best antiviruses I can find (including malwarebytes), and they surely would have detected it-since it would be a crap one. I have detected yesterday a trojan horse, but this one seems to have infected my computer only in the last few days (the last full scan showed nothing-it was exactly a week previous). my problem has been going on for almost two months. added to that that I move in much earlier than other students, and the problem starts even before everyone else moves in, and I have what is by all accounts the best security of anybody in my dorm outside the hardcore computer nerds......

That tcpip and ntoskrnl are the claimed culprits could be wrong. They are Microsoft OS drivers. The real culprit might be a third party driver that is not recognized.
Do you happen to have PC Tools Internet Security installed?

Also, not all Malware is recognized unless they have been registered with the anti virus company or have recognizable (signature) code. Typical Hackers, would know how to omit this. But it is the most complex solution here.
Also, Driver Verifier needs to run a long time and ideally until the computer crashes.

[Whacker]

In addition to what Siggy is advising, you could try getting Memtest86+ and running that for a day or so.

http://www.memtest.org/

It comes as a cd iso image that you can burn, then boot from that CD and it won't touch or affect anything on your hard drive or Windows at all, it's entirely self-contained. It'll automagically start the memtest program and continuously cycle through. You'll want to let it run a good long time and check for errors. If you see any, then your problem is hardware related.

[Ibrahim]

That tcpip and ntoskrnl are the claimed culprits could be wrong. They are Microsoft OS drivers. The real culprit might be a third party driver that is not recognized.
Do you happen to have PC Tools Internet Security installed?

yes actually, I do have it installed.

Also, not all Malware is recognized unless they have been registered with the anti virus company or have recognizable (signature) code. Typical Hackers, would know how to omit this. But it is the most complex solution here.
Also, Driver Verifier needs to run a long time and ideally until the computer crashes.

true that. and I'll give the driver verifier a second try.

@ Whacker: did that already. found nothing.

[Ibrahim]

ok, did the driver verifier.

it did catch something! now to see what it is...

[Sigurd]

yes actually, I do have it installed.

Uninstall.. get rid of the bastard. It is a known problem, and it is the one causing your BSOD.

[Ibrahim]

Uninstall.. get rid of the bastard. It is a known problem, and it is the one causing your BSOD.

wait, what does it actually do to cause that?

also, the driver that driver scanner found to be corrupt was in fact my Ethernet modem. it needed an update.

[Sigurd]

wait, what does it actually do to cause that?

also, the driver that driver scanner found to be corrupt was in fact my Ethernet modem. it needed an update.

If that driver update fixes things, that is just swell.

If you load your dump file into a debugger and you find this file in the stack: PctWfpFilter64.sys, you most likely need to remove PC Tools.
I am not sure why it has comparability problems with Win 7, but there are quite a few that share your problem out there.
The eggsperts suggests using MSE in stead.

[Ibrahim]

If that driver update fixes things, that is just swell.

If you load your dump file into a debugger and you find this file in the stack: PctWfpFilter64.sys, you most likely need to remove PC Tools.
I am not sure why it has comparability problems with Win 7, but there are quite a few that share your problem out there.
The eggsperts suggests using MSE in stead.

It's not in the list, looking at it-only the tcpip and kernal thingy are in.

of course, I will still monitor the computer, and see if it crashes or something. and I'll let you know.