Member Avatar for wahoo185

Need help...
Windows won't start even in safe mode. I get a blue screen with the message IRQL_not_less_or_equal with the following at the bottom of the blue screen.
*** Stop: 0x0000000A (0X00000010,0X00000002,0X00000000,0X804D7256)
I am running XP Pro and recently installed (about a month ago) a PCI SATA card and a new Western Digital Hard Drive and a NVidia graphics card in my AGP slot. I also just installed a PCI eSATA card for a external Back up Hard Drive yesterday when this happened. All was running well for several hours then when I rebooted I got the blue screen and can't start Windows
Thanks in advance for any help anyone can give.

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  • Latest Post Latest Post by mattb0611

Dani AI

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Short summary: Stop 0x0000000A (IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL) means a kernel‑mode component tried to access pageable or invalid memory at a raised IRQL. It is most commonly a faulty or incompatible device driver, a buggy system service, or failing hardware (RAM, controllers). Given ’s recent PCI‑SATA + new WD drive and the newly added eSATA card, the storage/controller drivers or bad memory are prime suspects. (learn.microsoft.com)

Practical, reversible checklist (do these in order):

  1. Test with minimal hardware — remove the most recent cards (eSATA, then the PCI SATA card and other non‑essential cards) and try to boot with only the original boot drive and one video device. (If Windows is on the drive attached to the PCI card, removing the card will stop booting — proceed carefully.)

  2. From an XP CD enter the Recovery Console and run a filesystem check; then list services/drivers and temporarily rename any suspicious controller drivers so they won’t load:

chkdsk C: /r
listsvc
cd \windows\system32\drivers
ren suspectdriver.sys suspectdriver.sys.bak
exit

Renaming is reversible and safer than deletion; use the listsvc output to pick likely candidates. (neosmart.net)

  1. Test RAM off‑line: boot MemTest86 / MemTest86+ from USB or CD and run at least one full pass (preferably overnight). Faulty RAM often causes 0xA crashes. (memtest.org)

  2. Recover and analyse dumps: if Windows wrote minidumps, use a Live CD (as suggested) to copy C:\Windows\Minidump to another PC and analyse with BlueScreenView or WhoCrashed to see the offending driver name. Those tools make it easy to identify drivers to rename/update. (bluescreenview.com)

  3. BIOS tweaks and next steps: try disabling BIOS caching/shadowing while testing, update chipset and video drivers if you can boot, and run Driver Verifier only after you have a bootable system. If nothing else works, back up data (Live CD) and do a repair or clean install. If a dump or a tool points to a storage driver such as Intel’s iaStor.sys, update or temporarily disable/rename that driver before reinstalling. (learn.microsoft.com)

These steps let you isolate hardware, test memory, and safely remove problem drivers without jumping straight to a reinstall.

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Member Avatar for mattb0611

Have you tried removing the new card? That stop error is frequently caused by faulty drivers.

Member Avatar for wahoo185

I removed the eSATA card that I installed yesterday and got the same blue screen. I wasn't sure how to remove the driver since I can't start windows. I was able to use my Windows XP disk to get to a command prompt through the repair option but wasn't sure what to do from there.

Member Avatar for mattb0611

Hit F8 when booting. Try choosing "Use last known good configuration."

Member Avatar for mattb0611

Oh, and if that doesn't work, use your install disk to repair Windows (not in the recovery console). It'll reinstall Windows and should do the trick.

Member Avatar for wahoo185

I should have mentioned I tried every option available when I hit F8 when booting, including the "use last known good configuration" and I get the same blue screen with every option. I also used the windows disk to try to repair windows . (The option to do a repair or do a fresh installation came up when I chose the install windows option rather than the repair console option.) Nothing has worked.

Member Avatar for wahoo185

I'm going to check out the web site you mentioned and see what I can find out. Thanks.

Member Avatar for wahoo185

I checked out the web site but I'm afraid the article said "you cannot start the system restore tool from a recovery console command prompt" and I can't get to any other command prompt because I can't start windows in "Safe mode with command prompt" or in any other mode.

Member Avatar for mattb0611

Well, I think your only option at this point is to run Knoppix or some live Linux distro (or other Live CD) to recover your data, then wipe and reinstall. Wish I could help you more.

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