[Unrealblight]

A'ight, off the bat, I'm not tech-savvy. So, I was trying to do the trial on WoW, and everytime I loaded the area, my computer went to the blue-screen-'o-death. Looked around, and figured, I'll live without WoW, tried tons of other games, and they randomly crash my computer constantly, I then thought, well, that's just the curse of Vista. But asking around, I found that alot of other people could play most of the games that crashed my computer, so it's obviously mine that has the problem, not Vista.

Before you tell me to get a different computer or w/e, I'm pretty much stuck, I can't afford to buy one myself seeing how I'm too young for a job, so I'm stuck between either a Vista, or a 10 year old computer, and amazingly enough, I can play more games on Vista then I can a 10 year old computer.

So, I did a little first grade level tech stuff, and found out, oh wow, Vista sold me a computer that demands DirectX 10, but a graphic card that only supports DirectX 9. Idiot me.

So, I figured I'll go buy a GeForce 8800 GT.

Anyways, I'd hope y'all would be able to help me know if that's going to solve me problems all by itself, so I did the DxDiag thing, and here's what I got:

------------------
System Information
------------------
Time of this report: 1/5/2008, 08:24:44
Machine name: OWNER-PC
Operating System: Windows Vistaâ„¢ Home Premium (6.0, Build 6000) (6000.vista_gdr.071009-1548)
Language: English (Regional Setting: English)
System Manufacturer: HP-Pavilion
System Model: RK574AA-ABA a1730n
BIOS: Phoenix - AwardBIOS v6.00PG
Processor: AMD Athlon™ 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 4600+ (2 CPUs), ~2.4GHz
Memory: 1918MB RAM
Page File: 1004MB used, 3052MB available
Windows Dir: C:\Windows
DirectX Version: DirectX 10
DX Setup Parameters: Not found
DxDiag Version: 6.00.6000.16386 32bit Unicode

---------------
Display Devices
---------------
Card name: NVIDIA GeForce 6150 LE
Manufacturer: NVIDIA
Chip type: GeForce 6150 LE
DAC type: Integrated RAMDAC
Device Key: Enum\PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_0241&SUBSYS_2A34103C&REV_A2
Display Memory: 825 MB
Dedicated Memory: 121 MB
Shared Memory: 703 MB
Current Mode: 1024 x 768 (32 bit) (60Hz)
Monitor: Generic PnP Monitor
Driver Name: nvd3dum.dll
Driver Version: 7.15.0011.6222 (English)
DDI Version: 9Ex
Driver Attributes: Final Retail
Driver Date/Size: 7/6/2007 20:15:00, 4788224 bytes

If you need anything else to know, please just say so, and thanks for the help if you can.

[Aaron]

Your system specs are more than enough to run WoW, but they may not be enough to run all of Vista's special effects AND a game. Try bringing the Aero level, etc. down and run some games. That may help. If it still does not work, download the latest drivers from Nvidia. This will probably install DX 9c, but that is what it should be. If the new drivers don't solve the problem, then try getting a new video card.

[Jake]

Well, it's a long shot but when the computer BSODs write down the long string of hex code that pops up. If the code is always the same then I bet it's bad ram.
I haven't touched Vista before. So I can't help much more than that.

But you do need a better card. I think my dad has one of those... and it can't even handle Civ4

[Unrealblight]

Yeah, I can only play Civ4 on the lowest settings, and it's still slow.

So, I got GeForce 8800 GT, and WoW still crashes, so after spending 300 something dollars, parents won't pay much else, so not sure what I'm gonna do about ram =/

[x..]

Noooooooo!

The only reason they do a free trial is to get you addicted. xD


Don't go to the dark side.

[Unrealblight]

Well, I'm just focusing on WoW for now, but a few of my other games have the same problem.

And I don't get addicted to stuff, at all, did WoW before and didn't get addicted.

[Jake]

Look, I really, really doubt it's bad ram. That was just an idea. But if you think I'm right then use memtestx86. Memtest will tell you if your ram is bad or not.

But what you could do is reinstall Vista and go from there.

[Troll]

Could be CPU overheating or something, update the GPU drivers from the nividia website. And im surprised you bought a 8800gt, its a good card and all but its a bit overkill for your other parts.

[Unrealblight]

Got a BSoD, and it said IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL

Eh?

[Troll]

CPU Overheating most likely then.

[Aaron]

For some reason, your IRQ addresses may be mixed up. Windows should automatically configure them, but if they are incorrect, your computer may think the modem is the mouse. Get a tech to look at it.

[Troll]

Yeah, it can mean lots of things.

[Elvenblader]

If I had a dollar for every time I received the, "IRQ is less or equal" message. There are several reasons as to why this could be happening. My first guess would be that you should try to remove all your Nvidia display drivers and reinstall them. I will place a guide in how you want to uninstall the drivers and how you should properly install them.

First thing you must do is download the latest drivers from Nvidia for your 8800GT.

Nvidia Forceware Release 169 for Vista 32 Bit.

Then follow the guide below.

According and thanks to HardOCP Video Card Faq V2.
*** For Nvidia users ***


1: Through "Add/Remove Programs" proceed to uninstall the Nvidia Display Driver.

2: Boot up into safe mode and run Driver Cleaner. Select "Nvidia" - Please note that these are seperate to the nforce driver cleaner filters - from the drop down menu (again select 'nVidia WDM' if your card has support and therefore drivers) and click on "Clean". Do the cleaning twice to make sure that everything is cleared out. At this point you may also want to clean the cab files too. To do this click on 'Tools' and then select 'Cab Cleaner', choose 'Driver.cab' and then 'Start'. This is not necessary however.

3: Restart your computer (normally this time) and wait for windows to go through it's stupid auto detection of your hadware before continuing, make sure you click 'cancel' and proceed to install the drivers yourself install your new drivers and restart your computer.

If your still having problems lets look into overheating and tidying up your pc and cleaning out any dust that might be in it. Afterwards test your pc and see if it still acts up.

After all is said and done, if your still having problems with your computer you might want to look into your power supply. Give me the name of the powersupply and on the side of it there will be a chart with a 3V, 5V, and 12V. You want to write down all those numbers in the chart. What these numbers are indicates what the amperage is on your power supply. If somehow you did spend $300 on a video card and the card is not receiving proper power, you might have a no name generic psu that will not deliver the proper power to the whole pc.

Good luck and I hope this helps out.

[Aaron]

Nice job, Elven. I had no idea about this one .

[Elvenblader]

Trust me, IRQ is not always what it seems. It is possible he does not have enough amperage on the 12V rail. Believe me HP, Gateway and Dell buy OEM PSU's that are not always up to snuff. People a lot of times think a $30 600 watt will really deliver 600 watts. In reality, sometimes they don't even deliver half that wattage.