IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL Blue Screen boot problem

[npcomplete]

oh come on, no need to harass the guy.

and "CPU" is a surprisingly common term to describe the machine (case) itself. You'll see this used in descriptions for office furniture and equipment.

[Fahd]

Originally Posted by wingdarkness

Again I'm not so good with the exact technical terms

I don't mean to be mean, but you can always find out what things are called.

THE CORD WAS THE ONLY THING I USED ON BOTH CPU'S computers...It was hooked up to a Verizon Wireless Broadband connection...A connection that my mom has used on her cpu for 2 years with not one single problem...A

Okay, so you used a USB cable to connect your mothers Laptop to a USB modem or router (probably a modem I'm guessing). What did you do whilst it was booted? The most common ways of getting a virus are either:

1) Downloading a running a program which wasn't checked with anti-virus software,
2) Executing an e-mail attachment that wasn't checked,
3) Using a non-updated internet browser with a known vulnerability, and then visiting a website which is able to exploit said vulnerability to get the virus onto your system,
4) Executing something on an external storage medium (external hard-drive, USB thumb drive, CD/DVD disk, etc) which carries an infection, or
5) Being connected on a network to another computer that is infected.

Of course another way is if your modem/router doesn't have a firewall running, and your mothers laptop didn't have a software firewall running either. What operating system was on the laptop? If it was XP or Vista, did it have Windows Firewall running? Google the name of your modem/router, and find out whether it was an in-built firewall. If it does, was it running?

but it was a bad cord that did this...

A USB cable can't store anything. It's just a pair of twisted wires individually sheathed in a plastic coating, used to transmit data. If you don't figure out how you really got this virus (i.e. you keep blaming the cable), then the odds are good you'll be getting it again.

[Claies]

Okay, there are only two possibilities:
1) You connected both computers, coincidentally with the same USB cord, to places that want your machine infected, such as a non-firewalled router reaching the open Internet. To confirm this, use a different cord. If you still get infected, it's not the cord, whoever set up the network screwed up made you vulnerable.

2) It was not a virus. Somehow, your USB cord was broken such that both computers decided that it sends signals that it doesn't recognize, and/or causes it to write things to your disk (or a non-existent disk) where it's not supposed to be. If so, this is no virus, this is your USB cord being broken. If somebody at the Geek Squad said your USB cord has a virus, he's either successfully trolling you or I want to punch him in the face for being an idiot.

[wingdarkness]

Originally Posted by Fahd

I don't mean to be mean, but you can always find out what things are called.



Okay, so you used a USB cable to connect your mothers Laptop to a USB modem or router (probably a modem I'm guessing). What did you do whilst it was booted? The most common ways of getting a virus are either:

1) Downloading a running a program which wasn't checked with anti-virus software,
2) Executing an e-mail attachment that wasn't checked,
3) Using a non-updated internet browser with a known vulnerability, and then visiting a website which is able to exploit said vulnerability to get the virus onto your system,
4) Executing something on an external storage medium (external hard-drive, USB thumb drive, CD/DVD disk, etc) which carries an infection, or
5) Being connected on a network to another computer that is infected.

Of course another way is if your modem/router doesn't have a firewall running, and your mothers laptop didn't have a software firewall running either. What operating system was on the laptop? If it was XP or Vista, did it have Windows Firewall running? Google the name of your modem/router, and find out whether it was an in-built firewall. If it does, was it running?




A USB cable can't store anything. It's just a pair of twisted wires individually sheathed in a plastic coating, used to transmit data. If you don't figure out how you really got this virus (i.e. you keep blaming the cable), then the odds are good you'll be getting it again.

I don't mean to be mean, but you can always find out what things are called.



Okay, so you used a USB cable to connect your mothers Laptop to a USB modem or router (probably a modem I'm guessing). What did you do whilst it was booted? The most common ways of getting a virus are either:

1) Downloading a running a program which wasn't checked with anti-virus software,
2) Executing an e-mail attachment that wasn't checked,
3) Using a non-updated internet browser with a known vulnerability, and then visiting a website which is able to exploit said vulnerability to get the virus onto your system,
4) Executing something on an external storage medium (external hard-drive, USB thumb drive, CD/DVD disk, etc) which carries an infection, or
5) Being connected on a network to another computer that is infected.

Of course another way is if your modem/router doesn't have a firewall running, and your mothers laptop didn't have a software firewall running either. What operating system was on the laptop? If it was XP or Vista, did it have Windows Firewall running? Google the name of your modem/router, and find out whether it was an in-built firewall. If it does, was it running?




A USB cable can't store anything. It's just a pair of twisted wires individually sheathed in a plastic coating, used to transmit data. If you don't figure out how you really got this virus (i.e. you keep blaming the cable), then the odds are good you'll be getting it again.

We both have XP…
I did use a 4 gig USB Flash Drive, but it was brand new and I just took it out of the package (As I was going on her computer to download some of my previous programs like CCCP, BSplayer, Winrar, etc., So that when my cpu was fixed I could have the programs ready…In addition to posting my problem here and looking for other answers)… I hadn’t downloaded any of these programs on my computer for atleast a year as they were already on my computer so I doubt I downloaded a virus that I had just downloaded on my computer...

After I found out her cpu was having the EXACT SAME IRQL boot error, I thought to myself that the only thing we had in common was the cord…So I checked the cord and the prongs at one end seemed a little bent or not looking as they should (I never really noticed this as I seldom ever take it out of my computer—I wouldn’t say it looked super $hitty or anything, but at a really close glance you could see a little bend inside)…I have a USB 720 Verizon Wireless Broadband connector (She has the same kind and I used hers)…When I used her computer this is what I connected my USB cord to...Now I have Firefox and she still uses the IE 7 instead of 8 as she really doesn’t know any better…For the majority of time I was on it I didn’t use the cord at all… I downloaded like 3 or 4 animes while on it (Last episode of Naruto, Bleach, Index, and One Piece I think)…I even rebooted it so that it wouldn’t have anymore bittorent lag, and it booted with no probs (So it couldn’t have been the Verizon wireless right?) It wasn’t until I needed to use the USB flashdrive that I used to cord…You see my mom’s laptop has 2 usb slots on the sides, but when you plug the Verizon Broadband into the side, it’s so big that it covers up both slots…So to be able to use both slots I connected the Verizon to the cord and the flashdrive to the open slot…I copied the anime eps and the media player software to the drive…I powere’d down her cpu and took the cord out…I brought her back her cpu the next day and said thanks…She calls me like 10 hours later cursing my a$$ out telling me her boot sequence is repeating itself with the IRQL error…


Now everything I downloaded from her cpu I kept on my flash and after I reinstalled windows on my CPU I put all those programs on my cpu (watched and used them all with no probs showing up at all)..I even had Mcafee spyware and trojan detector scan them before I used them…The cord and the broadband were the only thing the 2 had in common and the reason I didn’t even consider the Verizon was because I used it successfully with no probs and even rebooted my mom’s comp after using it the first time (before I put in the bad cord and used it)… Windows Firewall and the latest Mcafee was always on my tower…She just had windows firewall and some couple year old Norton… So you tell me what your assessment is, so I can go to Geek Squad and get the laptop back and save 300$ to fix this via nethelp (I still have one day before they call and tell me whether the HD can be preserved)…If it ain’t the cord, what in god’s name could it have been?
My uncle who works cpu intel for Cox (he helps build and maintains the underground wiring and $hit that provides internet and digital signals for most of the city) has been telling me for years that “bad mice//keyboards or wires” can totally murder your computer…He’s actually used the words “infected” or “virus” when talking about what can get into these peripherals… The type of cord I got, it’s like you can’t even buy it in stores, it’s really F’ing long (like 40 feet) and thicker than any USB cords I see today…He got it from Cox and said when he gave it to me and that it was “The good, heavy-duty $hit”…Guess it’s fitting that and old school USB cord he gave me winds up being what I think was the catalyst for all of this…

Now what say U?

[Claies]

Cables don't get infected, end of story. Cables transfer electric signals between 0 and 5 volts (or whatever is specified) between one place and another, just like any other wire, except a data cable has dozens of tiny little wires while all power cables do is send 120V-240V power with a big wire so electrical appliances can work.

If any electric signal stays on a data cable (the ONLY plausible way to have a virus is for it to be a signal representing data) it would violate nearly every law of physics, just as if any electricity stays on a power cable thousands of stupid kids per day will lethally zap themselves for touching power plugs that are lying around.

If anyone wanted to use "all new technology can be infected" as an argument, the old school cord is even less probable to be "infected," if such a thing exists. If something this old can get "infected," the underground thick backbone pipe networks in America that all ISPs use are in deep peril and everybody's computer will have AIDS, etc, etc.

Yeah, sounds like:
1) Your mother's computer was infected, you took that to your computer with your USB key.

2) Your USB key came faulty, or came with a virus. The virus case has happened before on various media such as install CDs and whatnot, though I'm sure companies would have recalled them before you bought them.

3) Did you yank off your USB key without telling XP to disconnect it first (thus perhaps ruining your USB key to some extent)? You would have to be really unlucky for such a catastrophic failure to happen because of this, but that's one rare reason.

or 4) You were just damn unlucky. When I had that error it was about my hard drive. When you got the blue screen, did you happen to see "something.sys" somewhere? If it says "ntfs.sys" it was a hard drive, and if it says something like "usbport.sys" it would be a USB port.

I am still of the opinion that the Geek Squad is useless and would hit the nuclear option (reformat, reinstall, etc.) the second they don't know what something says.

Also, McAfee, Norton, and Windows Firewall? Really? http://free.avg.com/

[wingdarkness]

OK, just talked to the Geek Squad dude and he said that the HD is damaged…I was able to just reinstall windows on my cpu, but now he’s telling me my Mom’s cpu can’t even be wiped clean with windows reinstall (God help me)…So now he’s like I have to buy a new HD and they can put the OS on that and install it or I can send it to the data recovery factory they deal with and have them access and ultimately fix it…That $hit is gonna cost me an additional 200$ bucks and that’s not including the money for an additional HD I might have to buy so that they can recover the data on the other one…

Jesus Christ, please tell me what questions to ask this dude so I don’t get totally hosed here? I just don’t believe this dude tried everything he could to fix the cpu…I already paid like 300$ bucks (I get 99 back if they can’t fix it) and now he’s telling me that it was probably $hit luck with a short-circuited USB that did this (I don’t wanna argue this point again I just want to know what to do)…Would it be cheaper to find my own cpu repair shop and have them look at it? I just don’t know what the hell to do since I’ve just paid 200$ for basically nothing but to be told it’s worse…I mean worst case scenario was that they’d just have to reinstall windows and she’d lose her stuff, but now it’s like I have to buy a new HD and get that installed, and still pay for data recovery…Sardonic lecturers need not apply, I’m looking for someone who can give me some good advice here moving forward…

[Claies]

Originally Posted by wingdarkness

OK, just talked to the Geek Squad dude and he said that the HD is damaged…I was able to just reinstall windows on my cpu, but now he’s telling me my Mom’s cpu can’t even be wiped clean with windows reinstall (God help me)…So now he’s like I have to buy a new HD and they can put the OS on that and install it or I can send it to the data recovery factory they deal with and have them access and ultimately fix it…That $hit is gonna cost me an additional 200$ bucks and that’s not including the money for an additional HD I might have to buy so that they can recover the data on the other one…

Jesus Christ, please tell me what questions to ask this dude so I don’t get totally hosed here? I just don’t believe this dude tried everything he could to fix the cpu…I already paid like 300$ bucks (I get 99 back if they can’t fix it) and now he’s telling me that it was probably $hit luck with a short-circuited USB that did this (I don’t wanna argue this point again I just want to know what to do)…Would it be cheaper to find my own cpu repair shop and have them look at it? I just don’t know what the hell to do since I’ve just paid 200$ for basically nothing but to be told it’s worse…I mean worst case scenario was that they’d just have to reinstall windows and she’d lose her stuff, but now it’s like I have to buy a new HD and get that installed, and still pay for data recovery…Sardonic lecturers need not apply, I’m looking for someone who can give me some good advice here moving forward…

Are you dead sure you can't find a tech-savvy friend to do this instead? A friend will probably charge you far less than those bleeders at Best Buy, and he will do better. I have a friend who worked at Circuit City as a clerk and he sometimes figured out how to fix problems before the actual Firedog servicemen. And he's not even paid nearly their rate. All they do is format and reinstall a bunch of crap. D:

Ask your mother whether the data on the hard drive is seriously important. If she (or you, for that matter) can cobble and retype the files back together using whatever backups or past email attachments then you may be better off just expending the effort rather than a few more hundreds. You're not even guaranteed that the recovery effort will work anyway. If I were you, I'll just be really nice to your mother, explain what happened, and do the extra work for her if needs be.

If you decide to have the Geek $quad do it and they make you buy a new hard drive right there, say no. It's never worth it. I bet that data's not important enough to be in such a hurry.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822136218

You were just terribly unlucky if it's a short circuit. Don't freak out too much, sit down, and talk with your mother about it.

[wingdarkness]

I'm already freaking out man...Gonna try bringing it to someone else first I guess...I'm just ill over all of this...She's got a Gateway MX3228 BTW if that helps in suggesting a cheaper HD than the $hit squad wants to make me buy...LOL (but not LOL inside T_T), man this lady's gonna curse me out so hard when I tell her Geek Squad couldn't fix this $hit...

[bayoab]

(Having read the last two pages...)
I'm not sure if something is getting lost in between the geek squad and us, but there is something really suspicious about this geek squad if we are actually getting this info from them accurately.

Does the HD sound like it is working normally? Is it clicking or making any odd sounds? (The answer should be No to this one). Are there any signs that it is actually the HD? (It doesn't sound like it is spinning, loud noises, etc.) That an HD can just up and die like that is very very unlikely.

I would suggest taking it to another retailer** for a second opinion. There are a number of tricks you can do before that to verify if the system is actually screwed up or not. The easiest one is to get a linux live distro like the Knoppix Live DVD* and see if the system will boot off of it. (Note: I've had issues getting some live linux distros working with laptops before. If it just goes into a black screen, it does not mean it failed and sometimes it will fail with error for graphics card incompatibilities.) If it actually returns an error, then you likely have a hardware problem. You should be able to access any files (READ ONLY, DO NOT ATTEMPT TO WRITE TO IT) on the HD then.

*Choose the kernel.org mirror, agree, select knoppix-DVD, download the most recent version, burn to DVD, insert DVD, tell the system to boot from DVD. Done. If the system doesn't support DVD, you can use the CD version, it just comes with less.

**Find a small tech store somewhere. Preferably, find one with some sort of affiliation with a local college/university. Typically, the ones the schools make deals with are held to a slightly higher standard.

[wingdarkness]

Well my mom paid Geek Squad 700 bones, got her comp fixed and doesn't really hate my guts anymore (500 bucks in Xmas gifts including a 200 buck wine refridgerator courtesy of yours truly didn't hurt things^^)...So I guess alls well that ends well...Although I would have shat redhot coals before I paid Geek Squad 700$...Oh well, feel free to do what you wish with this thread now, or perhaps someone else will be helped by my shortcomings...

[Claies]

Seven. Hundred. Dollars. == New. Computer.

I don't understand people who agree to this level of payment. It's almost extortion.

[wingdarkness]

Originally Posted by Claies

Seven. Hundred. Dollars. == New. Computer.

I don't understand people who agree to this level of payment. It's almost extortion.

Dude my mom was so pi$$ed she just didn’t wanna listen…I even got the IT chick at work to set me up with a PNTech expert who was gonna fix it for me for like 100 bucks…Dude drove to New Orleans (where I live) from like 50 miles outta town just to look at it…He told me whatever I do don’t pay Geek Squad, as like you, he said it’s a total job…My mom $hitted on the whole plan, didn’t bring the laptop, so I was like the hell with it…It was at this point I stopped feeling guilty and if she told me something I threw it back in her face how I had this “REAL PROFESSIONAL” ready to fix her $hit…But she’s got the money so it didn’t really hurt her that much…All I care about is that it’s over and I don’t have to be sick over it anymore…Although I had to spend 300 bones myself on the whole ordeal >_<…

[felix]

Originally Posted by Claies

Seven. Hundred. Dollars. == New. Computer.

I don't understand people who agree to this level of payment. It's almost extortion.

Quote for truth.

If you count the tasks they have to do you would probably end up with something like 100$ just to unscrew some nuts and bolts on the case.

[jpwong]

Originally Posted by Claies

Seven. Hundred. Dollars. == New. Computer.

I don't understand people who agree to this level of payment. It's almost extortion.

It's because people have this wierd belief that the Geek Squad are professional computer techs. The problem is the Geek Squad is generally technically trained sales people from what I've heard who generally pick solutions that somehow get you to buy extra hardware from them even if you don't actually need it to fix the problem.

I don't know what cetifications you need for Geek Squad (and since they were at a general job fair hireing, it leads me to believe you just have to know how to open up a computer case), but the retailer I used to work for required any and all computer techs to be A+ certified at the minimum, and certainly service wouldn't run you something like $700 unless you wanted professional data recovery off of a hard drive that crashed.

In regards to the original IRQ BSOD (and I know this is way too late now), I've had that message before. It was on my first computer and as it turns out it was because I was using grossly outdated sound card drivers.

I am going to point out that even BRAND NEW, this laptop model seems to have only come to between $600-$850 depending on where and when it was purchased. So if the repair was $700, they better have recovered all the data off that drive (and I'm going to assume the price included whatever replacement hard drive they used), and even then it's grossly overpriced for the amount of work they probably did.

[sa547]

Originally Posted by Claies

Seven. Hundred. Dollars. == New. Computer.

I don't understand people who agree to this level of payment. It's almost extortion.

*blinks*

Man, that was murderously huge.

$700 is roughly equivalent to Php32,550.00, which is enough for a full-blown computer system in my country.

I do quality repair work for my neighbors and humbly charge only $6, no more, no less.

@wingdarkness: if I were you, I'll have to stay away from this dumbsquad for such obscenely huge repair charges.

[bayoab]

Originally Posted by jpwong

I don't know what cetifications you need for Geek Squad (and since they were at a general job fair hireing, it leads me to believe you just have to know how to open up a computer case), but the retailer I used to work for required any and all computer techs to be A+ certified at the minimum, and certainly service wouldn't run you something like $700 unless you wanted professional data recovery off of a hard drive that crashed.

It needs to be pointed out that certifications mean absolutely nothing when having computer work done. This has more to do with how Geek Squad is run than anything. They are usually "trained" techs in most cases but they aren't there to do a favor for the customer. They are there to sell services that may or may not be needed and they get laid off if they can't sell these services.

[jpwong]

I'm sure a lot of them know what they're doing, and all in all, most jobs (hardware upgrade, virus scanning) don't need certification of anything to fix the problem (especially if you're going to take the easier reformat and re-install option over actually fixing the issue), but some people over there really do seem incompetent and don't know what they're doing.

[Tiberium Wolf]

A few years ago in Portugal(where I live) a tv station made a news story of their trip to 3 computer shops that did repairs. All they did was make the IDE cable not plugged correctly to the HDD. They went to 3 shops pretending to be like someone that didn't know shit about PC and sort.
1st shop claimed that there was a component that was damaged(dunno which one) and it need to be replaced. It wasn't the HDD they were talking about. Well they had to pay for the diagnostic and repair time plus new parts. Huge bill.
2nd shop said the HDD data was totally gone and they had to reformat, bla bla bla, pay for diagnostic and repair time. Huge bill.
3rd shop was honest and told that it was just the cable that was not plugged correctly. They only had to for diagnostic time. Small bill.

Anyway this shows that if you dont have some computer knowledge you have a high chance of get raped badly by dishonest shops.

[jpwong]

I read an article like that where they did basically the same thing, but rather they unseated the ram so it wasn't in properly. They got similar results. The larger chain places either gave completely outrageous claims about what was busted or took hours to figure out the problem and then wanted a bunch of money. Only one of the 5 some places tried fixed the problem for free and in under 10 mins.

[sa547]

Originally Posted by jpwong

I read an article like that where they did basically the same thing, but rather they unseated the ram so it wasn't in properly. They got similar results. The larger chain places either gave completely outrageous claims about what was busted or took hours to figure out the problem and then wanted a bunch of money. Only one of the 5 some places tried fixed the problem for free and in under 10 mins.

Damn, at one point in my life I was employed by a local shop, and when the owner saw me explaining to a customer how her computer actually broke down, after the conversation the owner warned me not to do that, and instead insisted that I should rip off the next customer by charging more for make-believe damage.

Next day I resigned, moved to another town and became a honest freelancer, not wanting to have my rep ruined -- do I need to be remembered as a rip-off technician?