Blue Screen Of Death - help!

[burnie.nowax]

Hey all...

I have a Toshiba Tecra M2V-S310 laptop PC with Windows XP. A week ago I
inserted a friend's flash drive into my USB port to drag something from
his drive. My laptop choked a bit, slowed down and I got an error
sound, so I pulled the drive out immediately. A few days later, I
started getting the random Blue Screen Of Death with the message
IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL, at which point I am forced to restart. I see an
Unknown Device in my Device Manager, and after doing some reading up
online about this problem I see that it is sometimes caused by
something to do with not fully installing new hardware, I assume this
has a lot to do with the problem. As a temporary fix I always uninstall
the Unknown Device every time the Blue Screen Of Death forces me to
restart, which buys me an extra 45 minutes or so of laptop time, but
every time I am eventually but inevitably forced to restart, i got back
to the Device Manager and lo and behold the Unknown Device has
returned, along with a prompt on my desktop to Install New Hardware. I
am currently out of town and since all my work is computer-related,
this is completely screwing my world up right now. Does anyone have any
kind of input or advice? a million thanks in advance.

 

[Ron Martell]

Hey all...

I have a Toshiba Tecra M2V-S310 laptop PC with Windows XP. A week ago I
inserted a friend's flash drive into my USB port to drag something from
his drive. My laptop choked a bit, slowed down and I got an error
sound, so I pulled the drive out immediately. A few days later, I
started getting the random Blue Screen Of Death with the message
IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL, at which point I am forced to restart. I see an
Unknown Device in my Device Manager, and after doing some reading up
online about this problem I see that it is sometimes caused by
something to do with not fully installing new hardware, I assume this
has a lot to do with the problem. As a temporary fix I always uninstall
the Unknown Device every time the Blue Screen Of Death forces me to
restart, which buys me an extra 45 minutes or so of laptop time, but
every time I am eventually but inevitably forced to restart, i got back
to the Device Manager and lo and behold the Unknown Device has
returned, along with a prompt on my desktop to Install New Hardware. I
am currently out of town and since all my work is computer-related,
this is completely screwing my world up right now. Does anyone have any
kind of input or advice? a million thanks in advance.

That error is typically caused by a defective or incompatible device
driver, probably related to the USB device.

In Device Manager remove all repeat all items in the "Universal Serial
Bus Controllers" category then shut down and restart the computer.
Windows will redetect the USB ports and reload the drivers, which will
hopefully resolve your issues.

Good luck

Ron Martell Duncan B.C. Canada
--
Microsoft MVP (1997 - 2006)
On-Line Help Computer Service
http://onlinehelp.bc.ca
Syberfix Remote Computer Repair

"Anyone who thinks that they are too small to make a difference
has never been in bed with a mosquito."

 

[burnie.nowax]

hey Ron, hanks for taking the time to respond. I did as you instructed,
and now there are a few fully installed Intel icons in the Universal
Serial Bus section of Device Manager, and four Unknown Devices in the
Other Devices Section. I'm also receiving a Found New Hardware Wizard
pop-up prompt. What can I do to get rid of the Unknown Devices and
Wizard? Thanks in advance.

 

[burnie.nowax]

actually, scratch my previous response to your reply. I hit Cancel on
the Found New Hardware Wizard, and Windows automatically went on to
detect all but one of the Unknown Devices, sending two or three
detected devices to the Universal Serial Bus section of Device Manager
and leaving one Unknown Device under the Other Device section, which is
exactly the situation I found myself in when I first noticed this
problem (although the laptop hasn't given me the Blue Screen Of Death
since taking your advice - fingers crossed). Any more advice at this
point? thanks again.