G
Guest
My PC no longer boots up. Normal boot locks. Safe mode stops at drvmain.sdb.
Booting from the XP disk and selecting recovery console or install gives me a
blue screen with the stop error 0x0000000A IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL
i can't boot, i can't reinstall and i can't run recovery console. i've been
trying to fix this for a little over a week with no success
For those willing to help me (thanks in advance), here's my details:
Windows XP Pro SP2
PC is about 18 months old. nVidia motherboard, AMD64
Components: nVidia video card, 3 Western Digital HDs, 1 CD, 1 DVD.
Everything else is on the motherboard (motherboard has audio and ethernet, no
video)
Configuration has never chaned. Haven't really had any problems
i use Windows Update to update my service packs, etc.
i recently updated the nVidia drivers to the latest stable release
- There was never a crash. i just rebooted one day and it refused to come up.
- i rarely reboot. Maybe once a month
- None of the hardware appears broken (and it all worked 5 seconds before
the reboot)
- i've tried removing all unnecessary hardware but there's not really have
much i can remove. i've unplugged the network, USB mouse and CD/DVD to see if
it would make any difference (it doesn't).
- i've removed all the dust inside.
- Last Known Good Configuration hangs
- Safe Mode hangs at drvmain.sdb
- Booting from XP CD and choosing recovery console hangs with
IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL message (supposed to mean i have a bad driver)
- Booting from XP and trying to reinstall hangs with IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL
message
- Booting from an older MSDN XP Home disc gives me the same problem
- Reset all BIOS settings to safe modes, turned off all shadowing and
caching (of which i have none)
- Have tried begging and pleading with PC
- Have asked everyone i know. i've been told this is a common recent problem
due to a recent Microsoft patch corrupting drvmain.sdb (the driver
compatibility file), making it hang when it encounters certain hardware.
Can't find anything about this on Microsoft's site though
- Google shows a fair number of people with this problem. They replace
drvmain.sdb with an older (pre-Microsoft patch) version from another
computer. But i cannot get to a command line so i can't do this
- One friend suggested i give up trying to fix this, buy a new hard drive,
somehow install Windows on it and reinstall everything (not sure i can
install Windows - i'm booting from a Windows CD now with no luck; not real
thrilled at losing everything i already have installed)
i'm not completely computer illiterate but i am out of ideas and i'm
actually begining to think i can't fix this without buying a new PC (then i
remember i'm a teacher and can't afford a new one)
-baylor
Booting from the XP disk and selecting recovery console or install gives me a
blue screen with the stop error 0x0000000A IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL
i can't boot, i can't reinstall and i can't run recovery console. i've been
trying to fix this for a little over a week with no success
For those willing to help me (thanks in advance), here's my details:
Windows XP Pro SP2
PC is about 18 months old. nVidia motherboard, AMD64
Components: nVidia video card, 3 Western Digital HDs, 1 CD, 1 DVD.
Everything else is on the motherboard (motherboard has audio and ethernet, no
video)
Configuration has never chaned. Haven't really had any problems
i use Windows Update to update my service packs, etc.
i recently updated the nVidia drivers to the latest stable release
- There was never a crash. i just rebooted one day and it refused to come up.
- i rarely reboot. Maybe once a month
- None of the hardware appears broken (and it all worked 5 seconds before
the reboot)
- i've tried removing all unnecessary hardware but there's not really have
much i can remove. i've unplugged the network, USB mouse and CD/DVD to see if
it would make any difference (it doesn't).
- i've removed all the dust inside.
- Last Known Good Configuration hangs
- Safe Mode hangs at drvmain.sdb
- Booting from XP CD and choosing recovery console hangs with
IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL message (supposed to mean i have a bad driver)
- Booting from XP and trying to reinstall hangs with IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL
message
- Booting from an older MSDN XP Home disc gives me the same problem
- Reset all BIOS settings to safe modes, turned off all shadowing and
caching (of which i have none)
- Have tried begging and pleading with PC
- Have asked everyone i know. i've been told this is a common recent problem
due to a recent Microsoft patch corrupting drvmain.sdb (the driver
compatibility file), making it hang when it encounters certain hardware.
Can't find anything about this on Microsoft's site though
- Google shows a fair number of people with this problem. They replace
drvmain.sdb with an older (pre-Microsoft patch) version from another
computer. But i cannot get to a command line so i can't do this
- One friend suggested i give up trying to fix this, buy a new hard drive,
somehow install Windows on it and reinstall everything (not sure i can
install Windows - i'm booting from a Windows CD now with no luck; not real
thrilled at losing everything i already have installed)
i'm not completely computer illiterate but i am out of ideas and i'm
actually begining to think i can't fix this without buying a new PC (then i
remember i'm a teacher and can't afford a new one)
-baylor