Big Problem thats really annoying

[Mobsta]

Ok for the past few months i havent been able to rip any DVDs at all...the problem is when i try to encode with programs such as flaskmpeg and dvdx, after about 16megs of encoding, my computer freezes...ive made about 30 rips so far on this pc and it was going strong until a few months ago...ive tried all the divx codec, all the flask and dvdx versions and about 3 dvds and they all freeze during the encoding process...can someone pls help? its getting really frustrating...my pc specs are on my profile...
tnx...

[Hester21]

how long have you had xp on for??
what has changed since you have had problems (programs, hardware ??)

[Mobsta]

Ive had XP ever since i got this pc which has only been for 5 months or so...not even...
quite frankly i don't know every single change...ive install sp1 but ive ripped a few after that, that worked well...

[DigiToast]

Have you made any recent hardware changes to the computer or installed any new drivers, programs, etc?

One thing to check is your hard disks. From personal experience, I had a hard disk that was going bad (could tell from metallic clinks every now and then).. so I backed up all the data and continued to use it. After a few days of the hard disk sounds, I noticed that my encodes were always freezing the computer up or blue screening into the pesky IRQL_NOT_LESS_THAN_OR_EQUAL problem that NT people all fear like mad. All of this happened everytime I started to run things through TMPGenc. I formatted and reinstalled my OS hoping that it was some piece of software that I had installed that was messing things up, but no luck. The freezes continued for another day or so until the disk head finally gave out and the hard disk wouldn't post anymore.. ended up dumping the other hard disk in the RAID set and getting two new ones. (crashes seem to be a common fault with the IBM GXP 60 and 75 series.. there's actually a class action lawsuit out there for the 75.. but go figure, I have the 60s)

Anyhow, enough of my blabbering and stupid story =). I would suggest you check drivers and your system configuration. Defragging your disks would also be a good idea, and if your hard disk manufacturer has some sort of disk test program, it might be worthwhile to run it. Having a computer freeze at around the same spot in encoding everytime might mean that it's having problems accessing the place it's trying to write to. NT based operating systems are very stable and shouldn't freeze up constantly. Most freezes are going to be due to drivers, and sometimes hardware fault... so check around, and if you're absolutely stumped, a good 'ol format never hurts to help kick yourself into getting latest drivers (or known stable ones) off of the internet.

[Mobsta]

Omg...ive been getting the IRQL_NOT_LESS_THAN_OR_EQUAL for a while now...it only happened during a few games so i never thought it would be a problem associated with this...
actually a format can hurt because this computer is under warranty and id have to bring he comp to them to format and stuff cuz its raided...anyway ill do the defrag...im using western digital 80GB HDs...are there any HD check program u recommend?

[DigiToast]

Western Digital will have programs on their web site that you can download. Also, I hate to post this (as it may add unnecessary fright since we dont' know for sure it's your hard disks), but about two years ago, I had a hard disk crash in Win2k off of a Western Digital Caviar and I was getting IRQL errors... Don't worry too much about the IRQL though, as it could be any other hardware or driver in your system going bad.. Microsoft doesn't even give you straight answers about the IRQL issue on their support search (which generally is very good).

Since you are getting IRQL problems, however, you can look at your Event Viewer (Administrative Tools in Control Panel) and read through the error log. It may or may not be very helpful, as it sucks are reporting what really caused an error from what I've seen... but it's an option that you can look at.

[DigiToast]

Went and got you the link to the Western Digital tools:
http://support.wdc.com/download/index.asp

What you'd want to use is the DLG Diagnosic.

Also, I forgot to add, that the most commonly suggested solutions to IRQL problems are the following:
1.) Start pulling out hardware piece by piece until you find where the problem is. Once you do, figure out if it's the hardware itself by testing in another machine, or figure out if it was a simple driver program.
2.) Format the computer and install each hardware piece one at a time.. which is the same thing as #1, but eliminates other problems that could be related to programs messing things up and such.
Both of these solutions, however, would probably be against your warranty, so if you have any technical support options on the machine, then I'd start bugging the techs for help on the IRQL problem.

[Sefy]

I'm posting this below in Josh's name, he emailed me:

In reference to the following thread.


https://www.videohelp.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=373239&highlight=irql#373239


There is one thing to consider when blue screening to IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL. This is generally a file called win32k.sys trying to read or write to a place in memory that doesn't exist. Win32k.sys is executed in the kernal so it's a file win2k/xp can't run without. This error can be associated with incompatable drivers but you must debug the crash dump to know for sure. The first thing to check is your pc's proccessor temp, fan speed and voltage if your motherboard supports this, most newer PCs do. If not, open the case and make sure the processor cooling fan is turning and there is no dust in the heat sink. I know this sounds like a no brainer but I investigated this error from all aspects and if this is happening while encoding or your games crash back to the desktop, it's most likely overheating or a power issue. Also try encoding in safe mode, if you still get the blue screen, I'll betcha your proccessor's heatsink is dirty or the fan needs replacing.

Thanks, I can't post to the forum for some reason.

[Dave_man]

same error when i overclock too much or overheat