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hello IT support,

i have an issue with a laptop which keeps bluescreening. it's a fujitsu-siemens amilo li 1818 and was purchased in nov 07. up until recently it's been fine (albeit slow but i blame vista) but it recently started bluescreening unexpectedly and at random. there doesn't seem to be a particular cause.

so, my answer to these things is usually format, reinstall from fresh, job's a good 'un. first time the vista install failed, so i tried to install xp using a slipstreamed nlite disc i'd made with the raid drivers the laptop needs - this worked fine but unfortunately it's impossible to enable wireless on the laptop in xp, it doesn't recognise the drivers at all.

undeterred, i persevered with vista and got it working. easy install, all drivers installed fine, windows update went ahead with everything and i was in the process of installing software when it bluescreened. i noticed this seemed to happen mostly when browsing the net regardless of whether i was using firefox or IE. however, it had no problems when downloading 300mb of windows updates in one go.

the bluescreen error message is DRIVER_IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL and has referred to NETIO.SYS - though not always... i did some google hunting and didn't find much. iirc, IRQ issues are usually driver related so i tried uninstalling and reinstalling drivers in the "appropriate" method - i.e. uninstall, reboot, install, reboot - but still no luck. i've done two clean installs after formats and it's still behaving exactly the same.

i may try sticking a linux distro on there just to see if that will work.

Have you run Windows update?

not sure if you're being sarcastic but yes i did.

The old DRIVER_IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL error is a fucking bugbear and very difficult to assess.

Are you using Wifi or network cable?

I have had BSOD's with driver problems but normally the BSOD is due to a physical error...memory/graphics card/hard disk/cd rom failure etc.

Try removing the memory and clean it and the housing of any dust that has accumulated, make sure that the SATA connectors are plugged in solidly into the drive, make sure the wifi wires are plugged on firmly onto the wifi card......all accessible by removing the covers under the lappy.

Give that a go first, then give it another go.....normally the NETIO.SYS is related to the network adapter/wifi/card but not always, memory errors and hard disk errors can arrive in the wierdest of places.

Report back to the helpdesk asap!

If you have replaced the operating system it is almost certainly a hardware issue. Give it a good clean and up it up and reseat as many daughter boards as you can find.

No, I was googling and somebody claimed an MS hotfix had resolved a similar issue.

Also saw a similar issue regarding an unseated nvidia graphics card.

i was hoping i wouldn't have to open it. will give it a try though.

i'm using wifi jj :)

When you open the case there will be a little screwed in box with a short wire with a pressed on connector...that will be the wifi SY unplug it and clip it back on make sure its reseated, its a tiny little wire with a very small push fit connector, if thats dirty as well that can cause problems too.

okay, opened it up and checked everything - nothing seemed loose on inspection but ensured everything was safely seated.

booted it up, loaded windows, logged in, ran windows update - BAM. another BSOD.

...and now it won't boot :\

When you say doesnt boot SY is that nothing at all? or falls over on load up?

Might have to boot into safe mode and uninstall any drivers that have fucked up on the update.

won't boot at all. turn it on, power and hdd light comes on and i get a single POST beep

Faulty RAM.

Have you reseated everything correctly

i went out, came back and tried turning it on again - booted first time.

stupid thing

At least thats a bonus :) even if it hasnt solved your original problem!

fixed the cunt.

it was the drivers.

Excellent :)

Didn't know McLaren made laptops