R50p Blue screen IRQL Not less or equal error

[seaweedsl]

I am having a problem with my R50p, but think I have found the cause as well as a workaround and eventual solution.

Basically it's the same as the poster in this thread, whick goes into more detail: http://forum.thinkpads.com/posting.php? ... ddc5208d97

Here's a brief rundown in case it helps others: Over a month or so I increasingly got bluescreen reboots with the IRQL not less or equal error. Once every few days at first, then daily or more.

I googled it and found it's usually attributed to RAM, harddrive, driver issues. PC doctor 5 (Windows and DOS) found nothing.

It was only by accident that I installed NHC (Notebook Hardware Control) right before running the OCCT utility which stresses the RAM and CPU. I noticed that when OCCT started my CPU shot up from 45 to over 76 and the NHC alarm went off. I then saw the temp continue to 90 very quickly and panicked, I shut off the CPU/RAM test and it dropped back down.

I then set the max multiplier to 14 and everything is working well now. Have not had one IRQL error since then.

The funny thing is that the thermal sensor did not shut the machine down, rather it was the windows error (caused by overheated failing components?) that shut it down.

I have ordered some better Thermal compound (Artic Silver Ceramic)
and expect it to respond well to a cleaning and new, more careful application. The MB should not be terribly dusty as it's been less than a year since I installed it, but I expect that my CPU/TPaste installation can be improved.

So, I believe I've got it under control - just adding this here for the general knowledge base for the R series.

Cheers,
Steve

[jflores]

Hi, thanks for sharing your experience. I happen to stumble on your post about a week after I did some serious work on my own R50p overheating causing CPU halts and lockup problems.

At idle, my GPU would constantly be around 75-80 °C, same as the CPU.

Under stress (well sort of), what I would call average use, though Google Earth puts the GPU to heavy use, temperature would go through the roof : 90-95 °C for both, and eventually shut-off would occur.

First thing I decided to do is use Arctic Silver Ceramique thermal paste, which according to what I read around the web, worked at least as good as Arctic Silver 5 (it is however, spec'd to perform better after 300 hours of use).

I disassembled the CPU fan and dusted it off very thoroughly (it needed it), and unscrewed carefully the GPU heatsink -recommended. I carefully cleaned the factory-installed thermal paste off the heatsink and the GPU with alcohol, so it was completely clean. I then applied this thermal paste by spreading it with a flat screwdriver all over the GPU surface (the paste is not liquid enough to be spreaded by the heatsink pressure alone) and then put back the heatsink and screws.

I did the same for the CPU : clean off the factory thermal paste, then apply and spread Arctic Silver Ceramique on the cpu heatsink.

On an additional note, I also changed the CPU itself, from the stock 1.7 Ghz (Banias technology) to a 2.0Ghz (Dothan technology, smaller manufacturing process, and known to run a bit cooler although at a higher speed). Both have a TDP (Thermal design package) of 25W, so I figured it would be fine.

Final result of these three actions is spectacular.

Idle temp is now around 55-60 °C.
Full load goes up to 70-75 °C MAX.

I even tried under XP, Vista and a Win7 beta (latter two stress the components a tad more than XP), and the R50p sails along happily.

I am very happy with this work, and although I bought an R61 about a year ago, still can't decide to put my R50p aside. Since it has been "rejuvenated", I even use it half of the time.

Hope this helps,
Joscelyn

[seaweedsl]

Thanks for your excellent detailed post, Joselyn. I am still waiting for my Thermal paste to arrive here (the first order was lost) but expect to have similar results.

The most important takeaway for me from all this is that the IRQL not less or equal error can be due to overheating of the CPU, among other things.

Having a way to measure and regulate the temperature such as NHC really helps dianoses.

Steve