When it comes to the hardware level, Interrupts were designed so that resource requests don’t get into a deadlock. In simple words, it is used to break a never-ending loop. The developers also designed levels to prioritize the interrupts. Its also called as Interrupt Request Level (IRQL). If you happen to see an error Bugcode 0xA – IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL, it means a driver has illegally accessed a memory location while NT is operating at a specific IRQL.
Fix IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL Blue Screen
This is a fatal driver coding error. As an end-user, there is not much you can do.
If you are a developer, your code is trying to access an invalid memory location. You can check on different parameters like the memory location that was referenced, the code address that referenced the memory. The technical Parameters are:
- 1 – memory location that was referenced
- 2 – IRQL at time of reference
- 3 – 0 = read, 1 = write
- 4 – code addressed which referenced memory
In Windows 7 this issue could also occur because Power Manager opens an Advanced local procedure call (ALPC) port. However, Power Manager closes another port instead of closing the ALPC port. Every time that a power request is made, a memory leak occurs. When the leaked memory usage accumulates to a certain level, the computer crashes.
As an end-user, you can only do a few things.
1] Run Hardware Troubleshooter
If you are getting BSOD because of this, it’s best to boot into Safe Mode and run the inbuilt Hardware Troubleshooter. Go to Settings > Update & Security > Troubleshooter. Click on the Hardware Troubleshooter, and it should be able to fix the issue. If you have old hardware, you might have to replace in case the troubleshooter is not able to resolve it.
2] Rollback or Reinstall compatible driver
It is possible that a recent update of Windows resulted in an incompatible driver. You will need to either roll back or reinstall the driver. You could also download the latest driver from the OEM website or uninstall the update from Windows to make it work again. The updated driver might try to access a memory area which it should not.
3] Run the Windows Blue Screen Troubleshooter
Run the Windows Blue Screen Troubleshooter from Microsoft is a wizard that is meant to help novice users fix their Stop Errors. It will help you fix this Blue Screen error and offers helpful links along the way.
What causes IRQL not less or equal error in Windows 11?
IRQL NOT LESS OR EQUAL BSOD error appears in Windows 11 when your code tries to access an invalid memory location. It is mainly a driver-related error that appears when the predefined memory location is not valid. To eliminate this problem, you must install the compatible version of the respective driver.
What is bug check code 0xA?
Bugcode 0xA and IRQL NOT LESS OR EQUAL errors are the same that appear in Windows 11 as well as Windows 10 computers. As said earlier, this error occurs when your driver’s code tries to access an invalid memory location. For your information, this particular error is also called Interrupt Request Level (IRQL).
Related errors:
- DRIVER_IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL
- IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL Blue Screen when you open Microsoft Edge.
There are more generic suggestions here that can help you fix Windows Stop Errors or Blue Screen of Death.
All the best!
