BSOD error DRIVER_IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL (stornvme.sys), reboot-loop

hellothere1337

Commendable
Jul 5, 2016
2
0
1,510
Tried my luck on Sevenforums too, but it seems quiet out there. I'm wondering if I have better chance here :) So a copy-paste from there follows:

Hello.

I have a laptop here which just keeps on restarting, it's pretty much in a reboot-loop and on booting it splashes a BSOD. The exact error is: DRIVER_IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL (and the cause seems to be "stornvme.sys"). I took a picture of it, seen below:

JR60dtw.jpg



Laptop's brand is MSI, and the exact version is: MSI GS60 6QE-098XPL. Here's the synopsis what got me to this BSOD-error.

It's my friend's laptop. It came with no OS preinstalled. My friend wanted a Windows 7 installation and he also had an installation disc, and from the contents of the disc I made a bootable USB. The MSI's website has Windows 7 drivers, so I thought I'd give it a go.

But it didn't go that seamlessly, as with the older laptops or PCs. So I booted up the USB-stick, but the Windows 7 setup couldn't list the SSD drive. But I wanted to install the W7 to the SSD, not the HDD. So after hours of googling and trying different solutions, I finally found this guide.

So the guide told me to get NTLite, slipstream a Windows Update file that would make the setup recognise the SSD, copy 2 files from the Windows 10 iso and replace them in the Windows 7 folder. Then I copied the files to the USB and miraculously it listed the SSD. So I successfully installed Windows 7 on the SSD, but after the setup went to restart, I thought it'd continue with the installation, but it'd just start in the reboot-loop, displaying this BSOD, which I specified above in the post.

So I googled about this BSOD. The search term: '"DRIVER_IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL" "stronvme.sys"' did not give any promising results. Apparently this "stronvme.sys" has something to do with the SSD, being a driver of some sort.

I've tried to boot into "Safe Mode" and "Safe Mode with Networking" and it'd load a bunch of things on the screen, but after that it'd still display the BSOD and then start restarting, and the same thing keeps looping.

I'm pretty confident, that I wouldn't have this BSOD problem with the Windows 10, but he insists, he wants Windows 7.

I'm wondering what chances do I have? Is it impossible to get this machine a Windows 7? Does anyone have ideas, how I could resolve the BSOD error? Keep in mind, that I can't boot to the desktop, so I can't install any software or troubleshoot with the Windows' tools.


I'd be glad, if there's someone out there willing to help me.

Cheers,
hellothere1337
 
Solution
the machine has hardware that just did not exist when windows 7 was released.
I would, update the BIOS, update the thunderbolt firmware
(if you can)

or I would go into BIOS and disable some hardware options and attempt to install on the core hardware. Then install the driver updates for the hardware on the machine, boot into bios, reboot back into windows and install the hardware drivers for the motherboard. (then after it works make a backup of the system)

I would guess the motherboard vendor has a custom built version of windows 7 with all of the proper drivers on it.
or they might just have special instructions on how to install windows 7 on this machine.

new laptop with new hardware attempting to run very old software like...

Colif

Win 11 Master
Moderator
Was this part of the fix? https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/2990941

stronvme.sys is tied to nvme devices, and from what i can tell wasn't part of win 7 natively and needs to be patched in. I don't think using win 10 file versions is the best long term answer.

all the guides i find assume you want to use a Samsung 950 for some reason: http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/guide-installing-windows-7-on-an-nvme-ssd-from-a-usb-3-0-thumbdrive.783921/
 

hellothere1337

Commendable
Jul 5, 2016
2
0
1,510


The guide you linked to the Notebookreview forum seemed pretty hopeful, but a problem surfaced in the step "Install Windows" and in step 7, where I have to select the newly made partition, it just wouldn't let me click on next. I have the following error (0x80300001) like shown on the screenshot, I found somewhere:

Error-0x80300001-when-installWindows-with-KVM.jpg


But this tutorial guide gave me some hope. The whole thing seems so logical, yet in the end of the guide, something like always, doesn't work :(
But thank you for guiding me to the tutorial. If you've got any ideas, what might have gone wrong, I'd be glad.

Cheers,
hellothere1337
 
the machine has hardware that just did not exist when windows 7 was released.
I would, update the BIOS, update the thunderbolt firmware
(if you can)

or I would go into BIOS and disable some hardware options and attempt to install on the core hardware. Then install the driver updates for the hardware on the machine, boot into bios, reboot back into windows and install the hardware drivers for the motherboard. (then after it works make a backup of the system)

I would guess the motherboard vendor has a custom built version of windows 7 with all of the proper drivers on it.
or they might just have special instructions on how to install windows 7 on this machine.

new laptop with new hardware attempting to run very old software like windows 7 is a pretty bad combination.
be sure to get updated current versions of all of the motherboard driver but for windows 7.
(ie someone had to back port and compile for windows 7, something that will be harder to get as time goes by especially for new hardware.)
--------
give me a minute to look at the machine specs to see if I can see why it bugchecked.
-------
the bugcheck is in stornvme.sys Microsoft NVM Express Storport Miniport Driver (Win 8.1)
the date of the driver =5428b183 = Time: Sun Sep 28 18:10:27 2014

the data the driver is using is corrupted so I would not blame the driver for bugchecking.




 
Solution