Blue Screen of death Windows 10 - driver_irql_not_less_or_equal ( netio.sys)

noname128

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Sep 26, 2015
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Been battling this BSOD for a while and cannot track it down.I used Whocrashed and each error mostly reads the same:

"crash dump file: C:\WINDOWS\Minidump\121315-10796-01.dmp
This was probably caused by the following module: netio.sys (0xFFFFF8004BE5DC72)
Bugcheck code: 0xD1 (0x50, 0x2, 0x0, 0xFFFFF8004BE5DC72)
Error: DRIVER_IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL
file path: C:\WINDOWS\system32\drivers\netio.sys
product: Microsoft® Windows® Operating System
company: Microsoft Corporation
description: Network I/O Subsystem
Bug check description: This indicates that a kernel-mode driver attempted to access pageable memory at a process IRQL that was too high.
This appears to be a typical software driver bug and is not likely to be caused by a hardware problem.
The crash took place in a standard Microsoft module. Your system configuration may be incorrect. Possibly this problem is caused by another driver on your system that cannot be identified at this time. "

Anyone know how I would track down the problematic driver? I have dealt with this issue before but it seemed to go away on it's own for a few months then started happening again. The only change I can recall is updated Nvidia drivers - anyone have those causing such issues?
 
Solution
I get the same, and similar issues.

*I did NOT get them on Windows 8.1, and since W10 was installed they've been constant.

Points:
1. It MAY be related to my audio card though I doubt it. (its an Auzentech, though the unofficial drivers based on Creative's stuff should work fine.)

I am going to remove my audio card soon, and the software for it and see if that helps.

2. Roughly one failure per day on average.

3. Clean install of W10 did not fix
(so for me, it's NOT a virus, or corrupt files.)

4. No Linux issues but I may not have used it enough. Linux mint. I still think it's a software issue since things worked fine with W8.1.

5. Swapped DDR3 memory (and tested with Memtest86)

6. Swapped Power Supply.

Best guess?
NVidia...

koffeeshop77

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Jun 9, 2015
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you have malware, clean it up. with free malwarebytes, it is not a driver issue.
http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows8_1-update/systemserviceexception-netiosys-help/bdf2d4d4-8db6-412c-8432-b5c83f733d06?auth=1
which lead me to
product: Network Flow Control SDK
which leads me
https://www.reasoncoresecurity.com/nfc_driver.sys-b62fd5bc1aafee7128a30993f0396b578e3fec18.aspx
so boot scan antivirus eg AVAST=virus and malwarebyts =malware . both free products.
you must do both not one or the other!both to get all clean.

it is not drivers!
 

noname128

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Sep 26, 2015
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Alright, so I made it worse - did a clean install of all Nvidia software, full scan with virus+malware programs and still got the error after I thought maybe it had been fixed. So I tried running verifier.exe and now I can't even boot it. I'm getting the error 'driver_page_fault_in_freed_special_pool' - so I can't boot up at all. If I use F8 to try and get to safe mode it just gets to a black screen that asks me to select a boot device or disk. (won't let me do anything when I press keys)
 

simondclinch

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Jun 19, 2014
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I have been working for several months now with Windows 10 and a couple of years previously with 8.1. After many BSODs and reinstalls here are my conclusions:

There are two types of causes of DRIVER_IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL and each type has a different workaround approach.

Firstly you will need a spare drive of about 1TB for backup and about 100GB reserved on the C drive for system restore (failing that switch to linux e.g. Ubuntu which has negligible overheads). If you use a laptop, you will need an external USB drive for this (or switch to linux). And if your laptop has less than 465 GB hard disk space, you have no reasonable option other than linux instead of Windows 8/10.

Use the backup drive to keep system backups which are likely to exceed 80GB per backup plus whatever you need to backup your personal files.

For a third line of defence, use the Media Creation Tool to create a bootable windows installation disk (although it can be mounted without burning to DVD - I keep it both on hard disk AND on dvd) should you need to reset the PC after restore and backup fail.

Assuming you are still reading this and so your device meets the (real) minimum requirements for windows, you will need to create restore points on a regular basis - one after you install Windows - one when you have stocked it with apps and after that make candidate restore points after successful update or installations.

Then if the IRQL error happens, but the system restarts successfully, check whether or not it happened during system update or checking for updates. If so, it is probably NOT caused by any driver or software error but is a bug in the update mechanism. So make sure it recurs before going the restore route.

If the problem recurs and it cannot be attributed to update, you should have plan A (system restore) now in place. If you decide that an earlier good restore was okay but have restore points after that date, when needing to restore to a good restore point, having done so delete all restore points on the C drive and create a new 'good restore' point (you cannot cherry pick what to keep because they are incremental and will otherwise eventually run out of restore point space even after allowing 100GB for it).

If your good restore point stays bad after all, your second line of defence should be a system image backup (weekly scheduled is about the right frequency) and finally if that doesn't fix the problem, you are left with reset.

If you have to restore owing to an actual driver error, It is usually pretty obvious which driver was the culprit and you just have to wait for a new version before updating that driver again! Watch out for automatic driver updates and ensure your backup and restore point labels reflect them and keep an administrators log of everything you see and do administratively on your system.



 

LukeFatwalker

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Dec 29, 2015
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Sounds to me like drivers are either incompatible with an element of your computer or are corrupted. Try re-installing them.

If this is a persistent issue, you could always re-format the computer and install a snapshot program like Comodo Time Machine or Rollback rx and go through the drivers. When the error pops up, just go back to before you installed that driver. That will be the best way to find out, unless your manufacturer has a diagnostic tool of sorts.
 
I get the same, and similar issues.

*I did NOT get them on Windows 8.1, and since W10 was installed they've been constant.

Points:
1. It MAY be related to my audio card though I doubt it. (its an Auzentech, though the unofficial drivers based on Creative's stuff should work fine.)

I am going to remove my audio card soon, and the software for it and see if that helps.

2. Roughly one failure per day on average.

3. Clean install of W10 did not fix
(so for me, it's NOT a virus, or corrupt files.)

4. No Linux issues but I may not have used it enough. Linux mint. I still think it's a software issue since things worked fine with W8.1.

5. Swapped DDR3 memory (and tested with Memtest86)

6. Swapped Power Supply.

Best guess?
NVidia drivers for my GTX680?

I'll probably swap my card and just use the Intel iGPU, but that means no gaming and I need to test for several days since I can sometimes go that long without errors. Constant errors are easier to troubleshoot.
 
Solution