Apologies if this is in the wrong section - some friends say its xp, others say hardware related. My PC is blue-screening on a regular basis, usually when I open either Outlook Express or Windows Media Player.
The most often error message is 'irql les than equal' altghough I experience a variety of error messages.
Any ideas what this could be?
When my PC blue screens, it most often does again on reboot (and again) and I usually resolve by powering off and leaving it for the day (very technical, I know)
On restart after a lengthy pause, all is ok..... at least until the next time.
Thanks

Please post the exact error messages. With the IRQL there should be something like this: IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL Stop 0X0000000A(0X00000004,0X00000002,0X00000000,0X804F 1A9E) yes?

You can also check your Event Viewer for errors.

If your errors are shutting down Windows;

You can turn off the feature that instructs XP to autostart on system
failure. Right click on My Computer and select Properties->Advanced
Tab->Startup & Recovery section->Settings button->uncheck "Automatically
restart" Apply. This will give you a blue screen with info on it and you
will have to manually restart the computer. The info might give you an idea
whether or not the problem is hardware or software related.

Is this any help?

Sorry for the delay - i've been waiting for the error to happen again to capture the full message.
It was:
IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL Stop 0X0000000A 0X74080080,0X00000002,0X00000000,0X806c75bc)
so extremely similar to the one you wrote.
It's happened again and some of the characters were slightly different but in the same vein.
It has been suggested to me that this could be graphics card related rather than an xp prob, does this seem likely that it's hardware related given the error message?
Thanks again

Edit: Fault just happened again and additional info after similar error message: NVENET.sys Address 0xf9cad28f base at f9ca7088 datestamp 3d2cacc4. Any clues??
Thanks

nvenet.sys (nVidia network driver).

Go to Start > Run > dxdiag
Search thru all the areas for errors.

Also search the Device manager for driver problems (yellow "!")
Rt click My Computer then click Manage then Device Manager.


Also see if this microsoft doc helps you any:

Troubleshooting a Stop 0x0000000A error in Windows XP

Excerpts:

Stop error 0x0000000A (Stop 0x0A) indicates that there was an attempt in kernel mode to touch pageable memory at too high a process internal request level (IRQL). Typically, this error occurs when a driver uses an incorrect memory address. Other possible causes of this error are an incompatible device driver, a general hardware problem, and incompatible software.

A Stop 0x0A error after Windows XP is already installed:
If you receive the Stop 0x0A error after Windows XP is already installed, use the following troubleshooting methods to verify other components.

Examine third-party software or drivers:
If you have installed any third-party software or drivers, try removing them or disabling them so that they do not load, and then restart the computer to see whether that software or driver is causing the error. If that software or driver is causing the error, report the problem to the vendor of the software or driver.



& here are 2 googles for more reading:

1

2

Thank you very much for responding and for such detail.