IRQL-NOT-LESS-OR-EQUAL problem

Hello, while I was at work tonight ... my wife called me in a frenzy to
let me know what was happening ... our Dell computer, two months old,
running Windows XP Media, gave the blue screen of death and did an
IRQL-NOT-LESS-OR-EQUAL error and a physical memory dump. This happened
spontaneously while my 8-year-old was on the computer playing
Solitaire.

My wife did right down what appeared on the screen before she shut the
computer down. It said:

STOP: 0x000000D1 (OxOOOOOOOC, Ox00000002, Ox00000000, 0xAA650F21)

Portcls.sys -- Address AA650F21, base at AA650000, DateStamp 4057e49.

I am aware this is a driver problem.

I need some advice as to how to troubleshoot this driver problem, as in
how should I go about tracking down and repairing what is wrong?

FYI, I did download some new software to the computer night before
last, a boxing game called Title Bout. It has substantial bells and
whistles and graphics, etc., although as I noted my son was playing the
regular Solitaire game that comes with Windows XP. Do I need to
uninstall that?

Also, I have had problems in the past week with Norton Ghost, which
came installed on my system for a trial run. Short version, the
software stopped making recovery points because it thought the backup
area of my hard drive was full but it isn't, and it was causing
problems with me trying to boot my system up, I know that was it
because it's absolutely the only variable that had changed on my
system. I contacted Symantec on that and did what they told me to, and
I'm no longer having the bootup problems but the software is still not
working like it is supposed to, it's not creating any reference points
at all because it thinks the backup part of my hard drive is full when
it's not. I'm about ready to uninstall that, but could this be
contributing to my problems?

Thanks in advance for any help.

you can google for an answer or call dell if it only two months old and one
other
bit of advice don't download anything unless you know it comes from a
reputable site
this question has been asked and answered hundreds of times, you are not
alone.

wrote in message
oups.com...
Hello, while I was at work tonight ... my wife called me in a frenzy to
let me know what was happening ... our Dell computer, two months old,
running Windows XP Media, gave the blue screen of death and did an
IRQL-NOT-LESS-OR-EQUAL error and a physical memory dump. This happened
spontaneously while my 8-year-old was on the computer playing
Solitaire.

My wife did right down what appeared on the screen before she shut the
computer down. It said:

STOP: 0x000000D1 (OxOOOOOOOC, Ox00000002, Ox00000000, 0xAA650F21)

Portcls.sys -- Address AA650F21, base at AA650000, DateStamp 4057e49.

I am aware this is a driver problem.

I need some advice as to how to troubleshoot this driver problem, as in
how should I go about tracking down and repairing what is wrong?

FYI, I did download some new software to the computer night before
last, a boxing game called Title Bout. It has substantial bells and
whistles and graphics, etc., although as I noted my son was playing the
regular Solitaire game that comes with Windows XP. Do I need to
uninstall that?

Also, I have had problems in the past week with Norton Ghost, which
came installed on my system for a trial run. Short version, the
software stopped making recovery points because it thought the backup
area of my hard drive was full but it isn't, and it was causing
problems with me trying to boot my system up, I know that was it
because it's absolutely the only variable that had changed on my
system. I contacted Symantec on that and did what they told me to, and
I'm no longer having the bootup problems but the software is still not
working like it is supposed to, it's not creating any reference points
at all because it thinks the backup part of my hard drive is full when
it's not. I'm about ready to uninstall that, but could this be
contributing to my problems?

Thanks in advance for any help.