uTorrent apparently causing blue screens

[xaveko]

uTorrent has been causing blue screen

Hi,

I've been experiencing the worst problem a Windows user can ever have. This time, I'm facing the DRIVER_IQRL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL error. The brief error message also says I should search for "netio.sys" for more information about the error.

Since it looked to be related to uTorrent, I did a search on this forum, and found this topic:

http://forum.utorrent.com/viewtopic.php?id=123982

I decided to open a new one because that was one year old and I don't like hijacking people's discussions.

First, I thought it was about hard drive I/O errors, download speed larger than the writing capabilities (considering the # of torrents loaded), but no; I've just performed a lot of copy-and-paste operations of huge files for backup and the HD did not complain. So I took uTorrent out of the startup list and the problem was gone.

But I had to download something, of course, then I opened uTorrent. Not more than 3 minutes after, I get the BSOD error mentioned above. I can download something if I'm lucky, but there is no security.

So, noticing uT was taking a long time at the "queue seed" status for a lot of torrents (around 70), taking over 5-10 minutes to actually begin the seed and upload, I thought it was about the # of connections or the cache size. Then I set my cache at uT to 512MB, and no luck. Since I thought this was not related, I downsized to 256MB again.

My Setup:

Processor: Intel Core i5 3450 @3.1GHz

MoBo: Gigabyte Z77M-D3H

Memory: 8192MB DDR3 Corsair 1333MHz

VGA: VGA: Saphire ATI Radeon HD 7770 1024MB 128 bits

Hard Drive #1: Western Digital WD5000AAKX-003CA0 465GB 7200RPM (raid 0 with HD#2)

Hard Drive #2: Seagate ST3500413AS 465 GB 7200RPM

Hard Drive #3: Samsung SP11614C ATA 160GB 8MB 7200RPM

Hard Drive #4: Western Digital WD20EARX 1863GB IntelliPower

Power Supply: Corsair VX450

OS: Windows 8.1 Pro

I don't know what to do. All I know is that uTorrent is very likely to be connected to the error. I already run Windows Updadireito; talking of, it had an update yesterday, but didn't fix. I can use my computer for hours, play a lot and work on many applications. BUT if I do start uTorrent, then we can gamble about the time in seconds until it shows the blue screen with that error followed by a reboot.

BlueScreenView, which I used to read the minidump files, reported this:

Filename

NETIO.SYS

Address In Stack

NETIO.SYS+1a43f

From Address

fffff800`00d5a000

To Address

fffff800`00dd3000

Size

0x00079000

Time Stamp

0x5215f7e4

Time String

41508,40079

Product Name

Microsoft® Windows® Operating System

File Description

Network I/O Subsystem

File Version

6.3.9600.16384 (winblue_rtm.130821-1623)

Company

Microsoft Corporation

Full Path

C:\WINDOWS\system32\drivers\NETIO.SYS

Other much likely relevant thing to mention is that I use Comodo Internet Security free. No McAfee, which is known for causing it. Another curiosity, most likely irrelevant, is that my VGA has been overheating while playing. Both issues started at the same time.

Does anyone have any ideas of how to fix it? What other info do you need? I need uTorrent and my computer up and running, guys! :|

[ciaobaby]

Faulty network card or drivers, uTorrent is the catalyst NOT the cause.

[xaveko]

I alreay updated the network drivers... plus the HDD are not behaving in a funny way, no clicks and no symptoms of misread/write... could it be related to the RAID 0?

And how exactly uTorrent acts as a catalyst? What exactly does it trigger? It's being a very difficult thing to pinpoint the culprit. (No, I'm not arguing about uT being the cause).

In that other topic someone mentioned something about the security suite (firewall, antivirus and behaviour monitor, like Comodo does). But the problem has ocurred today once again, this time with the security suite off.

EDIT: could this also have something to do with I having recently upgraded my broadband speed from 20 to 60mbps (download only, upload is a small fraction of it). They replaced my cable modem (the leased one) for the Motorola Surfboard SVG6582. Can't find anything about this model online.

[ciaobaby]

And how exactly uTorrent acts as a catalyst? What exactly does it trigger?

It triggers some behaviour that then creates a conflict with a "privileged" application running in "Ring 0", as it is really only applications and drivers running in Ring Zero can cause "blue screen" events.

One example is this iSafe is a virus removal tool that has to have Ring 0 privilege to work successfully.

Sometimes it is not the driver implicated in the BSOD report, but THAT is the primary suspect until eliminated.

[xaveko]

I understand.

Do you have any tips for me?

[ciaobaby]

Look at what is installed on your machine that could, or does run in ring zero and requires 'lockable' access to data that netio.sys (the network driver) is handling, or third party applications that are providing network control

These include:

Anti virus scanners;

Anti spyare scanners;

Download managers;

Network "Quality of Service" (QoS) tools

system "checking" tools that interfere with many processes

Etc. Etc. Anything that requires 'low level access' could be the real culprit, uTorrent, or any BitTorrent client could be the catalyst because they do produce high volume requests to the network for data, and not necessarily payload data, especially if your setup has an unfeasibly and pointlessly large value for allowed connections.

[xaveko]

Thanks for the tips. I'm really desperate.

The only thing that matches that description is the Comodo Internet Security. Recently I began using "Everything", but this has no relation, I was introduced to the file searching program after I created this topic. In fact, I was seeking a tasks-and-services reporting program besides Piriform Speccy, since this is suspected of causing other problems too. Also there is Rainmeter, with a simple skin to monitor cpu usage, HDD space, RAM usage, etc. Other thing which I'm not sure is Razer Synapse, that manages the mouse settings across the 'cloud'. I have a feeling that Synapse has a above-average clearance level. The last thing I believe it is worth listing here is FileZilla server, service which I leave running until I want to transfer files over my Lan network. I believe it doesn't run elevately, though.

Any other idea on the solution?

Other uTorrent question: do the connections to other peers count agressively against the number of network requests, or there should be an active and fast download or upload transfer in progress in order to uTorrent to light the fuse?

[xaveko]

Anyone?

[ciaobaby]

do the connections to other peers count agressively against the number of network requests

Yes, because ANY communication that goes beyond the confines of your machine goes via a network connector of one kind or another.

[dyerseve]

ciaobaby is dead on, utorrent isn't to blame but it does "cause" the problem to result in a BSOD.

In my case I decided it was utorrents, fault and moved everything to Tixati and then found it too would BSOD.

I finally found a thread that described my problem exactly, it was Networx and bandwidth monitoring program.

I would try uninstalling your Internet Security program and Rainmeter (which likely has components to track bandwidth as well)

The other thing that might help is run bluescreenview, and check the items at the bottom in your crash stack, these are drivers loaded when the system crashed, sort by product name and look for anything not Microsoft, and again focus on items related to network functions, remove products that install these drivers and you might track it down.

Good luck it is an infuriating BSOD.

[Andreasvb]

I use both NetWorx and Rainmeter, no problem since May 2012 and around 10 TB traffic.