IDECHNDR.SYS error (blue screen) on Dimension 4400

Question

Hi everyone, I have major problem with my home computer. I own a Dell Dimension 4400. It came with Windows XP Home Edition. Currently it is running XP service pack 2 (I upgraded to SP2 about 2 years ago). Recently I bought an ATI Radeon 9550 graphics card in order to play a new pc game. The owner's manual instructed me to make sure I had the latest intel drivers, etc. Therefore, I went to the intel site, downloaded the software utility and then the new driver just like it said to do (in the correct order). It installed an upgraded Intel Application Accelerator (which was dated back in 2002). I proceeeded to install the graphics drivers and all went fine, and the game works. However, now, when I do a virus scan using AVG or any online scan, the blue screen will appear with the IDECHNDR.SYS DRIVER_IRQL error after few minutes into the scan. It will also just randomly throw up the blue screen sometimes when we aren't doing anything on the machine, but it's usually during virus scans. I have researched it to death, and apparently I should not have downloaded that IAA. It seems that this driver is older than what SP2 was using. Now, I do not know how to get it back to the original state that it was in. I tried uninstalling the IAA last night and it told me to reboot, and Windows would not load after the reboot. All I get is my screen saver, no icons, and the hourglass. I had to reboot in DOS Safe Mode and grab the Dell CD to re-install the IAA that was on the cd that came with the computer. It rebooted me back into Windows but I still get the blue screen and I now have the very original IAA that came on the computer. sSmething tells me that SP2 replaced this driver or disabled it, but now I've re-introduced it onto the system and it's causing problems. Do you think if I uninstall SP2 and re-install it that this will cure the issue, or is there a way to disable the IAA without causing Windows not to load back up?

mombodog · Answer

Did you read this?   http://answers.google.com/answers/threadview?id=552945   I wonder if you even need IAA on the system to function?   What you can also do is exclude this IDECHNDR.SYS file from the virus scan.

djryval · Answer

thanks for the reply.  i read that link yesterday and i did try using the online scan but it also throws up the blue screen after while also.  what gets me is that most of the 'solutions' provided using a google search say to uninstall the iaa driver from the add/remove programs in the control panel.  that is the first thing i did and it told me that i had to reboot after it uninstalled (which seemed normal), but this totally messed everything up because windows would not re-load.  i would get the welcome screen, and then it would show my wallpaper background but the icons were missing, and it would just sit there and attempt to load something (hourglass would turn on and off).  i let it sit 20 minutes and it never would come back up.  i tried it maybe 5 times by turning it off and back on, same thing.  the only choice i had at this point was to cut the power again and reboot in safe mode.  it would not boot into windows safe mode either, just a black screen with the words 'safe mode' in both corners.  last resort was booting in safe DOS mode, and it finally brought me a C prompt.  i inserted the dell cd and retrieve the intel application accelerator from that cd and extracted it, installed, rebooted.  then everything came back up to my normal windows screen.  however, it did not cure the idechndr error from occuring during virus scans or when the screen save kicks in.  i can't figure out how to uninstall the iaa and make it reboot back into windows properly.  it's like i need some replacement driver before i reboot.

Windows General

IDECHNDR.SYS error (blue screen) on Dimension 4400

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