ESET SS 4 and Win7 x64 BSODs

Briefly first: last Friday, my Lenovo X201 running 64-bit Windows 7 Ultimate started to give Blue Screens on wake-up or restart. I was able to localize the problem to a conflict with WLAN Autoconfig, and could even fix the problem by restarting with the wireless switch off and re-installing the driver, but it would BSOD as soon as I restarted. After a complete reinstall and a bunch of other stuff (see below), I realized that the problem went away when I uninstalled ESS 4. Right now I am using Windows Security Essentials and Windows Firewall. Since I paid for it and I think the protection is better, I would like to get ESS working again. I haven't tried ESS 5 yet. Is anyone else having this problem? What do you suggest I do? Below is a lot of detail that I posted elsewhere before I knew what the problem was. Thank you.

===
I've had a ThinkPad X201 (3626-CTO) for about a year. No problems until last Friday. Out of the blue (ahem), I got a Blue Screen when the computer woke up, and after that it blue screened every time it restarted in normal mode. However, it worked fine in Safe Mode with Networking. Basically by process of elimination, I was able to determine that it would run fine in normal mode with WLAN Autoconfig disabled (fine except that I couldn't use wireless). After repeated restarts with BSODs, two programs started acting flaky (Thunderbird and ESET IS) and had to be reinstalled. Then when I tried to run a scan with ESET, lots of files wouldn't open, and BSOD. I was convinced it was a failing HDD (which is a SSD).

All of the diagnostics I could run on the hardware gave no errors (HDD Diagnostic in BIOS, full diagnostics in Recovery platform, memtest86+). So, I guessed it might be just some odd filesystem error, so I restored the factory image. Everything worked. I installed a bunch of stuff (Office, Acrobat, Design Premium, ESET IS, Thunderbird, Firefox, Flash, iTunes, Quicktime, Java) and let a bunch of updates install, and all seemed well. Put it to sleep and took it home.

Fine on wakeup. Then I installed Dropbox, Skype and Chrome and let more updates install. It went to sleep. When it woke up, BSOD. BSOD on restart. When I turned off the WLAN Autoconfig service, it would start. If I uninstall and reinstall the Thinkpad 11/b/g/n driver, I can turn on the service and wireless works. But if I put it to sleep or restart, BSOD on wakeup and any restart after that. If I turn off the wireless on the switch, it will restart fine. I can uninstall and re-install the driver again, and it will restart and wireless will work again. But when it goes to sleep, BSOD on wakeup and any restart. Removing Dropbox and Skype does not help.

I just don't get it. Some interaction of sleep, the driver and the service is doing something wrong. But I have no idea why it worked fine for a year and just started doing this now. The driver is dated Nov 2010, so it's not new.

I'm running Windows 7 Ultimate x64, build 7601 SP1. The error is always:

DRIVER_IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL (d1)
Probably caused by : notskrnl.exe ( nt+7cc40 )

The wireless driver is 1.00.0029.2 for Thinkpad 11b/g/n Wireless LAN Mini-PCI Express Adapter II. Oh, and I have long ago uninstalled Access Connections, since it caused the PC to hang for a while when it was looking for a network. I also removed it after I restored the image. And I flashed the BIOS with the latest after I restored the image.

The only guess I have is a hardware error with the wireless adapter. But if so, I don't get why the driver reinstall helps or why it works in safe mode with networking.

Any help would be appreciated...

===
Some new but not terribly helpful info...

The most recent four crashes say:

Caused by driver: igdkmd64.sys
Caused by address: igdkmd64.sys+20beae
Crash address: ntoskrnl+7cc40
All are still the same error - DRIVER_IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL (d1)

I removed the Intel GMA driver (8.15.10.2401 from Lenovo) and could activate wireless. Sleep and hibernate were disabled; I guess they are tied to the GMA driver? When I restarted, BSOD. Back to the previous BSOD error. So no help. It's possible that the constant crashes on start-up are taking a toll on the filesystem. Twice now I've had to nuke the Thunderbird profile to get it to behave normally.

Thank you...

===
I think it's ESET Internet Security that's causing the problem. I can reinstall everything sleep and restart without problem. I've installed Microsoft Security Essentials in the meantime. I'll post one more time if I find out a solution that doesn't involve getting rid of ESET.

 

If you have a memory dump (a kernel or complete one) created, upload it somewhere and PM me the download link. We will analyze it and tell you the cause of BSOD. I'd also suggest installing ESS5 to see if it makes a difference. Even if the issue concerns a 3rd party driver, it might not manifest with the new v5 drivers.