Stop Message Hardware Interrupt Storm Stop Code 0X000000F2
This error occurs when a hardware device (such as a USB or SCSI controller fails to release an IRQ, a condition typically caused by a buggy driver or firmware. This error can also appear if two devices are incorrectly assigned the same IRQ.
In operating systems, an interrupt storm is an event during which a processor receives an inordinate number of interrupts that consume the majority of the processor's time. Interrupt storms are typically caused by hardware devices that do not support interrupt rate limiting.
The most common interrupt storm is a faulty driver under an APIC (Advanced Programmable Interrupt Controller) where a device "behind" another signals an interrupt to the APIC. The OS then asks each driver on that interrupt if it was from its hardware. Faulty drivers may always claim "yes", but then proceed no further as the hardware attached actually did not interrupt. The device which originally interrupted did not get its interrupt serviced, so interrupts again and the cycle begins anew. The system locks dead under an interrupt storm. Only a kernel debugger can break the storm by unloading the faulty driver.
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