BAD_POOL_HEADER BSOD

January 4, 2008 6:52 AM

"BAD_POOL_HEADER" BSOD on Windows Vista

I have just bought a new computer with Windows Vista Home Premium on it, and recently (after a day or so of having it) I keep getting a BSOD, usually within a few minutes of logging on.

The BSOD reads: "BAD_POOL_HEADER" and the stop codes it gives are: 0x00000019 (0x00000020, 0x9B4D8808, 0x9B4D8888, 0x18100018)

Can anyone help with this? I have all Windows updates and drivers installed.

posted by edbyford to computers & internet (6 comments total)

According to Microsoft, "BAD_POOL_HEADER is, perhaps, the most obscure error message". They suggest undoing the most recent change you made to the system.
posted by burnmp3s at 7:09 AM on January 4, 2008

Could it be a bad stick of RAM? If you've got two, you can test them by pulling one out and running the computer to see if the BSOD comes up again. If it does, try the other stick. Alternatively you could use Memtest.
posted by kepano at 7:12 AM on January 4, 2008 [1 favorite has favorites]

Your install of Vista seems to have taken a header into the pool which didn't appear to have water in it. BSODs are indications of hardware issues or a serious system-level software error. From my googling, it appears that the BAD_POOL_ERROR is a pretty generic XP/Vista error and could be a lot of things. Some say the culprit is a Roxio driver for a DVD creator program conflicting with an Anti-virus. I also read that it could be due to the MS Indexing service. Stop errors are never good. You really should talk to the kind support desk at your PC Manufacturer on this one. I bet you a dollar the PC support will say you'll need to re-install the OS and the apps from scratch.
posted by birdherder at 7:13 AM on January 4, 2008

I second kepano's suspicion of bad RAM, also could be some other flaky piece of hardware.
posted by aerotive at 7:15 AM on January 4, 2008

1. Run MemTest. You'll want to have bad RAM ruled out whether or not it is causing this problem.
   
2. Install WinDbg and load your most recent minidump. It will probably immediately tell you what file it thinks is causing the problem.

posted by grouse at 7:35 AM on January 4, 2008

If you have anti-virus software installed, I would try disabling that as a first step. You may also check for newer versions of your Video Card driver from the manufacturer.
posted by jeffamaphone at 9:20 AM on January 4, 2008