# Solved: (BSOD) BAD_POOL_HEADER caused by ntoskrnl.exe



## crimsonedge11 (Sep 19, 2012)

I've gotten 2 BSOD's in the last 2 days from the above error and file .

I haven't had any problems before, and this PC is 1 year old.

I've ran malwarebytes, CCleaner, Free windows registry fix, Avast Antivirus (Including a pre-boot scan), and didn't come across anything terribly serious as far as malware/viruses. 

Any suggestions on what might be causing this? I'd prefer to troubleshoot software issues first, and leave hardware issues as a last resort if absolutely all else fails. I included my PC specs in the little icon. I haven't made any changes at all in hardware or bios settings, for many months.

I had the original crash data from bluescreen viewer but my registry cleaner removed them, if it happens again, I'll include more detail.

It just happened again, and here is the full info from bluescreen viewer.

091912-11590-01.dmp 9/19/2012 4:56:42 PM BAD_POOL_HEADER 0x00000019 00000000`00000020 fffffa80`0cb268d0 fffffa80`0cb26950 00000000`0c080009 ntoskrnl.exe ntoskrnl.exe+7f1c0

I'm out of ideas at this point as to what is causing this, but its a frequent BSOD, and I can't even run my PC for more than 2 hours in between crashes.


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## huggie54 (Feb 17, 2008)

the reasons for this error are many.please go here it may help,http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/1538-sfc-scannow-command-system-file-checker.html


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## HUGHJ (Aug 14, 2012)

Sup crimsonedge11

Before the BSOD happen was there any updates performed on your machine like driver update or windows update? 
Also, have you ran the CHKDSK? To make sure HD is healthy.


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## crimsonedge11 (Sep 19, 2012)

HUGHJ said:


> Sup crimsonedge11
> 
> Before the BSOD happen was there any updates performed on your machine like driver update or windows update?
> Also, have you ran the CHKDSK? To make sure HD is healthy.


The last BSOD I got when I was using a driver scanner to figure out which drivers needed updating.

I haven't ran CHKDSK yet, and I forgot all about it. I did scan the memory already with the boot disk already.


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## HUGHJ (Aug 14, 2012)

Found this from another forum - which points out the issue occurred after a sound driver was updated. Link below

http://www.pchelpforum.com/xf/threads/bsod-caused-by-ntoskrnl-exe-bad-pool-header.133167/


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## crimsonedge11 (Sep 19, 2012)

Thanks for the input guys, and I just got done running CHKDSK, which took several hours, no major issues. 

I tried /sfc verifyonly in the cmd menu, says it found no integrity violations. If there are no violations, that means I don't need to run /scannow, or should I run that anyway? 

One thing I forgot to include was the other day we had some connection interruptions in my area due to them working on the line, and I had downloads coming back as corrupted during that time, and if anything auto-updated, is it possible some corrupted drivers were installed? If so how would I got about isolating the problem if that happened?

If I got any driver issues giving me the BSOD, how am I supposed to isolate exactly what is causing the problem? In most cases people just assume its a virus and start with a clean Windows install, which is the default "Fix all problems", but I'm not ready to do that because I'd lose a ton of data, and I don't have any restore points earlier than the 17th of this month due to several new restore points being created in that time and deleting the old ones. And restoring to my oldest restore point didn't solve the issue, I've already tried that.

If anyone knows of any free fully functional programs that can assist with scanning/updating drivers, say so.


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## huggie54 (Feb 17, 2008)

use the sytem restore utility to go back to a date before the auto updates downlode when you say work was being performed on the line.


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## crimsonedge11 (Sep 19, 2012)

huggie54 said:


> use the sytem restore utility to go back to a date before the auto updates downlode when you say work was being performed on the line.


Earliest restore point I see on the list is the 17th, and that is still after the damage was done.

I'm not sure if the problem has been solved, or if I've just been lucky but I haven't BSOD'd today. If it did get solved, then I'm not even sure what fixed it.


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## crimsonedge11 (Sep 19, 2012)

I think I figured out what was causing the problem.

When I would hook up my PS3 controller to my PC, for some reason it installed realtek PCIe GBE family controller, which is for the ethernet device I have on my PC. I didn't use it because I'm using a netgear wireless adapter, so I had no need for the driver. Under network connections that particular driver was on the list and causing a conflict with my netgear wireless router, so I disabled it. I have no explanation why my PC would download an ethernet driver when my PS3 pad got plugged in. 

My connection issues (slower than usual internet speeds) have gone away as well as the BSODs. I haven't had any issues since I disabled that, so I think the problem is solved. 

I was looking at the potential causes for this error, and it lists router issues as being a possible culprit.


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## HUGHJ (Aug 14, 2012)

Cool.. issue was related to Driver. You probably wanna Resolve your forum if the error doesn't re-occur.


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## crimsonedge11 (Sep 19, 2012)

No more BSODs, nearly a week later, so it appears the problem is solved.


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