Computer Help!

Qua Sae

Full Member
I keep getting the blue screen of death & I can't figure out why. I've run a bunch of scans & there is no virus/spyware/adware etc. Google searches seem to point towards a driver problem, but I've no idea what that might be or how to fix it? Another suggestion is a failing graphics card.

I really hope someone can help me :( I love my laptop!

The last blue screen said 'Bad_Pool_Header' - No idea what this means :(

Please help! <3
 
Causes οf Bаԁ Pool Header Error

Tһе blue screen error, such аѕ tһе Bad_Pool_Header error, іѕ a system error tһаt happens wһеח Windows detects ѕοmе serious аחԁ irreversible malfunction. Tһе entire operating system shuts down аחԁ system error information іѕ tһеח ԁіѕрƖауеԁ fοr уου οח a blue screen, therefore tһе term ‘blue screen οf death’. Mοѕt οf tһе time, іt іѕ merely a glitch іח tһе system аחԁ a soft reboot οf уουr machine clears іt up…..іf уου′re lucky.
Blue screen errors саח bе caused bу a hardware drive, software application οr registry entry. Hοwеνеr, іח mοѕt cases, tһе cause behind a blue screen error іѕ a corrupt Windows Registry.
Tһе Windows Registry іѕ tһе engine οf tһе Windows operating system. Without іt, Windows wουƖԁ חοt bе аbƖе tο rυח. Tһе registry tells уουr operating system һοw tο perform properly аחԁ holds аƖƖ tһе data חесеѕѕаrу tο ԁο ѕο. Eνеrу software program аחԁ hardware οח уουr PC һаѕ tһе capability tο add, delete οr overwrite registry data.


I am no expert at all and am sure you have seen this but did not want to ignore your plea for help. xxx
 
Thanks FillyMum.. I've searched for hours trying to figure out what the problem is. I still have no idea whether it's a hardware problem or a driver that's not working properly. :( I really don't want to have to buy a new laptop, but at the same time, I don't want to wipe this one in case I lose things I need. (I have about 40GB of photos & nowhere to put them!)
 
Could equally well be something relatively straightforward like a malfunctioning memory stick. As its a laptop, your best bet is to take it to a repair guy (preferably someone who checks what the problem is and checks with you first before doing the work, may charge a small "inspection" fee), UNLESS its still under guarantee, in which case contact the company you got it from. Better to find out what it would cost to repair before buying a new one. If its just a memory stick it might not be very expensive. Equally, it could be a loose connection somewhere, which would be even cheaper. Any little thing that is not quite right could be causing it.

Everything should still be rescuable from the hard drive, regardless, dont let them do a factory reset until you have retrieved what you need off it.
 
I've just done a memory check & it seems fine.. I can't really afford to take it to someone to be fixed, I was getting the new one on credit (as I did this one) It's about 4 years old now, it's had a lot of use.

I've not installed anything new or changed anything recently & it happens when I've just turned my laptop on.. Sometimes I don't even see the blue screen, I just come back to a warning telling me it's restarted. I reinstalled a graphics driver the other day & thought it had done the job but alas, it came back today :(
 
Upload all your photos if you can to an internet host like PhotoBox, and a memory stick if you have one.
You should do this on a regular basis. Buying an external hard drive to store your photos is also a very good idea xxx Hope it all goes ok xxxx
 
I'm putting all of my photos etc onto my OH's external hard drive. I will format it tomorrow & hopefully if there are any software or registry problems, that should fix them, right? Otherwise I guess it's a hardware problem. Fingers crossed!!
 
Husband is an IT God (works as support for a big company). He says's it's most likely faulty RAM, but says to download a programme called "Who crashed?", get the free one cause the buying one isn't much better. When you run it you should get a report of most recent crashes, if you post up the results I'll see if he's got any ideas. :)
 
Thank you so much Shrimpy!

I've just done the scan & according to the problem descriptions, it's mostly faulty drivers that are the problem.

This is the full report:

computer name: GEMMA-LAPTOP
windows version: Windows Vista Service Pack 2, 6.0, build: 6002
windows dir: C:\Windows
CPU: GenuineIntel Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo CPU T8300 @ 2.40GHz Intel586, level: 6
2 logical processors, active mask: 3
RAM: 3755077632 total
VM: 2147352576, free: 2002444288



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Crash Dump Analysis
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Crash dump directory: C:\Windows\Minidump

Crash dumps are enabled on your computer.


On Sat 16/07/2011 15 :23 :42 GMT your computer crashed
crash dump file: C:\Windows\Minidump\Mini071611-01.dmp
This was probably caused by the following module: aswsnx.sys (aswSnx+0x16BCE)
Bugcheck code: 0x19 (0x20, 0x118FA88, 0x1190268, 0x8FC0051)
Error: BAD_POOL_HEADER
file path: C:\Windows\system32\drivers\aswsnx.sys
product: avast! Antivirus System
company: AVAST Software
description: avast! Virtualization Driver
Bug check description: This indicates that a pool header is corrupt.
This appears to be a typical software driver bug and is not likely to be caused by a hardware problem. This might be a case of memory corruption. More often memory corruption happens because of software errors in buggy drivers, not because of faulty RAM modules.
A third party driver was identified as the probable root cause of this system error. It is suggested you look for an update for the following driver: aswsnx.sys (avast! Virtualization Driver, AVAST Software).
Google query: aswsnx.sys AVAST Software BAD_POOL_HEADER




On Sat 16/07/2011 15 :23 :42 GMT your computer crashed
crash dump file: C:\Windows\memory.dmp
This was probably caused by the following module: aswsnx.sys (aswSnx+0x16BCE)
Bugcheck code: 0x19 (0x20, 0x118FA88, 0x1190268, 0x8FC0051)
Error: BAD_POOL_HEADER
file path: C:\Windows\system32\drivers\aswsnx.sys
product: avast! Antivirus System
company: AVAST Software
description: avast! Virtualization Driver
Bug check description: This indicates that a pool header is corrupt.
This appears to be a typical software driver bug and is not likely to be caused by a hardware problem. This might be a case of memory corruption. More often memory corruption happens because of software errors in buggy drivers, not because of faulty RAM modules.
A third party driver was identified as the probable root cause of this system error. It is suggested you look for an update for the following driver: aswsnx.sys (avast! Virtualization Driver, AVAST Software).
Google query: aswsnx.sys AVAST Software BAD_POOL_HEADER




On Mon 11/07/2011 08 :36 :00 GMT your computer crashed
crash dump file: C:\Windows\Minidump\Mini071111-01.dmp
This was probably caused by the following module: nvlddmkm.sys (nvlddmkm+0x1122C3)
Bugcheck code: 0x1000008E (0xFFFFFFFFC0000005, 0xFFFFFFFF82EF7E7B, 0xFFFFFFFF81DA2A44, 0x0)
Error: KERNEL_MODE_EXCEPTION_NOT_HANDLED_M
file path: C:\Windows\system32\drivers\nvlddmkm.sys
product: NVIDIA Windows Kernel Mode Driver, Version 186.21
company: NVIDIA Corporation
description: NVIDIA Windows Kernel Mode Driver, Version 186.21
Bug check description: This indicates that a kernel-mode program generated an exception which the error handler did not catch.
This appears to be a typical software driver bug and is not likely to be caused by a hardware problem.
A third party driver was identified as the probable root cause of this system error. It is suggested you look for an update for the following driver: nvlddmkm.sys (NVIDIA Windows Kernel Mode Driver, Version 186.21 , NVIDIA Corporation).
Google query: nvlddmkm.sys NVIDIA Corporation KERNEL_MODE_EXCEPTION_NOT_HANDLED_M




On Wed 06/07/2011 13 :43 :34 GMT your computer crashed
crash dump file: C:\Windows\Minidump\Mini070611-02.dmp
This was probably caused by the following module: iastor.sys (iastor+0xAA1B)
Bugcheck code: 0xD1 (0xFFFFFFFFFFFFFFD1, 0x2, 0x1, 0xFFFFFFFF8C53AA1B)
Error: DRIVER_IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL
file path: C:\Windows\system32\drivers\iastor.sys
product: Intel Matrix Storage Manager driver
company: Intel Corporation
description: Intel Matrix Storage Manager driver - ia32
Bug check description: This indicates that a kernel-mode driver attempted to access pageable memory at a process IRQL that was too high.
This appears to be a typical software driver bug and is not likely to be caused by a hardware problem.
A third party driver was identified as the probable root cause of this system error. It is suggested you look for an update for the following driver: iastor.sys (Intel Matrix Storage Manager driver - ia32, Intel Corporation).
Google query: iastor.sys Intel Corporation DRIVER_IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL




On Wed 06/07/2011 08 :38 :08 GMT your computer crashed
crash dump file: C:\Windows\Minidump\Mini070611-01.dmp
This was probably caused by the following module: ntkrnlpa.exe (nt+0x4AFE7)
Bugcheck code: 0x1 (0xFFFFFFFF83009626, 0x0, 0xFFFE, 0x0)
Error: APC_INDEX_MISMATCH
file path: C:\Windows\system32\ntkrnlpa.exe
product: Microsoft® Windows® Operating System
company: Microsoft Corporation
description: NT Kernel & System
Bug check description: This indicates that there has been a mismatch in the APC state index.
The crash took place in the Windows kernel. Possibly this problem is caused by another driver which cannot be identified at this time.


On Sat 02/07/2011 08 :11 :57 GMT your computer crashed
crash dump file: C:\Windows\Minidump\Mini070211-01.dmp
This was probably caused by the following module: iastor.sys (iastor+0xA167)
Bugcheck code: 0xD1 (0x34, 0x2, 0x0, 0xFFFFFFFF8C537167)
Error: DRIVER_IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL
file path: C:\Windows\system32\drivers\iastor.sys
product: Intel Matrix Storage Manager driver
company: Intel Corporation
description: Intel Matrix Storage Manager driver - ia32
Bug check description: This indicates that a kernel-mode driver attempted to access pageable memory at a process IRQL that was too high.
This appears to be a typical software driver bug and is not likely to be caused by a hardware problem.
A third party driver was identified as the probable root cause of this system error. It is suggested you look for an update for the following driver: iastor.sys (Intel Matrix Storage Manager driver - ia32, Intel Corporation).
Google query: iastor.sys Intel Corporation DRIVER_IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL




On Mon 20/06/2011 21 :00 :04 GMT your computer crashed
crash dump file: C:\Windows\Minidump\Mini062011-01.dmp
This was probably caused by the following module: ntkrnlpa.exe (nt+0x4AFE7)
Bugcheck code: 0x1 (0xFFFFFFFF83053626, 0x0, 0xFFFE, 0x0)
Error: APC_INDEX_MISMATCH
file path: C:\Windows\system32\ntkrnlpa.exe
product: Microsoft® Windows® Operating System
company: Microsoft Corporation
description: NT Kernel & System
Bug check description: This indicates that there has been a mismatch in the APC state index.
The crash took place in the Windows kernel. Possibly this problem is caused by another driver which cannot be identified at this time.


On Fri 03/06/2011 07 :28 :24 GMT your computer crashed
crash dump file: C:\Windows\Minidump\Mini060311-01.dmp
This was probably caused by the following module: aswsp.sys (aswSP+0x15D8)
Bugcheck code: 0xC5 (0x1883B88, 0x2, 0x0, 0xFFFFFFFF82F34770)
Error: DRIVER_CORRUPTED_EXPOOL
file path: C:\Windows\system32\drivers\aswsp.sys
product: avast! Antivirus System
company: AVAST Software
description: avast! self protection module
Bug check description: This indicates that the system attempted to access invalid memory at a process IRQL that was too high.
This appears to be a typical software driver bug and is not likely to be caused by a hardware problem. This might be a case of memory corruption. More often memory corruption happens because of software errors in buggy drivers, not because of faulty RAM modules.
A third party driver was identified as the probable root cause of this system error. It is suggested you look for an update for the following driver: aswsp.sys (avast! self protection module, AVAST Software).
Google query: aswsp.sys AVAST Software DRIVER_CORRUPTED_EXPOOL




On Sat 21/05/2011 09 :23 :33 GMT your computer crashed
crash dump file: C:\Windows\Minidump\Mini052111-01.dmp
This was probably caused by the following module: aswsp.sys (aswSP+0x19D88)
Bugcheck code: 0xD1 (0x0, 0x2, 0x0, 0xFFFFFFFF91D37D88)
Error: DRIVER_IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL
file path: C:\Windows\system32\drivers\aswsp.sys
product: avast! Antivirus System
company: AVAST Software
description: avast! self protection module
Bug check description: This indicates that a kernel-mode driver attempted to access pageable memory at a process IRQL that was too high.
This appears to be a typical software driver bug and is not likely to be caused by a hardware problem.
A third party driver was identified as the probable root cause of this system error. It is suggested you look for an update for the following driver: aswsp.sys (avast! self protection module, AVAST Software).
Google query: aswsp.sys AVAST Software DRIVER_IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL




On Thu 12/05/2011 18 :29 :28 GMT your computer crashed
crash dump file: C:\Windows\Minidump\Mini051211-02.dmp
This was probably caused by the following module: aswsp.sys (aswSP+0x19D88)
Bugcheck code: 0xD1 (0x0, 0x2, 0x0, 0xFFFFFFFF91B33D88)
Error: DRIVER_IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL
file path: C:\Windows\system32\drivers\aswsp.sys
product: avast! Antivirus System
company: AVAST Software
description: avast! self protection module
Bug check description: This indicates that a kernel-mode driver attempted to access pageable memory at a process IRQL that was too high.
This appears to be a typical software driver bug and is not likely to be caused by a hardware problem.
A third party driver was identified as the probable root cause of this system error. It is suggested you look for an update for the following driver: aswsp.sys (avast! self protection module, AVAST Software).
Google query: aswsp.sys AVAST Software DRIVER_IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL




On Thu 12/05/2011 08 :45 :16 GMT your computer crashed
crash dump file: C:\Windows\Minidump\Mini051211-01.dmp
This was probably caused by the following module: aswsp.sys (aswSP+0x19D88)
Bugcheck code: 0xD1 (0x0, 0x2, 0x0, 0xFFFFFFFF91AE9D88)
Error: DRIVER_IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL
file path: C:\Windows\system32\drivers\aswsp.sys
product: avast! Antivirus System
company: AVAST Software
description: avast! self protection module
Bug check description: This indicates that a kernel-mode driver attempted to access pageable memory at a process IRQL that was too high.
This appears to be a typical software driver bug and is not likely to be caused by a hardware problem.
A third party driver was identified as the probable root cause of this system error. It is suggested you look for an update for the following driver: aswsp.sys (avast! self protection module, AVAST Software).
Google query: aswsp.sys AVAST Software DRIVER_IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL




On Fri 02/07/2010 09 :10 :49 GMT your computer crashed
crash dump file: C:\Windows\Minidump\Mini070210-01.dmp
This was probably caused by the following module: ntkrnlpa.exe (nt+0x4DFD9)
Bugcheck code: 0xC5 (0x4, 0x2, 0x1, 0xFFFFFFFF82902010)
Error: DRIVER_CORRUPTED_EXPOOL
file path: C:\Windows\system32\ntkrnlpa.exe
product: Microsoft® Windows® Operating System
company: Microsoft Corporation
description: NT Kernel & System
Bug check description: This indicates that the system attempted to access invalid memory at a process IRQL that was too high.
This appears to be a typical software driver bug and is not likely to be caused by a hardware problem. This might be a case of memory corruption. More often memory corruption happens because of software errors in buggy drivers, not because of faulty RAM modules.
The crash took place in the Windows kernel. Possibly this problem is caused by another driver which cannot be identified at this time.


On Wed 23/06/2010 09 :54 :15 GMT your computer crashed
crash dump file: C:\Windows\Minidump\Mini062310-01.dmp
This was probably caused by the following module: dxgkrnl.sys (dxgkrnl+0x5A7FC)
Bugcheck code: 0xBE (0xFFFFFFFF917F3100, 0x32B6121, 0xFFFFFFFF803CC734, 0xB)
Error: ATTEMPTED_WRITE_TO_READONLY_MEMORY
file path: C:\Windows\system32\drivers\dxgkrnl.sys
product: Microsoft® Windows® Operating System
company: Microsoft Corporation
description: DirectX Graphics Kernel
Bug check description: This is issued if a driver attempts to write to a read-only memory segment.
This appears to be a typical software driver bug and is not likely to be caused by a hardware problem.
The crash took place in a standard Microsoft module. Your system configuration may be incorrect. Possibly this problem is caused by another driver on your system which cannot be identified at this time.


On Thu 04/02/2010 18 :33 :11 GMT your computer crashed
crash dump file: C:\Windows\Minidump\Mini020410-01.dmp
This was probably caused by the following module: dxgkrnl.sys (dxgkrnl+0x307A7)
Bugcheck code: 0x1000007E (0xFFFFFFFFC000001D, 0xFFFFFFFF8FF807A7, 0xFFFFFFFF81731A30, 0xFFFFFFFF8173172C)
Error: SYSTEM_THREAD_EXCEPTION_NOT_HANDLED_M
file path: C:\Windows\system32\drivers\dxgkrnl.sys
product: Microsoft® Windows® Operating System
company: Microsoft Corporation
description: DirectX Graphics Kernel
Bug check description: This indicates that a system thread generated an exception which the error handler did not catch.
This appears to be a typical software driver bug and is not likely to be caused by a hardware problem.
The crash took place in a standard Microsoft module. Your system configuration may be incorrect. Possibly this problem is caused by another driver on your system which cannot be identified at this time.


On Mon 28/12/2009 15 :06 :03 GMT your computer crashed
crash dump file: C:\Windows\Minidump\Mini122809-01.dmp
This was probably caused by the following module: ntfs.sys (Ntfs+0x7F9A6)
Bugcheck code: 0xA (0xFFFFFFFFC5BFFD1A, 0x2, 0x0, 0xFFFFFFFF820ABDD2)
Error: IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL
file path: C:\Windows\system32\drivers\ntfs.sys
product: Microsoft® Windows® Operating System
company: Microsoft Corporation
description: NT File System Driver
Bug check description: This indicates that Microsoft Windows or a kernel-mode driver accessed paged memory at DISPATCH_LEVEL or above.
This appears to be a typical software driver bug and is not likely to be caused by a hardware problem.
The crash took place in a standard Microsoft module. Your system configuration may be incorrect. Possibly this problem is caused by another driver on your system which cannot be identified at this time.

Thank you so much for your help! I really appreciate it, especially if it means I don't need to replace my laptop.. I love it! <3 xxx
 
Husband says it's caused by avast (your antivirus), uninstall avast, use the machine for a bit and see if the problem goes away. You could install microsoft security essentials to cover your butt while you don't have avast. :)
 
Last edited:
Thanks Shrimpy! Is it worth wiping it as well? Or should I not bother? I'm sure there's all kinds of things on here that need cleaning. Lol.

I can't believe it's been Avast all this time! I am so happy. Thank you! XXX
 
Husband says, just uninstall avast, no need to wipe anything! :)
 
LOL. I'll pass the hug to him! :)
 
Back
Top