Windows 10: BAD_POOL_HEADER ntoskrnl.exe, attempting to find cause

Hello, for roughly the past week I have begun encountering a semi-persistent and annoying BSOD with the error code BAD_POOL_HEADER upon attempting to log in to windows after restart/shutdown. After spending some time reading into what it meant and how to potentially fix it. So far I have tried the following:

Updated drivers and made sure up to date drivers were not corrupted.
Used CCleaner to attempt to clean out any old registries.
System Restored to the 8th (which did not fix the problem).
Checked for damaged hardware with chkdsk and Windows Memory Diagnostic tools (No damage to either were detected by either test).
Uninstalled unused drivers from the device manager.
Turned off Fast Startup.

Given the seemingly wide range of potential things that can cause this error, I have spent several days attempting to find the problem and fix it. Unfortunately, because it only seems to trip occasionally on login, it has made attempting to do so incredibly frustrating to say the least. Checking the dump with the program Whocrashed shows the potential culprit being ntoskrnl.exe, although it being part of the operating system leads me to believe another driver may be conflicting with it in some way. Any help or insight into the problem would be greatly appreciated!

Note: Some of the Blue Screens from that log are from me attempting to boot up the system while the Driver Verifier Manager was running.

:)

 

BSOD BAD_POOL_HEADER caused by ntoskrnl.exe

I'm currently having a BSOD that happens usually several times a day randomly. My computer will freeze up completely and then restarts. I unfortunately cannot say if anything specific causes it; I could be doing something completely random like playing a
game, or browsing the internet.

I tried checking the RAM, HDDs, also formating and resintaling windows. But nothing seems to help.

I also unplugged my computer, pressed the power button for about 20 seconds to discharge it.

I will upload the two dump files I got after I installed Windows 10.

Shared items 2-1-2016

I also ran a sfc scannow and I got some corrupt files but windows was unable to fix them.

This is the cbs.log, if that could help

CBS.log

Motherboard: GA-870A-UD3

Processor: AMD Phenom II X4 945

Graphics: GTX 560 Ti

RAM: Muskin 2x2 Kingston 2x4

Network Card: RealTek Semiconductor RTL8168D/8111D PCI-E Gigabit Ethernet Adapter

OS: Windows 10 pro

I'm not sure what's going on really. Any ideas? Help would be much appreciated.

Thank you very much in advance

 

BSOD BAD_POOL_HEADER caused by ntoskrnl.exe

Hello Carlos,

Welcome to Microsoft Community.

I understand the inconvenience this has caused. I 'll be glad to help you with this.

I suggest you update Windows through Windows update as mentioned in the section blue screen errors while using your PC from the article below and check:

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-10/troubleshoot-blue-screen-errors

Method 1:

In addition, update your graphics card and see if it helps.

Refer the article on how to update drivers through Device Manger by Andre Da Costa:

How to: Install and Update Hardware Drivers in Windows 10

Method 2:

Refer the below link to start your PC in safe mode.

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-in/windows-10/start-your-pc-in-safe-mode

If the issue doesn’t persists, then it’s likely a cause by third party application. Let’s do a clean boot and identify the cause.

Putting your system in Clean Boot state helps in identifying if any third party applications or startup items are causing the issue. You need to follow the steps from the article mentioned below to perform a Clean Boot.



Refer the below given link to learn how to perform a clean boot in Windows:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/929135



Note: Once you are done with the troubleshooting, perform the steps in
"How to reset the computer to start as usual after troubleshooting with clean boot"
to reset computer as usual.

Method 3:

use the Deployment Image Servicing and Management (DISM) tool to fix Windows corruption errors. To do this, type following command in Command Prompt (Admin).

"DISM /Online /Cleanup-image /Restorehealth" and press Enter.

(please note the space after "dism", & "online" & "image")

Method 4:

You may run check disk command from command prompt to verify if there is any bad sector present in your hard disk drive. Follow the below steps:

• Press Windows + X keys on the keyboard, click Command Prompt (Admin).
  
• In the Command Prompt, type the following command, and then press ENTER:
  
  chkdsk /f
• You may be asked whether to schedule this volume to be checked next time when you restarts (Y/N).
  
• Press Y key on the keyboard and press Enter key.
  
• Restart the computer and check.

Important: While performing chkdsk on the hard drive if any bad sectors are found on the hard drive when chkdsk tries to repair that sector if any data available on that might be lost.

Hope this helps. If you have any queries, do let us know.

Thank you.

 

Code: 0x00000019: BAD_POOL_HEADER (20.02.2017 20:52:17) [Windows 10] CAUSED BY: amifldrv64.sys [13.09.2011] * MSI DPC Latency Tuner * => MSI Global PROCESS: SCEWIN_64.exe Usual causes: Device driver[/quote] Code: 0x000000C9: DRIVER_VERIFIER_IOMANAGER_VIOLATION (21.02.2017 22:03:10) [Windows 10] CAUSED BY: ntoskrnl ramdriv.sys [27.12.2012] * RAMDriv Enterprise driver from QSoft [ Qualitative Software ] belonging to product RAMDriv made for Ardence PROCESS: System Usual causes: Driver verifier[/quote] eventlog error:
Code: The driver \Driver\iaLPSS2_UART2 failed to load for the device PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_A127&SUBSYS_79981462&REV_31\3&11583659&0&F0.[/quote]
There is something really strange with your storage/disk configuration. Can u pls provide us with more information how u installed windows?

Software like ramdisk (installing Windows on RAM) and MSI Tweak tools can cause BSODs.
U also have the MSI Command Center installed, thats for overclocking and tweaking CPU and is know causing Bluescreens too.
Code: Service File Name: C:\Program Files (x86)\MSI\Command Center\ClockGen\NTIOLib_X64.sys Service File Name: C:\Program Files (x86)\MSI\Command Center\ClockGen\CPU_Frequency\NTIOLib_X64.sys Service File Name: "C:\Program Files (x86)\MSI\RAMDisk\MSI_RAMDisk_Service.exe"[/quote]
I recommend a clean windows 10 installation on an SSD for u, without all the tweaking and overvlocking software

 

Thank you so much for the reply! I had a sinking suspicion that one of the MSI services were causing the problem. Could simply uninstalling the problem programs be enough to fix the problem?

 

Yes, I would try to uninstall all those tools. But its worth to repair filesystem after that:
Repair Windows Filesystem:

1. Open an elevated command prompt.
2. In the elevated command prompt, type these commands below, and press Enter:

dism /Online /NoRestart /Cleanup-Image /CheckHealth
dism /Online /NoRestart /Cleanup-Image /ScanHealth
dism /Online /NoRestart /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth

sfc /scannow

chkdsk %systemdrive% /F /R /X
fsutil dirty set %systemdrive%

SFC:
The SFC command scans the integrity of all protected system files and replaces incorrect versions with correct Microsoft versions.
DISM:
If a Windows image becomes unserviceable, you can use the Deployment Imaging and Servicing Management (DISM) tool to update the files and correct the problem.
For example, you would use sfc /scannow command is unable to repair corrupted or modified system files because the component store (source) is corrupted. SFC should be able to repair the files afterwards.
CHKDSK:
Checking your drives for errors every once in a while can help fix some performance issues. Drive errors can usually be caused by bad sectors, improper shutdowns, bad software, corruption, physical damage, etc...

 

So all the MSI tools have been completely uninstalled. Afterwards I proceeded to check for any problems with the filesystems and fix them if found using the commands recommended. DISM and SFC both showed no issues with windows, and aside from clearing up some unused indexes and security descriptors Checkdisk also showed no further issues. I am currently 99% positive that uninstalling the programs has fixed the issue, but I will give it a few days before marking it as solved just to be sure.

 

After waiting a few days, I have still not had any issues, so I think I can safely say the issue is solved! Thank you so very much BSODHunter for helping me fix this issue!