BSOD Windows 7 x64 BAD_POOL_CALLER ntoskrnl.exe

remundial · 24 May 2013

About video drivers, Intel website says:

Graphics Driver
Product Detected Intel® GM965
Current Driver Installed 8.15.10.1930
Your driver is current.
Intel Chipset Software Installation Utility (Chipset INF)
Product Detected Intel® 6, 5, 4, 3, 900 Series Chipsets
Current Version Installed 9.2.0.1025
This version is valid.

About audio drivers, I took installer from Dell forum, it seems to be up-to-date as per History (2013), but DriverMax says there's a newer version:

IDT High Definition Audio CODEC by IDT
compatible with
SigmaTel High Definition Audio CODEC
18 May 2010
6.10.6233.243

And about BIOS, I often go to Dell support, drivers and downloads, and A07 is the latest version I found there...

Thank you.

Arc · 24 May 2013

We dont trust on DriverMax. But the drivers are visibly outdated, specially the intel graphics driver. You see what is stated in the dxdiag window, display tab; against chip type. Download that driver manually and install it.

About the Dell stuff, better you wait for Saurabh. He is the person to say the final words about those. He is a dell employee, and having supreme knowledge about it.

remundial · 24 May 2013

I don't know how to download it manually, Intel says that's the "latest" driver (2009-02-10) https://downloadcenter.intel.com/Det...18228&lang=eng.

About DriverMax, I have realized it often identifies wrong drivers, actually I've just updated audio drivers and they didn't work, I had to uninstall and reinstall. I hope there's a newer BIOS, but according to what I've found in Google, there's nothing beyond A07.

Arc · 24 May 2013

Click the start button. Type dxdiag and click the resulting link. It will open th directx diagnostic tool window. Click on the second tab, that is display tab. Notice what is stated against the "chip type".

Download that thing from intel's site.

remundial · 24 May 2013

Yes, that's what I did, I put the name of the chip on Google, and it took me to Intel's website, I chose Windows 7 x64, and finally I get to the very same page that's mentioned in Dell's support forum.

I'm afraid this problem does not have any solution, and I don't know if there's any possible relation with having 3 different OSs installed in this machine... But I do have other Dell Vostro (3400, a newer and smaller one), it has the same OSs and is always stable on Win7.

Arc · 24 May 2013

Saurabh is analyzing the situation now. Let him a time to judge it. His opinions will be the most valuable one here.

Saurabh A · 25 May 2013

Hi remundial,

I've gone through the thread conversation and feel that the issue with Windows 7 in your system may be due to many possible reasons.

1) 'Vostro 1700' is officially not tested to work with Windows 7. The OEM drivers available for this unit are designed only for Windows XP and Vista. However as Arc stated, it is likely that this unit has been handling Windows 7 effectively for some users. In absence of tested OEM drivers for Windows 7 platform, the unit may still exhibits instances of instability/errors.

Good that your notebook is loaded with the latest BIOS version (A07) available. Another possible cause, ruled out.

2) Would like to know if you've been trying to install Windows 7 using the same source. Please share details of the installation media that you've been using. It could be a corrupt media that is causing the issues to re-occur. You may try using an alternate media to see if that helps.

3) Please check the system BIOS and share the type of SATA mode that is currently chosen (AHCI or ATA). Try changing the SATA mode to see if that helps. To access BIOS, restart the system and repeatedly tap 'F2 key' at Dell splash screen. Switch the SATA mode, save settings and exit the BIOS screen. Allow the laptop to boot to Windows and recheck results.

If the issue persists, try loading BIOS defaults and see if that makes any difference. To load defaults settings in BIOS, use the key combination <Alt><F> or 'Load Defaults menu option'.

4) Since the system performs normally with Windows XP/Vista/Ubuntu, it is unlikely to be a hardware issue. However, good that you've performed memory diagnostics. Would also suggest you to try the 'hard drive' diagnostics to see if that reveals something; share results. You may find the steps to run 'on-board diagnostics' in this web article: http://dell.to/17Ri00I

Hope this helps. Do reply with the findings. I'll try my best to help you.

remundial · 25 May 2013

Thank you very much for your response.

1. I've found a Dell forum with OEM drivers for Windows 7 x64, (link), but I don't know why a couple of them say not to be suitable for this system.

2. I'm not really proud to admit it, but the DVDs I've used to install Win7 x86/x64 are not genuine, I've used several discs, the last one contains several versions of Win7 SP1. I have one genuine Win7 Professional x64 DVD installer, but I don't use it because I wanted to install the same version on both laptops (1700 and 3400), needless to say it works perfectly on the 3400. Months ago I tried to reinstall Win7 from a USB stick, but it didn't work as expected, it didn't even loaded some required files for installation, so I had to abort installation. This DVD drive is not working for burning discs, but it seems to read discs fairly well.

3. It had ATA mode, I changed it to AHCI and Win7 was not able to load, had a less than a second BSOD, therefore I reverted the change, it's again as ATA mode.

4. About the hard drives, I replaced the two original 5400 RPM - 160 GB each drives with a hybrid 7200 RPM 500 GB and a conventional 7200 RPM 320 GB. I'm gonna run diagnostics but I did make sure they had the most recent firmware versions and I often run defrags, and I don't expect any error. BTW, the link seems to be dead ("Currently this article is not available. Please try later.")

Thanks.

Saurabh A · 25 May 2013

Hi remundial,

Thank you for the detailed response.

The drivers available on Dell community forum have been posted by a senior forum member. Though not officially endorsed, they may have shown positive results to other users. Trying them is worth a shot.

I recommend you try re-installing Windows 7 again, with AHCI as the SATA mode. (Set SATA mode to AHCI; and perform Windows clean re-install).

Would also suggest you to use a valid copy of Windows. You may want to refer to the following tutorial to perform a clean re-install: Clean Reinstall - Factory OEM Windows 7 Note: Windows re-install leads to loss of personal data. Please backup all information before attempting it.

Sorry about the corrupt website link. I'll report this to the concerned team and will get that working. In the mean while, you may start the on-board diagnostics, using the following steps: Restart the system > Repeatedly tap 'F 12 key' at Dell splash screen > Highlight 'Diagnostics' and tap 'Enter' > Share the findings.

Hope this helps.

remundial · 25 May 2013

Please see attached scan reports (PC Checkup), they say "FAILED" because of wasted battery.