Frequent BSODs on Win 7 64 bit, 'bad pool header'

[Rossmcc]

Hi guys. I've been experiencing a lot of BSODs recently on Windows 7 64 bit, often when browsing the web. I initially thought it was a problem with Chrome, but it's now happening whilst using Firefox also. I also get a BSOD most times I shut down/restart.

I've not noted all of the error messages, but a frequent one is 'bad pool header' whatever that means. I tried to have a look at the crash dump files myself after reading a couple of guides but couldn't make much sense of it, and after looking at some advice on this forum I thought it'd be sensible to let you guys take a look at it.

Any help you can offer is much appreciated, I've attached the SF diagnostic tool file as suggested. Please let me know if you need anymore information, I'm not too computer savvy but I'll do my best to give it to you

 

[Arc]

Welcome aboard.

► Uninstall the following programs:

• AVG; Replace it by Microsoft Security Essentials - Free Antivirus for Windows
• Catalyst Control Center
• GIGABYTE TweakLauncher

► Free up the startup.

1. Click on the Start button
2. Type “msconfig (without quotes), click the resulting link. It will open the System Configuration window.
3. Select the “Startup” tab.
4. Deselect all items other than the antivirus.
5. Apply > OK
6. Accept the restart.

► Update ATI display driver

ffff880`0b590ee8  fffff880`07ad1622Unable to load image \SystemRoot\system32\DRIVERS\atikmdag.sys, Win32 error 0n2
*** [COLOR=Red]WARNING: Unable to verify timestamp for atikmdag.sys
*** ERROR: Module load completed but symbols could not be loaded for atikmdag.sys
 atikmdag+0x41c622[/COLOR]
fffff880`0b590ef0  ffffd319`2686acb2
fffff880`0b590ef8  fffff880`07c72de0 [COLOR=Red]atikmdag+0x5bdde0[/COLOR]
fffff880`0b590f00  fffff8a0`09bd3880
fffff880`0b590f08  fffff880`05b20ee3 dxgmms1!DXGFASTMUTEX::Acquire+0x13
fffff880`0b590f10  fffff880`0b590f40
fffff880`0b590f18  fffff880`07a8a27b [COLOR=Red]atikmdag+0x3d527b[/COLOR]

► Update Atheros AR9271 Wireless Network Adapter Driver

kd> lmvm athurx
start             end                 module name
fffff880`0423a000 fffff880`04402000   athurx     (deferred)             
    Image path: \SystemRoot\system32\DRIVERS\athurx.sys
    [COLOR=Red]Image name: athurx.sys
    Timestamp:        Tue Jan 05 08:53:16 2010[/COLOR] (4B42B0A4)
    CheckSum:         001C7F92
    ImageSize:        001C8000
    Translations:     0000.04b0 0000.04e4 0409.04b0 0409.04e4

It's kinda old. Get updates from ATHEROS drivers for Microsoft Windows (Atheros?????)


Let us know the results.

 

[Rossmcc]

Hey Arc, cheers for the reply. Successfully done the following:

• Uninstalled AVG and replaced with MSE
• Uninstalled Catalyst Control Center
• Uninstalled GIGABYTE TweakLauncher

However, had a couple of trouble with some of the other points, sorry! In terms of updating the ATI display driver, I tried to do this by downloading the AMD driver downloader and doing it through that, is that how to do it? It didn't seem to work, it said there was a problem with the installation. However that program did allow me to uninstall CCC at least


For the startup items, I deselected a couple of things I knew weren't vital, but when I saw Windows Operating System I was worried that some of the things might be a bad idea to deselect. Here is a screenshot of it currently, are there any you'd recommend deselecting?

Finally, I'm not sure what the Atheros drivers are for, but on that site I couldn't actually see any download links for the drivers.

Sorry for so many questions, I'm not great at this! I actually had another BSOD before trying all these steps after waking my computer from sleep, getting so frustrated with this. It seemed to freeze trying to make the crash dump, but the error code was: STOP: 0X0000007F if that means anything.

 

[Arc]

For the driver reinstall:
First, download the driver and try http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/97061-driver-install-device-manager.html. While searching, locate the downloaded folder. If that does not work, Install it manually, and uninstall CCC.

The Operating system it listed there is most probably the Command Prompt. Itat is also not needed to auto start, but if you take it there, it will not harm. Uncheck all the others.

 

[Rossmcc]

Hi Arc, thanks again for your help! Really appreciate it. I have now deselected everything for startup except MSE and all seems to be fine after a restart.

I'm still having a lot of trouble updating this ATI driver. On the AMD website I can't find anywhere to download individual drivers, just their annoying AMD driver downloader thing. I went on the site for my graphics card (Sapphire HD7770 1024MB GDDR5) to find drivers there - am I right in thinking that's what the ATI driver is for? Anyway on the download link there for my specific card, it just downloaded a slightly different version of the AMD driver downloader. All that thing did when I ran it was reinstall Catalyst Control Center!

Any ideas how I can download the drivers individually so I can do it with the driver install in device manager you linked me to?

 

[Arc]

Download the driver from AMD Graphics Drivers & Software.

Now, come to http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/97061-driver-install-device-manager.html. Follow the steps. If the download comes as a zip, see step 7, unzip it first, then follow the steps 3, 4, and so on.

It will install the required driver only, and not the catalyst.
Have a try, and let us know the results.

 

[Rossmcc]

It seems AMD are determined not to let people download drivers individually, it seems no matter what route I go down on that site it just ends up downloading their whole driver download program.

I used it anyway and it said all my display drivers were up to date, but just to be sure I chose the 'reinstall anyway' option. Whilst it was installing I got another BSOD The error was:

Memory Management - Stop: 0x0000001A

I have just restarted and ran the SF diagnostic tool again, please find attached the new file with information about the most recent BSOD.

 

[Arc]

Rossmcc, I am not paying this crash a value right now. If you are failing to install the driver in device manager, install it normally and later uninstall CCC,

Then let us report the situation. That is the first priority here.

 

[Rossmcc]

Okay Arc no problem, sorry I'm not great at this thanks for being so patient! As suggested I have updated the drivers to from what I can tell is the most recent version (AMD display driver 8.982.0.0000) and have completely uninstalled Catalyst Control Center. And did a restart for good measure

Would it be wise to upload a new SF diagnostic tool file or should I wait for another BSOD before I post one?

 

[Arc]

As you had a crash in between, let us be sure that it was not a hardware problem as it apparently seems to be.

Enable Driver Verifier to monitor the drivers.

Driver Verifier - Enable and Disable

Run Driver Verifier for 24 hours or the occurrence of the next crash, whichever is earlier.

Let us know the results, with the subsequent crash dumps, if any.

 

[Rossmcc]

Okay I will start driver verifier now and let you know the results

 

[Rossmcc]

Just to give you a quick update, I've had driver verifier on and left a game downloading on Steam while I grabbed some food. When I came back to it a couple of hours later the computer was completely frozen and unresponsive, but hadn't actually BSOD'd so I have no DMP file to upload. Interestingly though I've had it BSOD a couple of times when I've been downloading stuff on Steam in the past, and it erased all the progress of my download. However, after restarting this time the download resumed from where it stopped at the freeze, so that's a bonus at least!

 

[Arc]

Good news that it did not crash.

if verifier found any driver corrupt, it will crash hopefully. As it did not, you disable it, and then observe how the computer works.

Let us know if it crashes again

 

[Rossmcc]

Hello again Arc. Just had a very strange crash. Turned my computer on after coming back from work with driver verifier still running, and it wouldn't get past the 'Starting Windows' screen. Tried a few restarts and let the system repair try to fix the problem, but nothing happened, couldn't even launch in safe mode as it wasn't getting past that screen. Thought I'd try removing the 2 USB devices in there (a USB stick and a USB bluetooth dongle) and that made it work fine! Could driver verifier have been causing one of those to stop Windows from launching, might that suggest there is a problem with one? I had them both in yesterday when it was working fine which seems odd. Ah the confusion of computers

 

[Arc]

You should disable verifier now.

Try to grab the dump, and upload it.

But, I guess that the bluetooth device is the victim, like many more cases.

 

[Rossmcc]

It seems you may be right, just now before disabling driver verifier I plugged the bluetooth dongle back in to test and my system froze straight away! No BSOD but it was completely unresponsive and I had to do a hard reset. How strange, I'd previously been using the bluetooth dongle for months with no problems at all. Maybe a new driver conflicting with it?

I will disable verifier now. I don't know if a dump file has been created because it didn't actually BSOD, but please find attached my latest SF diagnostic file.

 

[Arc]

Hello Ross, The file you uploaded dont have any crash dump of 1/10. So probably it was not a real crash. If you dont connect the Bluetooth device all the times I hope it will not crash anymore.

Let us wait and see, ok?

 

[Rossmcc]

Yep I will see how it goes without the bluetooth dongle, I only use it to connect my PS3 controller wirelessly to my PC, which I can do through the USB cable anyway so shouldn't need it. By the way slightly off topic but love your signature, I've always been a big Final Fantasy fan

 

[Rossmcc]

Well that didn't last long! Just had another BSOD and the bluetooth dongle is not plugged in. Please find attached the SF diagnostic file with the most recent crash dump in it.

 

[Arc]

Yep I will see how it goes without the bluetooth dongle, I only use it to connect my PS3 controller wirelessly to my PC, which I can do through the USB cable anyway so shouldn't need it. By the way slightly off topic but love your signature, I've always been a big Final Fantasy fan

Cloud's great!!! Isn't it? And Zack, too!

Use the bluetooth only when the PS3 is in use. I guess in such a situation it will not cause any problem actually.
Edit:
Unfortunate!!

It's pool corruption, bugcheck 3B. A device driver should be behind it. to get it, you need to enable Driver Verifier again.

Best of luck this time.!