What is a bad pool header and how do I fix it?

Question

What is a bad pool header and how do I fix it?

Windows has been taking 30 or so minutes to start.  I've tried repairing it but nothing seems to work and now I'm getting a blue screen that says "bad pool header".

Answer 1

Hi,

1. Have you made any changes to the computer prior to the issue?
2. Do you get any specific error codes?

A pool header issue is a problem with Windows memory allocation. Device driver issues are probably the most common, but this can have diverse causes including bad sectors or other disk write issues, and problems with some routers. (By theory, RAM problems would be suspect for memory pool issues).

Method 1:

Disconnect any external devices connected to the computer except the mouse and keyboard, check what happens.

With Windows 7, you can run a check disk from system recovery options using command prompt.

Refer the article mentioned below:

What are the system recovery options in Windows 7?

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows7/What-are-the-system-recovery-options-in-Windows-7

Method 2:

If the above step fails follow the steps:

Step 1:

Restart computer in safe mode and check if the issue persists. Follow the steps in the link:

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows7/Start-your-computer-in-safe-mode

Step 2:

If safe mode works restart computer in clean boot and check if the issue persists.Follow “step 1” in the link to enable to clean boot:

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

Follow the step 7 from the article to “Reset the computer to start as usual”, after performing the clean boot troubleshooting.

Method 3:

If the above step fails follow the steps in the link:

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows7/Resolving-stop-blue-screen-errors-in-Windows-7

Hope this helps.

Answer 2

If you have AVG instealled try removing it.

Answer 3

Or check the last few programs that have self updated, and remove them.  If you go on you Programs page, you can see which ones are the latest updated, and guess which one is causing it.

Answer 4

i have this for first time....in windows 10...what should i do...it strated today and its already second time..

Answer 5

I too have installed windows 10, have had it for about a week and just today got my first "Bad Pool Header" error message.  What instructions are there for handling this error for Windows 10?