BAD_POOL_HEADER and PAGE_FAULT_IN_NON_PAGE_AREA errors

Green_Manelishi · 10-06-2012, 09:41

Win 7 Professional OS.

I am fairly confident there were updates downloaded and installed on Thursday (night) night but the Win7 update log shows nothing.

Regardless, yesterday (Fri) morn I powered up the 'puter, it seemed to boot, but then it crashed and I was greeted with the BSOD along with the error BAD_POOL_HEADER message. Googling for (helpful) information was inconclusive; it could be new hardware, new software, bad hardware or software, etc. Ultimately I was able to boot the 'puter and use it all day with no (visible) problems.

This morning was a repeat except this time the error was PAGE_FAULT_IN_NON_PAGE_AREA. Googling for information is again not very helpful; it could be this, that or another thing. Once again the 'puter will boot after the initial boot, crash, warning and re-boot.

I have not installed any new hardware or software. That said, a few days ago Win7 complained about one of the external drives I've had for months, but it seems fine now.

Please do not suggest running "ix"; I have more than one version of "ix" available to me but I have software that runs only on Windows, hence I remain with Win despite the all too frequent problems. If necessary, I will reinstall Win7 and assume/hope the problem is not hardware related.

srhoades · 10-06-2012, 11:00

Sounds RAM related to me. Run memtest for a cycle a see what it says. Could also be a bad motherboard.

CitizenOfDreams · 10-06-2012, 12:40

I would suspect a hardware problem. Software-induced bluescreens are not as often these days as they used to be.

Here is the order I would troubleshoot this:
- Hard drive SMART status (is it failing?);
- Component temperatures (are all the fans running?);
- Power supply voltages and ripple (how old is it? Dry capacitors?);
- RAM test (thorough 12-hour or longer test with Memtest86+).

If a problem is not found, clean OS reinstall with most recent hardware drivers.

As always, your mileage may vary.

Green_Manelishi · 10-06-2012, 15:15

My hearing is so poor that I asked my wife to listen. She says she can hear "a fan". I can see what I believe is a fan, through the back of the cabinet, but it does not seem to be spinning quickly. Nor is there a plethora of dust.

A couple of remembers: a few days of very frequent video driver failures/recovers. Then the "corrupt" external drive problem. Now the boot.crash.reboot and all seems to be fine.

I hate computers.

Detectorist · 10-06-2012, 16:18

When that happens again, boot to your Win7 repair disk and go from there. See if Windows can automatically repair it.

You do have a repair disc, don't you? If not, Win 7 can create one for you.

Drjones · 10-06-2012, 19:27

Didn't it give you any additional errors or code numbers to look up?

I agree that this is probably hardware-related; I'd thoroughly test RAM & HD.

Green_Manelishi · 10-06-2012, 20:34

Quote:

Originally Posted by Drjones

Didn't it give you any additional errors or code numbers to look up?

I agree that this is probably hardware-related; I'd thoroughly test RAM & HD.

Yes, each crash resulted in error codes which correspond to the error text. The code was followed by a series of hEx-a-DeC numbers. This morning's crash was followed by several minutes of "collecting ... crash dump". I found the file but not surprisingly it is gibberish which must indicate a special tool is needed to decipher the content.

Windows MemTest indicates a hardware problem. MS SE indicates a hardware problem (volume error?) with a drive but not which drive. There are two internal (system, and data), two external, and an NAS.

I am wondering if it's the drive that was flagged as a problem is now an even more irritating problem. I have nowt to lose by disconnecting that drive and rebooting. If the system stays up it will seem to indicate that was the problem.

I am wondering if I unplug that drive if the error will go away.

srhoades · 10-06-2012, 21:07

Memtest does not report hardware problems other than faulty RAM. If you were getting errors running memtest, you have a bad stick of RAM (or possibly RAM slot, but that is rare).

Green_Manelishi · 10-06-2012, 21:16

Quote:

Originally Posted by srhoades

Memtest does not report hardware problems other than faulty RAM. If you were getting errors running memtest, you have a bad stick of RAM (or possibly RAM slot, but that is rare).

Interesting that other onboard tools (computer manufacturer) indicate memory is fine.

Detectorist · 10-07-2012, 11:22

What brand machine is it?

If memtest is indicating a problem, then it's bad ram. Start with taking out 1 stick of ram and see if it works without any issues. Keep on until the problem goes away. Don't complicate it.

Green_Manelishi · 10-07-2012, 11:42

Quote:

Originally Posted by Detectorist

What brand machine is it?

If memtest is indicating a problem, then it's bad ram. Start with taking out 1 stick of ram and see if it works without any issues. Keep on until the problem goes away. Don't complicate it.

Asus. I sent a message to them, describing the symptoms. Believe me, I don't want complications, and I agree that a process of elimination is a good idea.

Green_Manelishi · 10-09-2012, 11:13

I disabled some startup stuff that I don't actually need, and checkdisked the system, data and flagged-as-error-in-past external disk.

Computer now boots with no problems.

Detectorist · 10-09-2012, 12:16

Does your computer have an error log in the Bios? If so, check it out.

X-ray 4N6 · 10-09-2012, 12:26

I had a similar issue with a PC a few years ago. If you have other RAM you can try, do so. It smacks of a RAM issue. That's what happened to me and I ended up having to try different combinations of DIMMs until I found the faulty one. It's a nasty fault because it can be intermittent, depending on how the module is damaged and what your RAM use is, at any given time...