Upon installing a new hardware driver, or software on your Windows 10 PC, you may notice that upon restarting, you are presented with a blue screen error that displays the message “bad_pool_error”.
Here I shall discuss why you are seeing this error, and how you can fix it using the seven steps provided above.
What Does Windows 10 Bad Pool Header Mean?
The error code corresponding to the bad pool header is 0x00000019. This is also one of the Blue Screen of Death (BSOD) errors. Windows will shut down your computer randomly to prevent damage to your system.
The ‘pool’ here refers to the memory pool that your operating system utilizes to allocate memory, while ‘header’ refers to the Windows API (application programming interface) being properly addressed.
In essence, when you get the bad_pool_error, it is an indication of your PC being unable to manage memory properly. This error is caused due to problems with Windows memory allocation and usually occurs after you have installed new software or hardware that may be incompatible with your computer.
Additionally, faulty drivers, bad sectors and other disk write issues can also cause this blue screen of death error.
FIXED: Windows 10 Bad Pool Header BSOD Error!
Now that you have some idea about what may be causing this error, here some of the tested fixes that may help you solve your error. You can try these to potentially solve the bad_pool_header error on Windows 10.
Solution 1: Remove Any Newly Installed Hardware And Software
This may seem silly and extremely easy, but this easy fix is the starting step that can help you boot into your Operating System.
Since the bad pool header is caused due to incorrect memory allocation, incorrect driver installation may cause this error. Removing any device that you newly installed should solve the error on your Windows 10 device. Simply unplug the newly installed hardware on your system and try booting into Windows.
If this change occurred after installing some software, that may be the reason that you are getting this error. You might have installed some incompatible software on your device, and this incompatibility may be causing the error. Uninstalling the software may fix your issue and you will be able to boot into Windows.
You must also remove any residual files, which may be left after the uninstallation. For this, you can use third party powerful uninstallers like IObit to uninstall the software, or use CCleaner to remove the junk file.
Solution 2: Update Drivers And Windows
Once you successfully boot into Windows, then you need to update your device drivers to the latest version.
Drivers are the components that facilitate the communication between the hardware and the Operating system. Since the drivers corrupting is one the most probable cause of you seeing this error, updating your drivers should fix this issue.
To update your device drivers individually, open a Run dialogue by pressing Win + R. Here type devmgmt.msc to open Device Manager. Here, look for the devices that you haven’t updated the software for in a long time or the ones that you think maybe giving you the error.
In Windows 10, the drivers are usually updated via Windows Update. Hence, you need to update Windows to the latest version as well to have all the latest drivers on your system. If you were postponing your Windows update, now may be the time to update your device.
Solution 3: Run A Memory Diagnostic Tool
The memory diagnostic tool that you used earlier can also be used to scan and fix errors associated with your physical memory. This can come in handy if you suspect that the physical memory altercations may be causing this error.
To run and schedule a memory scan, follow these steps:
- Open a Run window by pressing Win + R.
- Type mdsched.exe and press Enter to launch the Memory Diagnostic Tool.
- A prompt will ask you if you wish to restart your device. Save all your important work, and click on Restart now and check for problems (recommended).
- Upon reboot, perform a basic scan, or go for the Advanced options like ‘Test mix’ or ‘Pass count’. Press F10 to start the test.
The diagnostic tool will scan and fix the bad sectors in your memory module, and may eventually bad pool header on your device.
Solution 4: Perform A Hardware Clean Boot
This is a diagnostic trick that can be used to check faulty drivers that may be causing bad_pool_header and other errors on your devices. The solution revolves around disabling all the unnecessary components, which are not necessary for the system during boot.
To perform a hardware clean boot, follow these steps:
- Open a Run window by pressing Win + R.
- Type devmgmt.msc and press Enter to launch the Device Manager console.
- Disable the following devices by expanding the devices, and selecting Disable from the right-click context menu:
- Display Adapters.
- DVD/CD-ROM drives.
- Sound, video and game controllers.
- Network Adapters.
- Modems
- Ports
- USB Devices and controller – provided you are NOT using USB/Wireless Mouse or Keyboard.
- Restart your device once you have disabled all your devices.
Check if the error still persists. If you do not see a bad pool header anymore, it can be confirmed that there might be some error with one of the devices. Enable the devices one by one and check what device is causing the error.
Solution 5: Turn Off Fast Startup
The fast startup was introduced with Windows 8 and has its presence in Windows 10 as well. It is a very useful feature, essentially being a hybrid of traditional cold boot and resuming from hibernate. Unlike the ‘hibernate’ feature where the session is saved in a large file, in fast startup the kernel session is hibernated. The resulting kernel file is much slower and the effect can be seen with substantial time advantage while booting up Windows 10 device.
Note: if you cannot log into Windows, boot in Safe mode and then try this.
- Open the WinX You can do this by right clicking on the start button or using the keyboard shortcut Win + X.
- Click on Power Options.
- Next, click Choose what the power button does.
- Click Change settings that are currently unavailable if you see the settings turned off below this.
- Uncheck Turn on fast startup (recommended), then click Save changes.
- Reboot your PC and see if the error persists.
Solution 6: Temporarily Turn Off Your Third-Party Antivirus
Many users have reported that they got this error after installing third-party antivirus or antimalware software. This may also be the reason that you are getting this error on your device.
Turn off the shields of your antivirus software and check if the error persists. If you are successfully able to solve the error, the concerned software is at fault and needs to be replaced.
Solution 7: Reset Windows Or Perform A System Restore
If none of the steps above helped you solve your issue, you need to Reset your device or perform a system restore if you have a restore point saved.
To perform a System Restore, simply search for “Create a system restore” in the search bar of your Windows. This will open a dialog box in Control Panel.
Under the System Protection tab, click on the “System Restore…” button. Then follow the on-screen instructions to perform a successful system restore.
If you don’t have a system restore point created, you might need to reset your Windows.
To reset Windows 10, follow these steps:
- Backup your files.
- Open the Settings You can use the shortcut Win + I.
- Click on Update & Security.
- From the left pane, select Recovery.
- From the right pane, click on the Get started button under Reset this PC.
- This will restart your device into Advanced Boot Options.
- Select Remove everything from the Choose an options section.
- Click on Next and follow the onscreen instructions to reset your Windows.
Conclusion
So there you have it. Now you know how to solve the bad pool header error on Windows 10 devices using the solutions provided above. Tell us how you solved the Windows 10 bad_pool_header on your device in the comments below.