HELP! My laptop has the BSoD & "BAD_POOL_ERROR"!

[Liza Shaw]

Is it possibile this is a virus sent via email? I have been getting some suspicious emails from someone I don't know well, and he said he did not send them.

Today I was working on a Microsoft Word document and left the room for an hour. When I cam back, the BSoD was up and this is what it read towards the bottom:

"Technical Information:
*** STOP: 0x00000019 (0x00000020.0x89123A98.0x89123AC0.0x0A050001)
Beginning dump of physical memory.
Physical memory dump complete.
Contact your system administrator or technical support group for further assistance."

I am really worried. I have not loaded any new software nor hardware on here lately, but I do have Microsoft automatic updates turned on. I am using Microsoft Windows XP and have the Avast Internet Security program loaded. I am currently doing a manual scan of the system and so far it hasn't found any problems. Can someone PLEASE explain to me what this actually is? Why would it suddenly cause me a problem if it is a hardware problem? Has it actually dumped memory??? PLEASE HELP SOON!!!

[Pondus]

Has it actually dumped memory???

memory dump is a log file

How to read the small memory dump files that Windows creates for debugging
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/315263

*** STOP: 0x00000019 (0x00000020.0x89123A98.0x89123AC0.0x0A050001)

This is the info i have googled on this

STOP: 0x00000019 (parameter, parameter, parameter, parameter) BAD_POOL_HEADER
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms818860.aspx

[Liza Shaw]

Pondus ~
Thanks for the response. I selected the Last Known Good option when I rebooted, and it seems to have cleared up the problem. I am still not at all clear about what caused this problem. Does this indicate that there is a problem with some hardware (such as, for example, an internal modem is going bad), or was it a problem with something in the Microsoft Windows update? Just so you know, I am seriously deficient in the tech-world, so simple language and detailed explanations would help me immensely!
Thanks again,
Liza