Error codes

0x000000C6

DRIVER_CAUGHT_MODIFYING_FREED_POOL

What it means

Windows caught a driver writing into pool memory after it had been released, before that write could damage anything else.

Common causes

• A driver with a reference-counting bug
• An older driver built for a previous Windows version
• Two filter drivers claiming the same memory

How to fix it

1. Open the crash dump in WhoCrashed or BlueScreenView: it usually names the driver file that caused it (for example nvlddmkm.sys is the NVIDIA driver).
2. Update the graphics, chipset and network drivers from the maker's site (NVIDIA, AMD, Intel or your board vendor), not from a driver-updater tool.
3. Uninstall the driver named in the dump, restart and let Windows install its own version first.
4. If no driver is named, run Driver Verifier with only third-party drivers selected and reproduce the crash.