Index: src/vdbe.c
==================================================================
--- src/vdbe.c
+++ src/vdbe.c
@@ -2483,28 +2483,28 @@
       */
       if( offset > 98307 || offset > pC->payloadSize ){
         rc = SQLITE_CORRUPT_BKPT;
         goto abort_due_to_error;
       }
+    }else if( offset>0 ){ /*OPTIMIZATION-IF-TRUE*/
+      /* The following goto is an optimization.  It can be omitted and
+      ** everything will still work.  But OP_Column is measurably faster
+      ** by skipping the subsequent conditional, which is always true.
+      */
+      zData = pC->aRow;
+      assert( pC->nHdrParsed<=p2 );         /* Conditional skipped */
+      goto op_column_read_header;
     }
-
-    /* The following goto is an optimization.  It can be omitted and
-    ** everything will still work.  But OP_Column is measurably faster
-    ** by skipping the subsequent conditional, which is always true.
-    */
-    assert( pC->nHdrParsed<=p2 );         /* Conditional skipped */
-    goto op_column_read_header;
   }
 
   /* Make sure at least the first p2+1 entries of the header have been
   ** parsed and valid information is in aOffset[] and pC->aType[].
   */
   if( pC->nHdrParsed<=p2 ){
     /* If there is more header available for parsing in the record, try
     ** to extract additional fields up through the p2+1-th field 
     */
-    op_column_read_header:
     if( pC->iHdrOffset<aOffset[0] ){
       /* Make sure zData points to enough of the record to cover the header. */
       if( pC->aRow==0 ){
         memset(&sMem, 0, sizeof(sMem));
         rc = sqlite3VdbeMemFromBtree(pCrsr, 0, aOffset[0], !pC->isTable, &sMem);
@@ -2513,15 +2513,15 @@
       }else{
         zData = pC->aRow;
       }
   
       /* Fill in pC->aType[i] and aOffset[i] values through the p2-th field. */
+    op_column_read_header:
       i = pC->nHdrParsed;
       offset64 = aOffset[i];
       zHdr = zData + pC->iHdrOffset;
       zEndHdr = zData + aOffset[0];
-      assert( i<=p2 && zHdr<zEndHdr );
       do{
         if( (t = zHdr[0])<0x80 ){
           zHdr++;
           offset64 += sqlite3VdbeOneByteSerialTypeLen(t);
         }else{