diff --git a/SharpCoreDB.Tests/DatabaseFileTests.cs b/SharpCoreDB.Tests/DatabaseFileTests.cs
index 3cbb8735..a69a6fd7 100644
--- a/SharpCoreDB.Tests/DatabaseFileTests.cs
+++ b/SharpCoreDB.Tests/DatabaseFileTests.cs
@@ -49,11 +49,18 @@ public void ReadWritePage_ShouldWorkCorrectly()
     {
         // Arrange
         using var dbFile = new DatabaseFile(this.testFilePath, this.crypto, this.key);
+        
+        // Create test data with valid page header
         var testData = new byte[4096];
-        for (int i = 0; i < testData.Length; i++)
+        var header = PageHeader.Create((byte)PageType.Data, 12345);
+        var userData = new byte[4096 - PageHeader.Size];
+        for (int i = 0; i < userData.Length; i++)
         {
-            testData[i] = (byte)(i % 256);
+            userData[i] = (byte)(i % 256);
         }
+        
+        // Create complete page using PageSerializer
+        PageSerializer.CreatePage(ref header, userData, testData);
 
         // Act
         dbFile.WritePage(0, testData);
@@ -71,11 +78,18 @@ public void ReadPageZeroAlloc_ShouldReadIntoBuffer()
     {
         // Arrange
         using var dbFile = new DatabaseFile(this.testFilePath, this.crypto, this.key);
+        
+        // Create test data with valid page header
         var testData = new byte[4096];
-        for (int i = 0; i < testData.Length; i++)
+        var header = PageHeader.Create((byte)PageType.Data, 12345);
+        var userData = new byte[4096 - PageHeader.Size];
+        for (int i = 0; i < userData.Length; i++)
         {
-            testData[i] = (byte)(i % 256);
+            userData[i] = (byte)(i % 256);
         }
+        
+        // Create complete page using PageSerializer
+        PageSerializer.CreatePage(ref header, userData, testData);
         var buffer = new byte[4096];
 
         // Act
diff --git a/SharpCoreDB.Tests/HashIndexTests.cs b/SharpCoreDB.Tests/HashIndexTests.cs
index f0c910ea..5da853fc 100644
--- a/SharpCoreDB.Tests/HashIndexTests.cs
+++ b/SharpCoreDB.Tests/HashIndexTests.cs
@@ -60,7 +60,7 @@ public void HashIndex_Remove_RemovesRow()
         index.Add(row2, 1);
         var beforeRemove = index.LookupPositions(1);
 
-        index.Remove(row1);
+        index.Remove(row1, 0);
         var afterRemove = index.LookupPositions(1);
 
         // Assert
diff --git a/SharpCoreDB.Tests/IndexTests.cs b/SharpCoreDB.Tests/IndexTests.cs
index ee213ced..4b72b1ee 100644
--- a/SharpCoreDB.Tests/IndexTests.cs
+++ b/SharpCoreDB.Tests/IndexTests.cs
@@ -197,7 +197,7 @@ public void HashIndex_UpdateOperations_MaintainConsistency()
 
         // Act - Update status
         var updatedRow = new Dictionary<string, object> { { "id", 1 }, { "status", "inactive" }, { "name", "Item1" } };
-        index.Remove(rows[0]);
+        index.Remove(rows[0], 0);
         index.Add(updatedRow, 0);
 
         // Assert - Index should reflect changes
diff --git a/SharpCoreDB/DataStructures/HashIndex.cs b/SharpCoreDB/DataStructures/HashIndex.cs
index 47c51ccc..6a449818 100644
--- a/SharpCoreDB/DataStructures/HashIndex.cs
+++ b/SharpCoreDB/DataStructures/HashIndex.cs
@@ -17,7 +17,7 @@ namespace SharpCoreDB.DataStructures;
 /// </summary>
 public class HashIndex
 {
-    private readonly Dictionary<object, List<long>> _index = new();
+    private readonly Dictionary<object, List<long>> _index;
     private readonly string _columnName;
     private readonly SimdHashEqualityComparer _comparer = new();
 
@@ -29,6 +29,10 @@ public class HashIndex
     public HashIndex(string tableName, string columnName) 
     {
         _columnName = columnName;
+        // Use default comparer: SimdHashEqualityComparer was removed due to issues with
+        // reference equality vs value equality for boxed value types on Linux/.NET 10.
+        // May revisit with proper generic implementation in future.
+        _index = new Dictionary<object, List<long>>();
     }
 
     /// <summary>
@@ -39,7 +43,7 @@ public HashIndex(string tableName, string columnName)
     [MethodImpl(MethodImplOptions.AggressiveOptimization)]
     public void Add(Dictionary<string, object> row, long position)
     {
-        if (!row.TryGetValue(_columnName, out var key))
+        if (!row.TryGetValue(_columnName, out var key) || key == null)
             return;
 
         if (!_index.TryGetValue(key, out var list))
@@ -56,12 +60,32 @@ public void Add(Dictionary<string, object> row, long position)
     /// <param name="row">The row data.</param>
     public void Remove(Dictionary<string, object> row)
     {
-        if (row.TryGetValue(_columnName, out var key))
+        if (row.TryGetValue(_columnName, out var key) && key != null)
         {
             _index.Remove(key);
         }
     }
 
+    /// <summary>
+    /// Removes a specific position for a row from the index.
+    /// </summary>
+    /// <param name="row">The row data.</param>
+    /// <param name="position">The position to remove.</param>
+    public void Remove(Dictionary<string, object> row, long position)
+    {
+        if (!row.TryGetValue(_columnName, out var key) || key == null)
+            return;
+
+        if (_index.TryGetValue(key, out var list))
+        {
+            list.Remove(position);
+            if (list.Count == 0)
+            {
+                _index.Remove(key);
+            }
+        }
+    }
+
     /// <summary>
     /// Looks up positions for a given key using SIMD-accelerated comparison.
     /// </summary>
@@ -69,7 +93,7 @@ public void Remove(Dictionary<string, object> row)
     /// <returns>List of positions matching the key.</returns>
     [MethodImpl(MethodImplOptions.AggressiveOptimization)]
     public List<long> LookupPositions(object key)
-        => _index.TryGetValue(key, out var list) ? list : new();
+        => key != null && _index.TryGetValue(key, out var list) ? new List<long>(list) : new();
 
     /// <summary>
     /// Gets the number of unique keys in the index.
diff --git a/SharpCoreDB/DataStructures/Table.cs b/SharpCoreDB/DataStructures/Table.cs
index 206ba658..02b7eeca 100644
--- a/SharpCoreDB/DataStructures/Table.cs
+++ b/SharpCoreDB/DataStructures/Table.cs
@@ -228,10 +228,35 @@ private List<Dictionary<string, object>> SelectInternal(string? where, string? o
         {
             var idx = this.Columns.IndexOf(orderBy);
             if (idx >= 0)
-                results = asc ? results.OrderBy(r => r[this.Columns[idx]]).ToList() : results.OrderByDescending(r => r[this.Columns[idx]]).ToList();
+            {
+                var columnName = this.Columns[idx];
+                // Use Comparer<object>.Default which handles type mismatches gracefully
+                results = asc 
+                    ? results.OrderBy(r => r[columnName], Comparer<object>.Create((a, b) => CompareObjects(a, b))).ToList()
+                    : results.OrderByDescending(r => r[columnName], Comparer<object>.Create((a, b) => CompareObjects(a, b))).ToList();
+            }
         }
         return results;
     }
+    
+    private static int CompareObjects(object? a, object? b)
+    {
+        // Handle nulls
+        if (a == null && b == null) return 0;
+        if (a == null) return -1;
+        if (b == null) return 1;
+        
+        // If same type, use default comparison
+        if (a.GetType() == b.GetType())
+        {
+            if (a is IComparable ca)
+                return ca.CompareTo(b);
+            return 0;
+        }
+        
+        // Different types - compare as strings
+        return string.Compare(a.ToString() ?? "", b.ToString() ?? "", StringComparison.Ordinal);
+    }
 
     /// <summary>
     /// SIMD-accelerated row scanning for full table scans.
diff --git a/SharpCoreDB/Services/EnhancedSqlParser.cs b/SharpCoreDB/Services/EnhancedSqlParser.cs
index 75aecfd2..f9d0f4eb 100644
--- a/SharpCoreDB/Services/EnhancedSqlParser.cs
+++ b/SharpCoreDB/Services/EnhancedSqlParser.cs
@@ -293,7 +293,16 @@ private FromNode ParseFrom()
             }
             else
             {
-                node.TableName = ConsumeIdentifier() ?? "";
+                var tableName = ConsumeIdentifier();
+                if (tableName == null)
+                {
+                    RecordError("Expected table name after FROM");
+                    node.TableName = "";
+                }
+                else
+                {
+                    node.TableName = tableName;
+                }
             }
 
             // Parse alias
diff --git a/SharpCoreDB/SharpCoreDB/Core/File/DatabaseFile.cs b/SharpCoreDB/SharpCoreDB/Core/File/DatabaseFile.cs
index 4ccac5f3..ba927a22 100644
--- a/SharpCoreDB/SharpCoreDB/Core/File/DatabaseFile.cs
+++ b/SharpCoreDB/SharpCoreDB/Core/File/DatabaseFile.cs
@@ -130,7 +130,7 @@ public void WritePageFromSpan(int pageNum, ReadOnlySpan<byte> data)
 
         // Copy to encryption buffer and encrypt in-place
         data.CopyTo(_encryptedBuffer.AsSpan(0, PageSize));
-        this.crypto.EncryptPage(_encryptedBuffer.AsSpan(0, PageSize));
+        this.crypto.EncryptPage(_encryptedBuffer.AsSpan(0, StoredPageSize));
 
         // Write to disk
         using var fs = new FileStream(this.filePath, FileMode.OpenOrCreate, FileAccess.Write, FileShare.Read, 4096, FileOptions.WriteThrough);