Turning Off An External Usb Hard Drive Causes A Bsod

[rayzoredge 2]

My question is: why? How do I fix it?I am running Microsoft Windows XP Professional with SP2. I've never had this issue when I used this laptop, but since I gave it to my fiancee, it has been having this issue. The ONLY difference between my usual setup and hers is that she uses AOL (v9.1), and as much as I love blaming AOL for everything (since it is such a horrible piece of software), I can't just point fingers and call it a day. Uninstalling AOL is not an option because the woman is a creature of habit and would kill me. So I would like to figure out the nature of the problem and solve it.Google is not my friend with this issue since XP issues and blue screens of death aren't exactly an uncommon issue, and swimming through the thousands of threads, articles, Yahoo! Answers, and whatnot, the only possibility of fixing it sounds like an enclosure firmware update... which I've never had to do, not to mention that just recently I found out that there isn't any firmware to update with. (I'm using both a Western Digital and Samsung hard drive in separate Galaxy Metal Gear Box enclosures, connected via USB 2.0.) Since I can't update the firmware on my enclosures, I'm stuck. I COULD try updating to SP3, but this issue never presented itself until now... funny enough, with the introduction of AOL and World of Warcraft into the mix (two programs I never had before). Basic troubleshooting points to these two programs, but at the same time, I'm wondering if it may be something else and if there's an actual fix for it.The blue screen of death only occurs when I turn the external hard drive off, regardless of what I'm doing on the computer. To further complicate things, it happens on a random basis: sometimes it might BSOD, sometimes its fine. I cannot utilize the Safely Remove Hardware feature because it always tells me that "the device cannot be stopped right now." I don't have any services that I know of that may be doing anything silently with existing drives (like Diskeeper, which I used to have on this computer). Not sure where to look, either... can anyone enlighten me as to what I could do, or if they could point me to a fix? Thanks.

[inverse_bloom 0]

Im not sure if this will help you, but i'd try ending any processes to do with AOL then turn off the external hard drive... not sure, see if it helps. On my brief and somewhat unqualified understanding on the matter, it doesnt seem like it would be any issues to do with external storage drivers but more so a process that is accessing external drives and therefore hanging when you make any attempt to disconnect.If you havn't tried this already, it might give further indication what the exact issue may be. Hope this helps...

Edited September 26, 2009 by inverse_bloom (see edit history)

[BuffaloHelp 24]

"the device cannot be stopped right now" is a clear indication that your external drive is in use. So find out what's utilizing it whether you know it or not--as in it can be a background service.Sometimes, Windows will automatically start to index any drives unless you mark it not to index for fast searching. Turn that off. To turn off indexing: 1. Open up "My Computer." 2. Right-click on your hard drive (usually "C:" or the drive you intend like the external USB) and choose "Properties." 3. Uncheck the box at the bottom that reads "Allow Indexing Service to..." 4. Click OK, and files will be removed from memory. This removal may take a few minutes to complete.To disable the indexing service: 1. In the "Start" menu, choose "Run." 2. Type "services.msc" and press Enter. 3. Scroll-down to "Indexing Service" and double-click it. 4. If the service status is "Running", then stop it by pressing the "Stop" button. 5. To make sure this service doesn't run again, under "Startup Type:", choose "Disabled."Windows search will still work if you perform these steps, but it will work more slowly than if indexing was enabled.If you wish to further modify for external hard drive: 1. While in the "Properties" of the hard drive 2. Click on "Hardware" tab. 3. Select the drive of the external device. 4. Click on "Properties" button. 5. Click on "Policies" tab. 6. Select "Optimize for quick removal" and others. Leave "Enable write caching..." checked unless you know what you are doing.

[rayzoredge 2]

Still happens... I've actually had Indexing Service turned off and funny enough, both USB external drives were Optimized for Removal instead of for performance.

 

I got the BSOD again recently and caught something that looked like ntfs.sys, which my Google-fu says that it's hardware-related. (Well, duh.) Still puzzled over this... what else could be using the hard drive to cause this? (I've never run into this problem before... my finger wants to point at AOL, but I'm giving it the benefit of the doubt (despite my gut feeling). If it IS AOL, then what would AOL be doing accessing external hard drives?

[inverse_bloom 0]

What about antivirus software, a quick search on google seems to indicate that AVG could possibly be a problem that causes Bsod issues. Have you gone to the error log in control panel - admin tools - event viewer - system ?, is there any information before the crash occurences?. Or anywhere else that gives an indication as to what the problem might be?mm... getting late for me, might look at it tomorrow.

Edited October 1, 2009 by inverse_bloom (see edit history)

[inverse_bloom 0]

Have you tried loading into safe mode and recreating the problem? That would determine if the issue is anything to do with services or programs loaded after startup. Also not sure... i'd think about rolling back the drivers for the motherboard and usb drives when connected, if at all possible. What about paging files?, you should specify it to be a set number of gigs on c drive and not system managed size (never know might work). Obviously you've tried other external usb storages devices and they haven't failed?. If so, i'd agree the enlosures seem suspect. Also apparently windows xp service pack 2 can present problems with drivers for enclosures, causing Bsod's. mm.. cant offer any more than that.

Edited October 2, 2009 by inverse_bloom (see edit history)

[BuffaloHelp 24]

Alright, we established that it's not Windows settings that are affecting BSOD. So then let's track that last updated software--AOL.The only way to find out if it's really AOL issue, you'll need to uninstall it and restart the machine. Then try to repeat the same method to create BSOD. Even try "safely remove hardware."What could be doing that AOL's got a hold of your external drive? Perhaps AOL is indexing or using external drive to store cache, photos or whatever...?By uninstalling AOL it will free from any AOL connection to the external drive. You sound like you know what you are doing so there's no need to emphasize on backing up settings and downloaded files?

[rayzoredge 2]

I found a culprit, and it's not AO-Hell, apparently.

 

Using Process Monitor from M$, for some reason wmpnetwk.exe (the media sharing service) is "creating over a file" a second on the external hard drive. I turned the hard drive off after killing wmpnetwk.exe and safely removing it, and it was good to go. However, turning it back on, wmpnetwk.exe doesn't make an appearance immediately, which makes me wonder what actually triggers this behavior.

 

Anyone have a clue? My only guess is that WMP is trying to add items to its library, which makes sense in the fact that for some reason, WMP doesn't retain library information and you have to actually add files to the library (and not rely on the monitoring service) to replenish what you lose. However, this doesn't make enough sense to warrant a constant "create and close file" operation every 0.9 seconds.

 

Going to look into this a little more over time... I'll let you know what happens. In the meantime, can anyone make heads or tails of this? It never did this to me before, and I DID have AOL and World of Warcraft installed on this computer for a period of time before this crap started happening. I would like to have this solved instead of having to teach my fiancee to remember to kill wmpnetwk.exe EVERY time BEFORE turning off the hard drive (if it is indeed the culprit).

 

Edit (Addendum): WMP takes over this madness when it's open. Also, screenshot of Process Monitor. Note the times of each entry. It constantly does this indefinitely... I'm still racking up entries as I type.

 

Edited October 3, 2009 by rayzoredge (see edit history)