External USB drive crashing XP

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Guest

I've used a few different USB2.0 multi-port hubs with my Thinkpad R40 (XP Pro
with SP2). Attached to them I have a several different HDD, CDRW, and DVD-RW
devices. Occasionally, when I turn on the external device (after laptop is
fully booted), the initial power to the external device will cause a blue
screen on my system. Other USB devices like MP3 players or flash drive do
not cause same problem.

I've had some success removing USB cable and powering up external device
first - then reattaching USB cable. But lately even that has crashed my
system. Any ideas?

Thanks in advance!
 
Johnny said:
I've used a few different USB2.0 multi-port hubs with my Thinkpad R40 (XP Pro
with SP2). Attached to them I have a several different HDD, CDRW, and DVD-RW
devices. Occasionally, when I turn on the external device (after laptop is
fully booted), the initial power to the external device will cause a blue
screen on my system. Other USB devices like MP3 players or flash drive do
not cause same problem.

I've had some success removing USB cable and powering up external device
first - then reattaching USB cable. But lately even that has crashed my
system. Any ideas?

Thanks in advance!
Click to expand...


There is a power limit to the USB port. It is typically
500 mA. Drives, in particular, may draw more power and
using a powered hub to the onboard USB port may prevent
XP from crashing.
 
I will try to catch the blue screen error codes. They disappear too quickly
sometimes to figure out what they say. Is there a log somewhere that would
have the contents of the blue screen error messages?
 
I would have thought that too. But both of my last 2 hubs had power - always
turned on.
 
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