n00ber

After trying several things, I have figured out what is causing my problems. ESET Smart Security 5 is responsible for my issues. They recently released version 5, and I upgraded to it. Since then, I was having this problem. I uninstalled ESET Smart Security 5 from my computer, and I no longer have the problem. I have contacted their support and will see where it goes from there. This is sad for me though, as I really enjoyed Smart Security 4, and there aren't really any other viable security solutions for XP x64 SP2 anymore. Thanks for the help 5eraph. I will keep this thread updated when I hear back from ESET support. All of my XP x64 SP2 computers run ESET, so I'm not surprised they all had this issue under XP x64 but not under Windows 7 (I don't run ESET security products under Windows 7).

I looked at the Event Viewer, and there's nothing at all for when my computer freezes when plugging in a USB Hard Drive. Any other suggestions?

Hey 5eraph! Thanks for responding. I love your update pack, as I've used it countless times! I upgraded all of the above because I was having this issue. I'll see if Event Viewer picks up anything. I have a dual-boot setup on my computer, and I don't have any problems in Windows 7 when plugging in any USB drives. Thus, I think we can rule out the BIOS. Of course, I did download more than just critical updates... downloaded some optional ones... hope that didn't break it.

Hey All, I've never had any problems with my XP x64 SP2 rig until recently. After downloading and installing all Microsoft updates for XP x64, the latest drivers for my i7 920 rig, and flashing the latest BIOS, I have problems when plugging in external USB Hard Drives. Flash drives work fine. When I plug in an external USB Hard Drive, everything freezes. Explorer.exe crashes, and I'm unable to switch between apps. My computer still works, but without Explorer, I'm dead in the water. I can wait forever, but it never unfreezes or regains control. Explorer is crashed for good, and I can only restart. If I leave the USB External Drive in the computer as Windows XP x64 boots, I can use it without issues. However, if it's not plugged in when I boot, it will crash when I plug one in. I can't even bring up Taskmanager when this happens. At first, I thought maybe it was just one of my USB Hard Drives experiencing the issue (ran Western Digital tools on it and the drive passes 100% & reformatted the drive [long format] ). Same problem on all of my XP x64 machines. Tried a different drive; I have the same problems. Anyone have any ideas?