[Solved] Accidental system lockup when plugging a USB HDD

[Comos]

Hi everyone,

For some time I noticed, that when pluging a USB HDD mostly NTFS formatted, that my system partly locks up.Then Im unable to close any aplication, switch between apl is possible, task manager doesn't work, system tray is not accesible.

All what I can do is hard reset.When I restart the system with the USB drive already plugged in then in most cases it's okay.Sometimes this issue happends when I tried to access a folder on that drive, however the filesystem is okay.

Doesn't matter if the drive has a external PSU or if is it powered from the USB.The machine is Lenovo ThinkPad W500.

Any idea?

[Ponch]

when pluging a USB HDD mostly NTFS formatted

Does that mean that most partitions, or the biggest partition of that precise HDD are NTFS or that it happens with all or almost all HDDs, but more often with NTFS formatted HDDs ???

[Comos]

when pluging a USB HDD mostly NTFS formatted

Does that mean that most partitions, or the biggest partition of that precise HDD are NTFS or that it happens with all or almost all HDDs, but more often with NTFS formatted HDDs ???

This happens mostly with my 1TB WD and 3TB WD HDD on NTFS but also when I plug other that had NTFS and more than 500GB size as I tested.All of them had one big partition.I have also one 320GB & 500GB drive on FAT32 and these are okay.

[dencorso]

Select a moment you're about to leave for some time (say, about 2h or more)... connect one of the problem USB HDDs when just about to leave and let it remain there. When you get back, 2 or more hours later, does the machine respond or is it actually still locked?

[Comos]

Select a moment you're about to leave for some time (say, about 2h or more)... connect one of the problem USB HDDs when just about to leave and let it remain there. When you get back, 2 or more hours later, does the machine respond or is it actually still locked?

This I have to check out.It's interesting that this didin't happen on my second WinXP SP3 EN system that I have @ work on the same laptop.

[dencorso]

The *same* laptop?

You mean the same make and model, but actually another physical laptop, for sure?

[Ponch]

Or dual boot ? One XP for the work day , one for the evening/weekends ?

Does deactivating antivirus make any difference ?

[Comos]

The *same* laptop?

You mean the same make and model, but actually another physical laptop, for sure?

Yep,

the laptop I use @ work and also @ home.For work, there is WinXP SP3 EN installed from the company with some restrictions.So in ultrabay I have my WinXP SP3 CZ.

Booting order I change easily during start.I have mention,that this issue isn't from the begining.It happend from one day,then occasionaly, maybe after some OS update?

[dencorso]

Well. If so, then, there's no problem whatsoever both with the laptop hardware, and with the external USB devices. Therefore, your problem is software-only. And, just for the record, your laptop has a "Serial Ultrabay Slim", so it is, for all purposes, an internal SATA HDD, when the HDD with Win XP SP3 CZ is inserted...

So...

Do you think you could, while booted in the "Work XP", create a full partition image from the "Personal XP" to an external USB HDD? If so, that'd be great, because then we could troubleshoot really aggressively, since if we messed up bad, we'd be able to fall back to the initial situation, just by redeploying the safety image initially acquired? Ghost, Acronis, or the free Partition Imaging are all adequate for doing this.

[Comos]

Well. If so, then, there's no problem whatsoever both with the laptop hardware, and with the external USB devices. Therefore, your problem is software-only. And, just for the record, your laptop has a "Serial Ultrabay Slim", so it is, for all purposes, an internal SATA HDD, when the HDD with Win XP SP3 CZ is inserted...

So...

Do you think you could, while booted in the "Work XP", create a full partition image from the "Personal XP" to an external USB HDD? If so, that'd be great, because then we could troubleshoot really aggressively, since if we messed up bad, we'd be able to fall back to the initial situation, just by redeploying the safety image initially acquired? Ghost, Acronis, or the free Partition Imaging are all adequate for doing this.

Sure no problem. Better backup it on a external HDD due to it's size.

[dencorso]

OK. Do a full backup. Then tell me you're ready, and we start troubleshooting. The backup is a must. And, since it's a bootable partition, an image is required. A full HDD image would be the best option, provided the Ultrabay HDD is not too big. If it is, a full XP partition image should be enough.

[Comos]

OK. Do a full backup. Then tell me you're ready, and we start troubleshooting. The backup is a must. And, since it's a bootable partition, an image is required. A full HDD image would be the best option, provided the Ultrabay HDD is not too big. If it is, a full XP partition image should be enough.

Well I haven't do that now, because now Im out of my country for a month.What do you want to exactly proceed with?

Today it happen again.I clicked on the disk, led started to blink that the directory structure was loading few blinks and then nothing....**** !!!

[dencorso]

I intend to do some hardcore experiments with the registry, to start with. And to delete some system's folders elsewhere. Every one of them is guaranteed to hose your system worse than before, if it does not work. And each must be done from scratch, so every time tings don't work, at least a full backup of the whole registry must be redeployed, before proceeding on to the next experiment. I wouldn't dare proceeding unless I know you can fully recover from my experiments. Remember the fundamental principle of medicine: "first, do no harm!"? It applies equally well here, as for every serious troubleshooting and/or fix attempt.

[Comos]

I intend to do some hardcore experiments with the registry, to start with. And to delete some system's folders elsewhere. Every one of them is guaranteed to hose your system worse than before, if it does not work. And each must be done from scratch, so every time tings don't work, at least a full backup of the whole registry must be redeployed, before proceeding on to the next experiment. I wouldn't dare proceeding unless I know you can fully recover from my experiments. Remember the fundamental principle of medicine: "first, do no harm!"? It applies equally well here, as for every serious troubleshooting and/or fix attempt.

Im back in action after some time on commissiong.During that time I investigated,that this issue seems to have something in common with my NOD32 AV.

First before connecting a USB HDD when I turn off the resident filesystem protection, the drive connects okay, then I turn the protection on and everything is working fine.

Gotta clarify this issue with ESET's technical support.

[Comos]

Forgot to to mention the results, all this crap was caused by a bug in the version 4 of ESET Smart Security and has been fixed in Version 5.

Version 5.2.9

Enhancement: Added information about needing to switch SSL filtering ON when filtering HTTPs sites in Parental Control setup screen

Enhancement: Several enhancements within Parental Control Setup and management

Enhancement: Administrator of Parental Control can choose the role of a Windows Account by entering a person‘s age configuring Parental Control

Enhancement: Information about not filtering Parental Control added to the Home Screen

Enhancement: Added Statistics of Scanned Files in the Home Screen

Enhancement: Added more information about running processes reputation from ESET Live Grid

Support: Able to activate product using proxy server

Support: SSL False Start in Google Chrome

Support: SSL scanning in recent versions of Mozilla Firefox and Thunderbird

Support: Ability to use the activation keys in product to Renew

Added: Ability to prioritize web page exceptions within Parental Control by Windows user account

Added: Settings for Removable Media blocking and Antirootkit (Antistealth) are located in the main GUI under Setup

Fix: Network profile dialog window popping up repeatedly

Fix: Graphical enhancement fixing shadowing of the pull-down quick menu

Fix: Issues detecting emails in Windows Live Mail 2011

Fix: GUI opened in a large window

Fix: Advanced scanning options are not working in Computer Scan

Fix: Irrelevant notification bubble is being shown when no action is required

Fix: Issues with stopping of ESET service during installation

Fix: Runtime error with HP Protect Tools, causing ESET GUI crash

Fix: Removable media blocking does not block devices for some Windows Accounts

Fix: Some pages with certain categories were not categorized properly by Parental Control feature

Fix: Files are still scanned by Real-time file system protection after disabling it

Fix: Issues with importing Antispam global lists from ESET Smart Security version 4 to ESET Smart Security version 5

Fix: ESET GUI crashes under some circumstances while editing ESET Firewall profiles

Fix: Schedule update task cannot be started from main menu in SysRescue User Interface

Fix: Crashing of ESET GUI under some circumstances

Fix: Wrong tooltips within Antispam dialog windows

Fix: Activated product displays that it is not activated

Fix: Parental Control still enabled in User Interface after Firewall is disabled

Fix: IMAPS, POP3S checking of protocols and ports for selected applications does not work correctly

Fix: Notification window about disabling some type of protection is not displayed if some other protection is already disabled

Fix: Inconsistent status for updated virus signature database within main program window

Fix: Scheduled scan and other planned tasks can be started from non-administrator user accounts

Fix: Issues with management of web page filtering exceptions for Parental Control

Fix: SSL filtering in Chrome does not work in some circumstances

Fix: HIPS rule displays "User Rules File Contains Invalid Data"

Fix: USB HDD freezes system on Windows XP