Blue Screen: 1394 External Drives

[C.B.]

I am running Vista Ultimate x86. I get blue screens related to an
incompatibility/lack of proper driver for my two WD My Book Premium external
drives. The drives are Firewire connected. Problem Reports lists the error
as "KB960884-Stop Error when plugging in 1394 external drives". The problem
has to do with unplugging one of the 1394 drives and/or having only one 1394
drive. I don't disconnect them at any time so that is not the cause of my
problem.

A hotfix is available and has been applied. It does nothing to eliminate the
problem. Both drives are using Microsoft's generic 6/21/2006 drivers,
version 6.0.6002.18005. I have downloaded and installed directly to the
external drives Western Digital's drivers and software packages but the
drivers remain the same generic Microsoft drivers in Device Manager.

I can use one of the drives (F) and the computer will eventually go to the
blue screen after several hours. If I try to turn on the other drive (G) the
system freezes, I lose my taskbar and the ability to Control/Alt/Delete my
way into Task Manager is lost. The only solution is a hard shutdown and
restart. I can restart with drive F turned on. The system freezes and will
not restart if drive G is turned on.

I used these same drives with the same Vista Ultimate OS before going to the
Windows 7 Ultimate Beta/RC and had no problems. I used these same drives
throughout the Windows 7 Beta testing and had no problems. I am now
experiencing the shut down problem on the very same Vista Ultimate system
they worked flawlessly on before. I don't understand why this is happening.

It seems that I have two options. I can first try to switch to USB
connections for my external drives and see if that solves the problem or I
can purchase Windows 7. I don't think a repair will accomplish anything but
I could be wrong. I love Windows 7 Ultimate and prefer it over Vista
Ultimate but I'm in no rush to purchase Win 7 if I can get Vista to work
with my external drives.

Does anyone know why I didn't experience this problem with my external
drives using Vista Ultimate before doing a clean install of the Windows 7
Beta/RC and why I'm having the problem now, after wiping my internal HD of
the Win 7 and doing a clean install of my Vista Ultimate?

 

[RLEWIS]

allot of good stuff snipped

Does anyone know why I didn't experience this problem with my external
drives using Vista Ultimate before doing a clean install of the Windows 7
Beta/RC and why I'm having the problem now, after wiping my internal HD of
the Win 7 and doing a clean install of my Vista Ultimate?

i started having this blue screen o death problem with my system

win vista premium x64 1394 400 fire wire 2 drives connected , second
being recently purchased , 1 tb pro drive , usb,fire 400-800 esata
capable.the problem didn't start till second drive was connected , and
it didn't seem to happen right away ,rather as i thought random times .

the problem as you described above while thorough was missing one thing , as
i read it.
the blue screen o death happened with 2 drives as you say but the reason it
happens
is when one of them " go's to sleep" something with the f-cked drivers
kills the puter.

my solution > the new drive had esata , my pc does not but has an express
card slot
esata card 40 bucks , 6 times the speed , example 4 day total backup now 2
hours .

i didn't try the hot fix as they said it wasn't tested yet and could cause
DAMAGE to the laptop.

if your drive has esata GET A CARD TO RUN IT . i have no problems now.

or unplug one drive and use one drive at the time . may i thus humbly
suggest.

good luck

 

[C.B.]

Thanks, RLEWIS. I appreciate the reply. I did some more investigating and
I've come to the conclusion the one external, "Drive F", is toast. I'll need
to replace it but I think I'll try to retrieve some of the data, none of it
important. You're probably right about the reason the computer was
bluescreening. I think the spin down regulation of the external was faulty.

Thanks again,

C.B.