hard drive - competing drivers?

[J Lunis]

XP SR2
I have 3 HD's - OEM internal, Iomega external USB, Netgear external USB
I have 2 problems(?) that may be related. I have not found the answer
on the web.
All three drives list 3 drivers - disk.sys, iomdisk.sys, zetsfd.sys

1) Windows Disk Management - when I select it, XP searches(?) for 2-3
minutes and then gives me a "Server execution failed."

2) When I open Explorer and select 'My Computer' the hourglass runs for
2-3 minutes before finally listing my drives. In addition, whenever I
select a folder in the right pane I get a popup similar to a command.com
screen for about a second which then disappears.

Since I am not an expert I am concerned the Iomega and Netgear drivers
are conflicting and contributing to these problems. Are these drivers
OK as they are? If not, any ideas on my problems?

 

[kony]

XP SR2
I have 3 HD's - OEM internal, Iomega external USB, Netgear external USB
I have 2 problems(?) that may be related. I have not found the answer
on the web.
All three drives list 3 drivers - disk.sys, iomdisk.sys, zetsfd.sys

1) Windows Disk Management - when I select it, XP searches(?) for 2-3
minutes and then gives me a "Server execution failed."

2) When I open Explorer and select 'My Computer' the hourglass runs for
2-3 minutes before finally listing my drives. In addition, whenever I
select a folder in the right pane I get a popup similar to a command.com
screen for about a second which then disappears.

Since I am not an expert I am concerned the Iomega and Netgear drivers
are conflicting and contributing to these problems. Are these drivers
OK as they are? If not, any ideas on my problems?

Unplug both externals and reboot. See if the above behavior
persists. If not, plug in either drive and check again for
the problem, reboot and check again. Next try with only the
other drive.

Are both of these drives accessible, seem to be working or
is it possible one is failing?

You might also move those two 3rd party drivers (iomdisk.sys
& zetsfd.sys) out of the \drivers\ folder to a temporary
location and reboot- so they don't get loaded next time, and
then see if the drives are still accessible, and/or if the
problem persists.

On the chance that a drive might be failing, IMO you should
make backups of the data on these drives first, if it hasn't
been done already.

Perhaps more significant is to wonder when this problem
first occurred? Did it coincide to installation of the
software for one of these drives? Don't they show up and
work prior to any software installation on XP/SP2? If so,
was there an extra functionality _needed_ on them that is
facilitated by these add-on drivers?

 

[J Lunis]

Unplug both externals and reboot. See if the above behavior
persists. If not, plug in either drive and check again for
the problem, reboot and check again. Next try with only the
other drive.

Are both of these drives accessible, seem to be working or
is it possible one is failing?

You might also move those two 3rd party drivers (iomdisk.sys
& zetsfd.sys) out of the \drivers\ folder to a temporary
location and reboot- so they don't get loaded next time, and
then see if the drives are still accessible, and/or if the
problem persists.

On the chance that a drive might be failing, IMO you should
make backups of the data on these drives first, if it hasn't
been done already.

Perhaps more significant is to wonder when this problem
first occurred? Did it coincide to installation of the
software for one of these drives? Don't they show up and
work prior to any software installation on XP/SP2? If so,
was there an extra functionality _needed_ on them that is
facilitated by these add-on drivers?

OK, kony, I've learned quite a bit.
Removing both drives and mapmem - no errors but still takes 2-3 minutes
to access drives in Explorer
removing iomdisk and zetsfd from 'drivers' folder and rebooting - BSOD
reinstalling either file and rebooting - BSOD
reinstalling both - XP boots normally, except with the Event Manager |
System errors below . . . .
neither HD plugged in - Event ID 10010 - The server did not register..
Iomega plugged in Event ID 1003 - Error code 000000c5
Event ID 1003 - Error code 000000d1
Netgear plugged in Event ID 10010 - The server did not register..
Event ID 51 - An error was detected on device
Device\HardDisk1\D - 8 times
I have not yet reinstalled MAPMEM
I can access both drives and all files
What have I learned?

BONUS: ************ found out I have 4 partitions on the OEM internal
1st drive - 39M - no drive letter
2nd 83G - C:\
3rd 1G - D:\
4th 69G - E:\
removing the partition on the 1st drive results in a complaint from XP
it can't find HAL.DLL. Had to reinstall partition to get the PC to boot.

 

[kony]

OK, kony, I've learned quite a bit.
Removing both drives and mapmem - no errors but still takes 2-3 minutes
to access drives in Explorer
removing iomdisk and zetsfd from 'drivers' folder and rebooting - BSOD
reinstalling either file and rebooting - BSOD
reinstalling both - XP boots normally, except with the Event Manager |
System errors below . . . .
neither HD plugged in - Event ID 10010 - The server did not register..
Iomega plugged in Event ID 1003 - Error code 000000c5
Event ID 1003 - Error code 000000d1
Netgear plugged in Event ID 10010 - The server did not register..
Event ID 51 - An error was detected on device
Device\HardDisk1\D - 8 times
I have not yet reinstalled MAPMEM
I can access both drives and all files
What have I learned?

BONUS: ************ found out I have 4 partitions on the OEM internal
1st drive - 39M - no drive letter
2nd 83G - C:\
3rd 1G - D:\
4th 69G - E:\
removing the partition on the 1st drive results in a complaint from XP
it can't find HAL.DLL. Had to reinstall partition to get the PC to boot.

What do you mean regarding "mapmem"?

Plenty of OEM systems have multiple, often hidden,
partitions on their drives, that alone shouldn't account for
this but I would also investigate whether some other OEM
software is installed that might be buggy.

As for the external drives, it appears you would need
uninstall the associated software (Add/Remove Programs?) to
safely be rid of those drivers, but I don't know their exact
function and whether that function is important in their
use, or if instead the necessary function of the externals
is retained since most don't need aux. drivers for plain
access purposes.

So I'd probably uninstall either one but not the other and
see if problem persists- while the external drives were
still disconnected, and once the problem is gone IF it is,
try adding back the drives. If it does appear to be one of
those, seek another driver from the manufacturer or report
this bug to them if there is none.

After having both drivers correctly uninstalled and not
having either external connected, see if the pause persists
and if so, again check Event Viewer.

 

[J Lunis]

What do you mean regarding "mapmem"?

Plenty of OEM systems have multiple, often hidden,
partitions on their drives, that alone shouldn't account for
this but I would also investigate whether some other OEM
software is installed that might be buggy.

As for the external drives, it appears you would need
uninstall the associated software (Add/Remove Programs?) to
safely be rid of those drivers, but I don't know their exact
function and whether that function is important in their
use, or if instead the necessary function of the externals
is retained since most don't need aux. drivers for plain
access purposes.

So I'd probably uninstall either one but not the other and
see if problem persists- while the external drives were
still disconnected, and once the problem is gone IF it is,
try adding back the drives. If it does appear to be one of
those, seek another driver from the manufacturer or report
this bug to them if there is none.

After having both drivers correctly uninstalled and not
having either external connected, see if the pause persists
and if so, again check Event Viewer.

A curiousity. I decided to (maybe dangerously) uninstall the Iomega
driver rom the Netgear HD and visa versa. A shortcut to uninstalling
the drivers and reinstalling both. In starting this, I noticed
something new (to me) in Device Manager - a line labeled "Storage
Volumes" which has 9 'Generic volumes' within it. All Generic Volumes
use the driver VolSnap. I can find almost nothing on the net about this.
Has this been here all along but I over looked it or is it something
associated with deleting/replacing the two drivers?
MAPMEM - best I can tell, this is associated with CheckIt Diagnostic sw
which I uninstalled a few days ago - I got ahead of myself. (Had an
Event Viewer error associated with this and removed the file. Didn't
seem to hurt anything.)

 

[J Lunis]

What do you mean regarding "mapmem"?

Plenty of OEM systems have multiple, often hidden,
partitions on their drives, that alone shouldn't account for
this but I would also investigate whether some other OEM
software is installed that might be buggy.

As for the external drives, it appears you would need
uninstall the associated software (Add/Remove Programs?) to
safely be rid of those drivers, but I don't know their exact
function and whether that function is important in their
use, or if instead the necessary function of the externals
is retained since most don't need aux. drivers for plain
access purposes.

So I'd probably uninstall either one but not the other and
see if problem persists- while the external drives were
still disconnected, and once the problem is gone IF it is,
try adding back the drives. If it does appear to be one of
those, seek another driver from the manufacturer or report
this bug to them if there is none.

After having both drivers correctly uninstalled and not
having either external connected, see if the pause persists
and if so, again check Event Viewer.

And another observation. Checked Event Viewer this AM. Following
errors . . .
Event ID 4 - Adapter Intel(R) Pro/100 VE Network connection: Link down.
This is not seen often but has been around for months.
Event ID 1003 - You computer was not able to renew its address from the
network (from the DHCP network) . . . this one is new and notes
'operation was canceled by user' - it was not.
Event ID 36 - The time service has not been able to synchronize the
system time . . . - this is infrequent but not new
Event ID 51 - An error was detected on device Device\HardDisk1\D - this
one is new and quite often I will get 8-12 of these in a row.

 

[kony]

And another observation. Checked Event Viewer this AM. Following
errors . . .
Event ID 4 - Adapter Intel(R) Pro/100 VE Network connection: Link down.
This is not seen often but has been around for months.
Event ID 1003 - You computer was not able to renew its address from the
network (from the DHCP network) . . . this one is new and notes
'operation was canceled by user' - it was not.
Event ID 36 - The time service has not been able to synchronize the
system time . . . - this is infrequent but not new
Event ID 51 - An error was detected on device Device\HardDisk1\D - this
one is new and quite often I will get 8-12 of these in a row.

It shouldn't be dropping your lan connection but this should
be a secondary problem, best tackled later if it becomes
frequent enough to be a problem.

How long has the system had the original symptoms? I would
wonder if the drive is failing, keeping in mind HardDisk1 is
actually the second one enumerated, the internal probably
HardDisk0. I suppose it's possible that it's only due to
the driver changes but seems doubtful, especially if these
externals work as expected, without the supplimental driver
installed. Had you confirmed they will work without the
additional driver?

 

[J Lunis]

It shouldn't be dropping your lan connection but this should
be a secondary problem, best tackled later if it becomes
frequent enough to be a problem.

How long has the system had the original symptoms? I would
wonder if the drive is failing, keeping in mind HardDisk1 is
actually the second one enumerated, the internal probably
HardDisk0. I suppose it's possible that it's only due to
the driver changes but seems doubtful, especially if these
externals work as expected, without the supplimental driver
installed. Had you confirmed they will work without the
additional driver?

So far I haven't found how to uninstall one driver. My choices seem to
be 'uninstall device' or 'nothing.'