USB Flash drive prevents PC from booting

[MedRxman]

If I leave my Mini Cruzer 512 MB flash drive attached to my laptop and turn
off the PC, the next time I go to start the PC it gets to the Windows XP
logo then goes to a blank screen and hangs there. If I then remove the Flash
drive, the pc will complete the boot process.

I have RoboForm installed on the stick which ahs an auto.inf that I thought
would be creating the problem, so I renamed that file but still won't boot.
Have another Flash Drive( PNY 256K) that has identical info on as Sandisk
and I can leave the PNY drive attached and the PC will boot normally.

Called Sandisk and no solution offered other than don't leave stick attached
on boot.

Any ideas?

Thanks in advance,

 

[Robert Moir]

If I leave my Mini Cruzer 512 MB flash drive attached to my laptop
and turn off the PC, the next time I go to start the PC it gets to
the Windows XP logo then goes to a blank screen and hangs there. If I
then remove the Flash drive, the pc will complete the boot process.

I have RoboForm installed on the stick which ahs an auto.inf that I
thought would be creating the problem, so I renamed that file but
still won't boot. Have another Flash Drive( PNY 256K) that has
identical info on as Sandisk and I can leave the PNY drive attached
and the PC will boot normally.
Called Sandisk and no solution offered other than don't leave stick
attached on boot.

Any ideas?

This could be hardware related. I've had two machines sat in front of me on
a bench, different hardware but both set up from the same windows installer,
using a script to ensure they're done consistently.

One showed this exact problem, the other did not.

What bios settings related to USB do you have on the faulty machine? What do
you get if you disable legacy USB support?


--
--
Rob Moir, MS MVP
Blog Site - http://www.robertmoir.com
Virtual PC 2004 FAQ - http://www.robertmoir.co.uk/win/VirtualPC2004FAQ.html
I'm always surprised at "professionals" who STILL have to be asked "Have you
checked (event viewer / syslog)".

 

[MedRxman]

I am only usine ONE machine and the issue occurs only with the Mini Cruzer
flash drive. As you say must be a hardware (USB Flash Drive) issue. Both
Drive have exact same info. One can stay attached to the PC when booting and
the other(Cruzer) cannot?

Like the dR. SAYS, "iF IT HURTS WHEN YOU DO THAT, THEN DON'T DO THAT!

 

[Guest]

Are you sure your boot sequence in the BIOS doesn't have USB device before
HDD or CD/DVD?

 

[MedRxman]

Boot sequence is correct. Good thought, however please note that I have 2
Flash Drives and I can leave one attached but not the other.
I can also boot with an ext. USB HDDD attached.

 

[Robert Moir]

Boot sequence is correct. Good thought, however please note that I
have 2 Flash Drives and I can leave one attached but not the other.
I can also boot with an ext. USB HDDD attached.

So does the bios have a setting for legacy USB support? If it's there &
enabled, does turning it off help?

Are there bios updates available - especially ones that mention USB
controllers or anything like that?