USB HDD causing BSoD

[PaulFXH]

Hi
I have two external USB 2.0 HDDs hooked up to my desktop. Although
these operated without problems for about a year, I have just recently
started to get severe bouts of BSoDs when either of these HDDs is
switched on.
The message shown on the BSoD screen is:

BugCode_USB_Driver STOP: 0x000000FE (0x00000005, ..............)

I have never seen a BSoD when the USB HDDs have been switched off but a
blue screen will occur even when the HDD is on but doing nothing.

I have checked fairly thoroughly what precedents there have been for
this problem and, indeed, there are many. However, I have yet to come
across a sure-fire solution or, at least, one that is relevant to my
situation.

MS KB 331988
(http://support.microsoft.com/Default.aspx?kbid=331988&sd=RMVP)
suggests the problem is related to the USB HDD operating "under stress"
but my experience shows it can happen without any stress at all on the
external disk drive. The same KB indicates that this difficulty will
not occur when the latest OS service packs are installed. However, I'm
seeing the problem even though I am running a fully updated WinXP SP2.

This MSDN article
(http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/d..._ee52c585-14b2-4b07-a188-6ee6c21d9d8c.xml.asp)
remarks that the first "argument" in the STOP message (0x00000005)
means that "A hardware failure has occurred due to a bad physical
address found in a hardware data structure. This is not due to a driver
bug."
Although this seems to have narrowed down the problem, I'm at a loss as
to what the next step should be (note that the USB HDD was
plug-and-play and no software CD was needed to install it).

I have done all the obvious stuff such as reinstalling the USB 2.0
drivers and checking the USB connections but all to no avail.

I should also remark that the HDDs do operate fine for as much as two
hours (for example, playing music or movies) before the BSoD shows up.
I therefore don't believe I have a hardware problem.

I'd be grateful for any suggestions
Paul

 

[Uncle Grumpy]

I have done all the obvious stuff such as reinstalling the USB 2.0
drivers and checking the USB connections but all to no avail.

I should also remark that the HDDs do operate fine for as much as two
hours (for example, playing music or movies) before the BSoD shows up.
I therefore don't believe I have a hardware problem.

Guess again.

I'd be grateful for any suggestions

Your experience is similar to one of mine. It's quite possible that
the hard drives in question are failing.

Take the necessary precautions and back them up.

 

[Gerry Cornell]

Paul

What are the make and models of the drives?

--

Hope this helps.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England
Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

[PaulFXH]

Paul

What are the make and models of the drives?

The HDDs are:

1) Seagate 250GB
2) Philips 160GB

Paul

 

[PaulFXH]

Guess again.


Your experience is similar to one of mine. It's quite possible that
the hard drives in question are failing.

Take the necessary precautions and back them up.

Hi Grumpy
Although your suggestion is a little painful, I'd be interested to know
exactly how similar your experience has been to mine?
--Were you getting BSoDs?
--If so, what were the STOP messages?
--How long did the symptoms persist before the HDD finally "expired"?
(I have had this problem now for about three weeks)

Thanks
Paul

 

[Gerry Cornell]

Paul

Model numbers?


--

Hope this helps.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England
Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

[PaulFXH]

Paul

Model numbers?

Hi Gerry

Sorry for this omission but it wasn't through lack of effort. However,
the manuals for both devices are remarkably devoid of anything even
remotely resembling a model number.
Nevertheless, I did manage to dredge up the following numbers which
were printed on the casings:

1) Seagate 250GB ST300003U2
2) Philips 160GB SPD5100CC/05

Paul

 

[Gerry Cornell]

Paul

Can you isolate which of the two are causing the problem by
disconnecting one and then the other?

Are there any yellow question marks in Device Manager? Right click on
the My Computer icon on your Desktop and select Properties. Hardware,
Device Manager. If yes what is the Device Error code?

Try Start, Run, type "sigverif.exe" without quotes and hit OK. What
drivers are listed as unsigned? Disregard those which are not checked.

The model number for the Seagate does not show up as a model when I
search.

This freeware programme is excellent for getting information
about your computer:
Everest Home Edition (freeware)
http://www.majorgeeks.com/download4181.html

Tip: To copy select Report, Quick Report, Plain Text, highlight
required text, right click and select copy. However, whilst this is
fine for posting small amounts of information into newsgroup
messages longer reports will irritate other newsgroup subscribers.

--

Hope this helps.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England
Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hi Gerry

Sorry for this omission but it wasn't through lack of effort.
However,
the manuals for both devices are remarkably devoid of anything even
remotely resembling a model number.
Nevertheless, I did manage to dredge up the following numbers which
were printed on the casings:

1) Seagate 250GB ST300003U2
2) Philips 160GB SPD5100CC/05

Paul

Paul

 

[PaulFXH]

Hi Gerry
Below are my responses to your questions

Can you isolate which of the two are causing the problem by
disconnecting one and then the other?

I had already done this and found that I get the BSoD irrespective of
which, and how many, external HDDs are switched on

Are there any yellow question marks in Device Manager? Right click on
the My Computer icon on your Desktop and select Properties. Hardware,
Device Manager. If yes what is the Device Error code?

No, nothing strange appears in Device Manager

Try Start, Run, type "sigverif.exe" without quotes and hit OK. What
drivers are listed as unsigned? Disregard those which are not checked.

Here I get 4 files indicated as unsigned and, interestingly, three of
these appear to be USB-related. These are:

btwusb.sys
ousb2hub.sys
ousbehci.sys

The fourth unsigned file is tcpip.sys

The model number for the Seagate does not show up as a model when I
search.

Yes, I found the same thing myself when I checked on the Seagate site.
However, this is the only number on the casing that looks like a model
number. There is another number (ITE E106814) the significance of which
I'm just not sure.

This freeware programme is excellent for getting information
about your computer:
Everest Home Edition (freeware)
http://www.majorgeeks.com/download4181.html

Everest describes the Seagate HDD simply as Seagate External Drive USB
Device (232 GB)

Tip: To copy select Report, Quick Report, Plain Text, highlight
required text, right click and select copy. However, whilst this is
fine for posting small amounts of information into newsgroup
messages longer reports will irritate other newsgroup subscribers.

Thanks for your interest
Paul

 

[Gerry Cornell]

Paul

Did you buy these external hardrives after the computer? Were you
provided with software on a CD? Have you tried uninstalling and
reinstalling the software? What happens if you just reinstall the
Phillips drive? Do you get a BSOD?

Do you link a mobile phone to your computer? My research on
btwusb.sys led me to this site:
http://www.broadcom.com/products/bluetooth_faq_btw.php

BTW there is a lot written linking btwusb.sys to malware. However, USB
devices do seem to cause many computer users problems so that can
generate suspicions,

ousb2hub.sys is an NEC driver. Is your computer made by NEC or do you
have an NEC Printer. Whichever, do you have a model number? I didn't
check the other driver but from the name I would imagine it is also an
NEC driver.

--

Hope this helps.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England
Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

[PaulFXH]

Paul

Hi Gerry
My responses below:

Did you buy these external hardrives after the computer?

Yes. I bought this computer (Dell Dimension 4550) in November 2002 and
added the external USB HDDs earlier this year (Philips in January 2006
and Seagate in April 2006).
I should mention that my computer came with six USB 1.1 ports only. In
January 2006, I installed a Belkin F5U220 Hi-Speed USB 2.0 PCI card
which has 5 ports. It is to these ports that the external HDDs are
currently installed.

Were you
provided with software on a CD? Have you tried uninstalling and
reinstalling the software?

No. Both HDDs are plug-and-play. No software was provided for their
installation.

What happens if you just reinstall the
Phillips drive? Do you get a BSOD?
Yes.


Do you link a mobile phone to your computer? My research on
btwusb.sys led me to this site:
http://www.broadcom.com/products/bluetooth_faq_btw.php

Yes. I have a Belkin Bluetooth USB adapter which I have used for
communications to/from a mobile phone. However, this is now very rarely
in use.

BTW there is a lot written linking btwusb.sys to malware. However, USB
devices do seem to cause many computer users problems so that can
generate suspicions,

ousb2hub.sys is an NEC driver. Is your computer made by NEC or do you
have an NEC Printer. Whichever, do you have a model number? I didn't
check the other driver but from the name I would imagine it is also an
NEC driver.

As mentioned. the computer is a Dell and the printer is an Epson. I'm
not aware of any NEC stuff in my system. I suspect, however, that the
unsigned USB drivers are all associated with the Belkin PCI card.

Note that I have several times reinstalled the drivers from the CD that
came with the PCI card (USB 2.0 ports) and have also downloaded this
software from the Belkin site. However, no improvement resulted in
either case.

I tried last night to copy files from one external HDD to the other but
was unable to complete this because of repeated BSoDs after typically
10-15 minutes of operation. However, this worked perfectly in SAFE mode
with both HDDs running normally for about one hour. Although one hour
is not an exceedingly long time, it does suggest that perhaps the
problem is more software, than hardware, related.

Looking through the comp . sys . ibm . pc . hardware . storage group, I
got the impression that overheating is a major factor in external HDD
failure. However, neither of my external HDDs gets anything more than
mildly warm during operation.

I intend to hook the external drives to my USB 1.1 ports today just to
see if BSODs still result. If not, we may be able to conclude that the
PCI card (or the associted software) is the source of my difficulties.

Paul