# XP Hangs when I insert USB External Hardrive



## Alantrini (Nov 13, 2007)

Hi
I have a problem.
I usually back up my data regularly on an external USB Hardrive.
Recently I switched from Norton AV 2008 to NOD32 Antivirus.

I tried today to plug in my Ext Hardrive and I notices the Computer Hangs and the cursor changed to an hour glass and that I cant access anything , No explorer, not even alt+ctrl+del to see what is not responding.
Only a reboot wud start it back up. and when this tim I treid to plug it in from the front USB of the PC...it did recognised a USB device but shortly after Hanged again.
I first thought it was the NOD32 A/V so I disabled it.
I restarted again and it did the same thing...Hung again after inserting the USB Hardirve.
So I rebooted again and did a complete Virus scan and all report came up clean.
I tried going into control Panel and Device manager and it said that all USB were working fine, I hit alt+ctrl+del to see the Taskmanger and opening Explorer.... But when I plugged in the Ext Hardive Taskmanger show COntrol Panel "Not responding" and XP hung once again with the Hour glass...and Explorer did not show the Ext drive.

I really need to access the USB Ext H/drive since I have valuable data on it that I need to retrieve.
Prior to swirching from Norton to NOD32, the USB Ext H/Drive Worked fine.
Im Running Win XP SP2, The motherboard is a MSI K9, with 4 USB port built on in the back and 2 USB connections in the front., AMD 3200 64bit, 1 Gb RAM.
Please let me know if u need anymore info.

What can possibly be wrong?

Thanks in advance....for any help rendered.


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## Deleted090308 (Jan 25, 2007)

Hi :wave:

It sounds like the USB ports in the computer don't provide enough power.
Does the external HDD have its own power supply?
Do other USB devices work?


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## Alantrini (Nov 13, 2007)

Yes, It has its own power and as I said before it worked just fine before since I backed up alot of data on it before with the same PC

Thiis only happed recently after I switched my Antivirus from Norton to NOD32

Yes ....other devices such as a scanner printer etc wiork on the USB port.


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## Deleted090308 (Jan 25, 2007)

Try the drive with another computer (just to make sure there's nothing wrong with it).

Run the System File Checker:

Click Start >> Run >> Type *cmd*, then click OK.

A command prompt window will open >> type *sfc /scannow* (note the space after sfc).
You may be asked to insert your XP disc.


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## Alantrini (Nov 13, 2007)

OK I did that
I went into start then run and typed
sfc /scannow
and a small box came up for about 2 secs and siad Windows file Protection
Please wait while Windows verifies that all protected Windows file are intact and in their original versions.
Then after about about 2 secs dissapeared and nothing after that.

So I tried the Ext USB hardrive with another PC that I also had installed NOD32 on around the same time.
When I plugged in teh Drive, A similar thing happened,I head the audible sound when a usb drive is connect....but I got the Hour glass, but I was able to open explorer and a few other things, I cud not get into run to type sfc/scannow. So I rebooted and tried it again and the same thing happened. I also tried a Laptop USB drive and the same thing happened.
I rebooted again and this time plugged in a Flash drive (1 gb) and it read it fine but when I plugged in the Hardive it Hung again, and I had 2 reboot once again.

So when I rebooted I removed (uninstall completely) NOD32 from that PC (and restarted) and Plugged in the Ext Hardrive again and it recognised it and read everything from it.
So I guess for some reason NOD32 Does not want me to access any EXt drives, where alot of info is backed up. I havent removed NOD 32 from the first PC yet, but I guess if I do I will get it to read the Hardrive. But I need to have it on the First PC since that one is connected to the Internet many hours a day, and if I remove it I wont have any protection at all.
I have used AVG Mc AFee Norton and now this NOD32, and NOD seem to be the best of the Lot, but for some reason it is conflicting with Ext USB HArdrives....even when I had it NOD32 disabled......I had to remove it completely to get to read the Drive. This shudnt be cause it has options to scan removable drives and Floppys etc, and even whe u deselct these options u still have the "Hung Horglass problem.


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## Deleted090308 (Jan 25, 2007)

Yes, it sounds like NOD32 could be the culprit.
Do you have access to a computer without NOD32 installed where you can test the drive?
I'll ask one from our Security team to have a look.


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## Alantrini (Nov 13, 2007)

Yes........ as I said above, I took it off NOD32 from the 2nd PC and I later did the same on the First PC, .........As I also said above after I took off NOD32 , the PC was able to reading the Ext USB Hardrive.......So the Hardrive is fine (Its fairly new (only 2 months).......I know its may be NOD32 casue I tried a Laptop drive also and it also Hung, when I took off NOD32 everything worked fine.
So I tried putting back NOD32 again and when I inserted the Hardrive it Hung again.
So I removed NOD32 once again, and after trying the Hardrive it worked again.

Only thing now is that I have no protection whilst on the Internet
What shud I do now?


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## Deleted090308 (Jan 25, 2007)

You should at least make sure the Windows firewall is enabled. 

Please read this: http://www.techsupportforum.com/f174/pc-safety-and-security-what-do-i-need-115548.html

I have asked the Security staff to have a look.


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## Alantrini (Nov 13, 2007)

Yes I had the Firewall Turned off, But I ubderstand Windows XP does not have a real realiable firewall.


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## Deleted090308 (Jan 25, 2007)

The firewall in Windows XP only controls incoming traffic - most third party firewalls control outgoing traffic as well.


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## Deleted090308 (Jan 25, 2007)

I have asked a staff member who knows NOD32 and has the following suggestions:

Make sure the external HDD isn't infected with malware.

Try connecting it with Windows in Safe mode (and NOD32 installed).


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## ramannanda9 (Jul 24, 2008)

that helps removing nod32 helped and drive was read but also i might like to tell you that on booting with ubuntu same thing happened maybe the problem is with the drive ,hmmmm i don't know exactly what the problem 
never faced that problem.
malware and virus could be the problem but with linux that does not 
seem correct may be i am going crazy but lol it is a crazy problem.


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## grun (Aug 20, 2008)

I can confirm this problem, because I have a similar situation. OS is XP Pro + SP3 and all the latest updates, virusscanner is NOD32 2.7.039 (configured according to Blackspears settings, and up-to-date).

Mobo is Asus A8N-E, 2 Gb RAM. When I connect my iAudio M5L mp3 player, which is basically also a external harddrive to the USB on the front, the system hangs and can only be shut down by pressing the power switch for 4 seconds. Before NOD32 I was using Kaspersky's Internet Suite 7.x and never had any problems with the same device. Other devices on the same port work fine, it's only the mp3 player. The same player on another pc (without NOD32) works fine.


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