Re: KB 905915 and KB 910437 automatic update, USB failures, Delayed Write Error for external USB 2.0 drive. Yup.

On Fri, 27 Jan 2006 05:45:24 GMT, "Cymbal Man Freq."
>"Ottmar Freudenberger" <freudi@xxxxxxx> wrote
>> "Cymbal Man Freq." <Don't Bother@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>

>>> I have an external USB 2.0 HDD (160 GB) connected to a USB 2.0 PCI
>>> card. About 7 weeks ago, early December, this drive used to work and
>>> copy big files fast. Now I just get Delayed Write Errors and the
>>> machine locks up. [...]

Did you check the HDs for physical errors, e.g. www.hdtune.com ?

>>> The latest "FIX" I read suggested uninstalling the latest Windows
>>> Updates (KB 905915 & KB 910437) which were released in December,
>>> 2005.

>> KB905915 has absolutly nothing to do with USB devices, KB910437
>> neither.

Yup, it doesn't look like there should be a connection. The first
seems to comewith pain for some folks, but limited to IE, as one might
expect. The second is a Windows Update to fix broken Windows Update.

>I turned off my DSL modem, the NAV was manually disabled, the Sygate firewall
>was exited, and the Logitech icon near the clock was exited.

OK...

>I had the XP firewall turned off all this time, but in the advanced tabbed
>section the Firewire & Local Area Connection boxes were checked. Copying with
>those two checkboxes on and the two patches installed got me nowhere, nada. I
>unchecked the two checkboxes in the XP firewall and tried copying, and there was
>a little progress but the copying would lock up after a minute.

Sure sounds like hitting a dead sector to me.

>Well, I uninstalled KB 905915 and then my USB drive would copy for about 3
>minutes at full speed, then it would crap out. I uninstalled KB 910437, so both
>of those updates were gone, and now I can copy 2 GB in 10 minutes flat.

Sounds like getting rid of the patches fixed the problem, but this may
not be due to the logic of the patches. If the patch happened to
include a bad sector within the code, then that could account for this
mileage irrespective of what the patch is supposed to do.

>There does seem to be some wild variation going on, the time remaining indicator
>for the 2 GB copy kept jumping up and down and during the last minute or so, it
>would jump from 30 seconds back up to 2 minutes then back to 45 seconds and
>would just randomly change depending on what it felt its rate of copying was.

Was the copy one 2G file, a collection of files similar in size and
type, a mixture of sizes (erratic "progress" estimates) and/or a
mixture of types (variable impact of resident av scanning)?

>With both of those Windows update patches still installed, the number of minutes
>left remaining to copy the file jumped way up past 40 minutes quite quickly, and
>when that happens, a Delayed Write Error cannot be that far behind.

Sounds like bad hardware, but could be a software effect to. As the
former can eat data and yourinstallation, I'd rather exclude this than
assume "it can't happen here". It certainly can and does happen to
external HDs, what with dodgy power and data connections, possible
poor cooling, and risks of mechanical trauma in the frame.

>My conclusion is that the two updates killed my ability to use my USB 2.0
>external hard drive and I will make a note to never download them again.
>Hopefully they won't get rolled over into a new numbered patch and I wind up
>downloading the malware again!

I agree with your assessment, but would want to check hardware in case
the mechanism isn't what you assume it was.



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