Delayed Write Failed on USB disk

[thompsm]

I have a notebook hard disk in a USB enclosure that I
am trying to write large files to (>2GB). When I try
and copy the large files to the disk I get a "Delayed
Write Failed" error popup and the USB hard disk becomes
unusable. I have to unplug the hard disk and plug it in
again to be able to access it. Writing small files works
ok.

My PC is a Gigabyte GA-7N400 Pro2, with an AMD XP
processor and 1Gb of memory, running XP pro SP1 and is
fully patched.

Looking at the event log, I see lots of error 51's, 57's
and 50's.

The USB hard disk works fine on a laptop running XP pro so
I know the disk and enclosure are ok. I also had the same
fault with a Maxtor external USB hard disk.

Can anybody please help?

Regards,

Mark

[snowmonkey]

are you sure you have the latest USB 2.0 driver for your device ?
what is the brand name of your USB device (I will do some digging for you)



cheers

[thompsm]

Hi,

Thanks for your reply.

I am using just the standard Microsoft USB mass storage driver.
The driver version etc appears to be the same on my desktop
PC and the laptop, so I am doubtfull it's that.

Regards,

Mark

[rdhoore]

Mark,

Did you solve the problem in the meantime? I have the very same problem, and noticed in other forums that others have it too. No one presents an answer though.

My speculation is that it happens with USB 2.0 in Windows 2000 SP4 (the first SP that supports USB 2.0) on a motherboard with VIA chipset. It happens regardless of having NTFS or FAT32 partitions.

I did install latest motherboard BIOS and VIA drivers. My external drive is Medion 40306 (160 GB Seagate inside). It might work with the firewire cable, but I don't have firewire on my computer.

I searched microsoft.com knowledge base but nothing to be found there.

[thompsm]

I've not found an answer yet.

I'll be doing a clean install of XP soon to see if that helps.

Also, I've now got a beta of XP SP2 so that may have some fixes in it.

I'll report back anything I find.

[Play_The_0dds]

http://downloads.zdnet.co.uk/0,39025...048127s,00.htm
try this utility to make sure everything is installed correctly for your usb ports.

[mafu]

I am seeing EXACTLY this also with a brand new caddy and 30G Fujitsu drive I just bought. It works fine on every computer I have tried but mine. It reads files off the drive just fine, no matter what size - I've managed a 750MB file no probs. But writing anything above 2MB kills the drive with failed write message. No disk diagnostics work either.

Has anyone had any luck with fixing this?

Thanks!

Matt

[thompsm]

Not yet I'm afraid. I've tried the USB checker program that someone suggested but that just confirms my machine is USB2 ready.

I've been a bit lazy and have'nt re-installed Windows XP yet, but I will definately do it at the weekend.

I'll post back with my findings although I'm not holding out much hope.

[ESALADUANE]

Try turning off "Enable Write Caching on the Disk".

My Computer > (right-click) your disk > Properties > (tab) Hardware > (button) Properties > (tab) Policies > (take the check mark out of) "Enable Write Caching on the Disk"

Do this for each hard drive you have. Since your disk performance might decrease, you should monitor your system performance after doing this.

[mafu]

Success... well kind of.

The things I tried:

1. USB check utility - all OK
2. Unplugged floppy, extra HDD, extra CDROM, front panel USB/sound in the hopes of reducing load - no luck.
3. Bought an external 5v power supply for the caddy - no diff
4. CHecked the caching options - they wern't selected so didn't need to be changed.

Then after a bit more reading, found it was porbably a USB 2.0 windows and via chipset issue. So I checked my bios, and I had an option for USB "1.1" or "1.1 and 2.0".

I set it at just 1.1, and while its bloody slow, it works just fine - I can defrag, and just copied 20G of large files (700MB each).

Around the net there is talk of the XP service pack 2 fixing this...

Hope this helps!

Matt

[Play_The_0dds]

i have read everything i can find to see if anything would help this, the only thing i see in common is via chipsets, i have posted in other sections my recent dislike for them, but this brings to mind something that i had forgot. when i had my last board(via chipset) while playing games my usb controller would lose connection for a split second and the computer would redetect it. this was a real pain when you are playing a game. i had problems with my video card, random reboots every once in a while. i gave up, bought a new motherboard and have not had a single problem since, with the same video card and hard drive, the ram i had was crucial pc 2100 which now run very well in my wife's computer as i have gone to pc 3200. via used to be a good low cost system, now they are just cheap crap.

[thompsm]

Originally posted by mafu
Success... well kind of.

The things I tried:

1. USB check utility - all OK
2. Unplugged floppy, extra HDD, extra CDROM, front panel USB/sound in the hopes of reducing load - no luck.
3. Bought an external 5v power supply for the caddy - no diff
4. CHecked the caching options - they wern't selected so didn't need to be changed.

Then after a bit more reading, found it was porbably a USB 2.0 windows and via chipset issue. So I checked my bios, and I had an option for USB "1.1" or "1.1 and 2.0".

I set it at just 1.1, and while its bloody slow, it works just fine - I can defrag, and just copied 20G of large files (700MB each).

Around the net there is talk of the XP service pack 2 fixing this...

Hope this helps!

Matt

Ah, well I have a beta of SP 2 for Windows XP. I'll give this a try at the weekend.

[Born_Loser]

After going to many web forums, I have concluded that this is an extremely common problem, credit to Microsoft. I would like to relate my experience with this in the hope that it might help someone.

Here's my PC configuration:

Operating System: Windows XP Home
Computer Make: MSI 648 (MS-6585) Max-F motherboard
Processor: Intel Pentium 4 2.53 GHz
Video: Leadtek GF4 MX440 A180 DDR TDH 8x AGP
Memory: 512MB
Chipset: SIS

I have two 120GB Maxtor DiamondMAX Plus 9 hard disks. One is internal and one external. The external one is in a Sarotech Hard Box FHD-353 connected by USB 2.0.

The problem concerns copying files to or from the Hard Box using the original USB 2.0 cable provided. I could copy relatively small files, even lots of files, say, below 400 MB in size, from this drive to the internal drive.

However, as soon as I tried to copy large video files (about 600MB) from it to an internal hard disk, a message appeared saying that the file could not be read. After that files could neither be opened nor read from it and the red light on the box was on continuously. The same error occurred when I tried to defrag it.

Then when I connected the USB cable from the Hard Box to a USB 1.1 hub and then connect this hub to the PC, copying proceeded smoothly, although the speed was extremely slow.

The other thing is that in System - Hardware - Device Manager - Policies, Optimize for quick removal has to be selected. This disables write caching so that the drive can be disconnected without having to use the Safe Removal icon.

I was advised to purchase a NEC PCI USB 2.0 Enhanced Controller card instead of using the integrated SIS USB 2.0 ports. There appears to be some compatibility issues with enhanced USB 2.0 that is not based on the Intel or NEC chipset.

Other things that I have also tried are:
1. Changing HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControllSet\Contr ol\Session Manager\Memory Management\System Pages to 0xffffffff
2. In System Properties - Advanced - Performance Options - Visual Effects, I selected the option "Let Windows choose what's best for my computer" instead of "Adjust for best performance."
3. Setting the USB drive to Logical instead of Primary (using Partition Magic 8.0).

Copying is now error-free using the USB 2.0 cable in both directions. So far, I got one successful, error-free defrag on the USB hard disk with 68GB of files.

However, the DWF error has returned to haunt me, after only a few days of bliss. Now I get the "Windows delayed write failed" error whenever I try to defrag it or compress / uncompress files and folders. I still need help/advice to fix this.

Incidentally, I have another external hard disk (40GB) with a Sarotech Cutie! (FHD-253U2, USB2.0) casing that does not need any additional power source. This gives no problems whatsoever - copying large files both ways, defrag, all completed without a hitch. I don't want to speculate on the reasons why it works with this drive and not the 120GB one, otherwise I would be monopolizing all the space in this forum.

Here are some other sites that may prove useful:
http://www.hardwareanalysis.com/cont...ere=1&x=36&y=8
http://forums.viaarena.com/messagevi...threadid=50469
http://www.everythingusb.com/forums/...?threadid=1959
http://www.ocforums.com/showthread.p...elaye d+write
http://bermangraphics.com/problems/d...itefailure.htm

[thompsm]

Just to update on what I tried at the weekend.....

Did a complete new install of Windows XP but it still fails.

Then tried updating it with the latest beta of Windows XP SP2, but I still seem to get the problem.

I'll try Born_Loser's suggestions and see if they help at all.

Mark

BTW my machine is:

Giga Byte GA-7N400 Pro 2 (rev 1), Nforce 2 chipset
AMD Athlon XP 2800
1 GB memory (dual channelled)
Geforce FX 5600
Windows XP Professional

[1222256]

I have a new external firewire enclosure with a new Seagate 250 gig hard drive. I also have the newest atapi driver for XP. I also have an internal 160 gig drive so I know my mobo bios supports it. I have it plugged into the firewire port on my Audigy2 card and have it set up to optimize for quick removal. I get the error a lot but not all the time while accessing the drive. I don't think it happens because of the USB or Firewire unless it is a cable issue. I saw another post suggesting the enclosure. I have a completly new set coming to me that I will try out. Anyone know of anything else HELP.