Joan O Posted March 27, 2007 Report Share Posted March 27, 2007 Dell Dimension 8300 running Windows XP. With power up, I get the screen with Boot and Startup menus, but windows will not start up if I have my SanDisk Mini Curzer 1 GB flash drive plugged in to any of the USB ports. All I get is a black screen. The system hangs (not a time out issue). Tried different Boot and Sratup configs to no avail. If I pull out the flash drive, without rebooting, Windows will start. The flash drive operates normally if I plug it in after windows is running. If I "Restart" the computer with the flash drive plugged in, Windows will restart (power is not turned off when using "Restart" vs "Turn Off"). Other USB devices do not cause this problem. What's going on? Is there a fix to this problem so that I can leave the flash drive plugged in and not have to remove it every time I boot up? Updated to latest BIOS AO7, still no luck. Joan O Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
-pops- Posted March 27, 2007 Report Share Posted March 27, 2007 My first idea is that you have a power supply problem.When starting from cold, a computer and Windows requires the maximum power they can get hold of to power up all the devices and software. It could be that introducing just that one extra thing (your SanDisk device) prevents that extra power being available and Windows doesn't boot. When you plug the device in after everything is going, there is power available for other uses.I have seen this phenomenon a number of times recently on machines that really should have much more powerful power supply units than they are supplied with. Also, for some reason power supply units seem to deteriorate with time and become less able to supply the extra power needed at startup.The answer is to install a more powerful power supply unit although, I suppose you could try a powered USB hub but this is avoiding the problem and the unit may deteriorate further introducing more difficulties later.As a trial, if you can, remove all other USB devices you have installed and just plug the SanDisk in. Then try to boot up from cold. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joan O Posted March 27, 2007 Author Report Share Posted March 27, 2007 Nice try pops, but not the problem. It almost has to be a driver or boot config issue. The system querys the various drives when booting up and hangs when it gets to the USB flash drive. This is a problem that Dell and/or SanDisk could solve if there was a way to get their attention. Unfortunately, product support is still a low priority in this industry. Joan O Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scarecrow Man Posted March 27, 2007 Report Share Posted March 27, 2007 http://support.microsoft.com/kb/830957 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joan O Posted March 28, 2007 Author Report Share Posted March 28, 2007 To keep flashdrive plugged in and allow Windows to start at power up and boot up, go to F2 "Setup" menu and select "Legecy Devices". Then select "USB Emulator" which has three possible selections, On, Off, and No Boot. Default was "On". Set to "No Boot." This will allow the system to boot up and Windows to start with the flash drive plugged in.Joan O Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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