Why does unplugging my thumb drive result in a blue screen?

Question

When I unplug my thumb drive, Windows XP Pro almost immediately BSODs. How can I stop this?

It happens whether I use "safely remove" or not, and will happen with other USB drives as well.

Answer 1

Sounds like a driver issue with your USB-controller. You could consider re-installing it, or updating to a newer version of the device driver.

Answer 2

I tracked down what the problem was here - write caching.

My Computer > Manage > Device Manager

Disk Drives > [My USB device name] > Properties

If you then select the "Policies" tab, you get two options: "Optimise for quick removal", and "Optimize for performance".

If I have "Optimize for performance" selected, I get a blue-screen when removing the device.

Answer 3

What does the BSOD say? There are a quite a few different messages.

Also, have you tried different USB ports?

Answer 4

As well as a driver issue, it could be a fault that has grown in th controller itself or a problem with the port that is causing it to upset the controller when a device is removed.

Does it cause the problem with all the ports on the machine?

How about if the device is plugged in via a powered hub?
(if this also causes the BSOD then the problem is more likely a software one, not hardware)