I purchased a new WD My Book Essential 2TB / USB 2.0 (white lights + lock) and attempted to use it. (Compaq Presario running Windows XP) As soon as my computer acknowledged it as “new hardware”, my computer crashed- complete with the infamous blue screen of death and warnings about “memory dump.” (Hard to tell exactly what it says, since the screen only flashes for a second). Computer goes right into re-start mode and re-boots on its own. With the My Book plugged in, it repeated the scenario twice. I removed the WD drive,and my computer worked fine. Ran full virus scan with Norton 360 (it’s updated as of today) and found no viruses on my computer. My friend has the older (and much bigger) model of the WD 2TB drive (blue lights) and it worked perfectly fine when hooked to my computer…yes, using the same USB port.
I talked to my resident network folks and described my problems. They suggested the WD software is the cause.
I returned the drive to the store, and traded for another. Same exact problem as soon as I plugged it into my computer.
I bet the bigger WD external drive you connected successfully shall not have suffix “Essentials” on device name. These newer drives are equipped with Virtual CD (VCD) for drive lock features. You have not mentioned OS service pack version on your post. You need to have at least SP2 installed in your XP.
It is high time to upgrade your XP PC to SP3 if you haven’t done that already. Microsoft will discontinue their support on SP1 & 2 mid this year. Also check whether you’re running any CD ROM emulations on the background. You may have to disable them temporarily until you sort out your drive issue.
Try booting into Safemode while drive is connected. (Keep pressed F8 while booting to enter start up menu)
