Activesync & "Unsafe Removal of Device" pop-ups

[John]

I need some help with a persistant problem. Recently upgraded from a P4 to an AMD motherboard & CPU.

Now I get "Unsafe Removal of Device" pop-ups whenever I dock my iPAQ
Pocket PC (and Activesync initiates).

Otherwise system is rock solid.

Motherboard: GA K8NS Ultra-939 (F6 BIOS)
Using lates Gigiabyte MB Chipset & USB drivers
San Diego CPU
1GB PC3700 memory. Dual Channel mode.
OS: Fresh install of Windows 2000 Pro with SP4 + latest Rollup
MS Activesync V3.8
iPAQ 1945 wirh V1.10 ROM
USB Drive that's impacted: External Ximeta 80GB
Decent 480W Power Supply
Other USB device: Canon Scanner (works fine)

Efforts to resolve:
- Replaced Ximeta USB Cable
- Moved the USB connections to various locations
- Uninstalled & reinstalled the USB drivers

Looked everywhere on www for particular situation - no success. Any
help would be appreciated. Thanks.

[Menneisyys]

One of the problem is that your op. system is Win2000. Win2000 buffers writes to USB peripherals, unlike, say, Win XP.

That is, if nothing else helps, consider switching to Win XP.

[John]

Thanks for illumination. Same hdw & OS worked fine with Intel P4 / i875 MB chipset. Maybe an AMD / NForce3-Ultra issue?

XP not an option at this time. Can I disable write buffer for the USB HD? Didn't see any switches in OS mamangement.

[John]

FYI. In W2K device manager set IDE to PIO Mode (was DMA). Marginal improvement. Still have the aforementioned pop up error from time to time.

Would a seperate PCI USB card help to isolate activesync from USB drive?

[John]

"Would a seperate PCI USB card help to isolate activesync from USB drive?" - Purchased a 4 Port PCI USB 2.0 card. NEC Chipset based. Installed card, W2K recognized & loaded std USB drivers. Plugged USB drive into Card Port. Problem resolved.

[yankeejeep]

One thing to remember: when doing a ROM reflash, you should connect your device directly to one of the desktop's USB ports. Doing a ROM reflash when connected through a hub typically results in an incomplete result.

[applejosh]

Not that it matters since you've resolved the problem, plus this is just speculation, but I wonder in on the previous motherboard, it had multiple USB root hubs (and controller chips) whereas the new mobo has one (controller chip). Just thinking out loud...