Monday 12 February 2007

Delayed Write Failed Nightmare

I bought a new hard disk (Seagate ST316002 - IDE - 7200 RPM ) and a new carrying case 3.5" (Noganet USB 2.0 External Case)
I connected it and partitioned/formated the hard disk and everything was done without problem.
Under Windows XP I started copying files and a pop up error message appeared :
"Windows - Delayed Write Failed"



What is that? Oh no!!! Another Windows Nightmare!!!
I checked the policies :
My computer -> Properties -> Hardware -> Device manager -> Disk Drives
Selected the ST316002 1A USB -> Device Properties -> Policies
and "Optimize for quick removal" was already selected. The other option is "Optimize for Perfomance". So why is Windows using a write cache to an external device if I selected the optimize for quick removal??? As usual, we will never know.
Then I Checked the use of memory :
My computer -> Properties -> Advance Perfomance Settings -> Advanced Memory Usage
Adjust for best perfomance of :
"Programs" (was already selected)
"System Cache"
Again everything seems fine... I rebooted and started again, but after a while the error message appeared...
So I googled and found 40 thousand matchs
"delayed write failed"
After more than an hour I read a lots of forums and I obtained a little program :
http://member.newsguy.com/~siccos/Max128k.htm
In the site the explanation is for Firewire, I installed it for an USB 2.0 port. The difference is that the Registry Key for my computer was :
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Enum\USBSTOR\Disk&Ven_ST316002&Prod_1A&Rev_0811\8&20afb40f&0
This helps a little, I was able to copy a file, something that I couldn't do before.
But it didn't completly solve the problem, with large files the problem arose again.
I tried everything I found in the forums... but the problem persists.
So I decided to open the carrying case extract some screws and found the chip inside it, over a black chip I read : "GL811E".
A chip made by Genesys Products
http://www.genesyslogic.com/econtents/product02.asp?minicidx=2&lastcidx=3&SN=34
After a while I discover the following site :
http://www.hollants.com/external_usb_controller_chips.html
That says :
"Both the OXUF922 and the GenesysLogic GL811E did not withstand my stress tests for a particular long period of time..."



And still the Error
Remains in my laptop
No matter how much I implore
No driver can soothe him
No fix remove him
And I must fear for evermore

Quoth the GL811E, nevermore
Thus quoth the GL811E
Nevermore...


Next Steps

I will try to force the USB1.0 by disabling the USB 2.0 Root hub and test again.

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