Labview crashes when plugging in USB drive

[sleepingawake86]

Hello,

    So I am using labview 10.0 SP1 on a Windows XP machine to run a USB piezo controller and a USB camera.  If I am running my VI and plug in a USB drive labview freaks out and pops up an error message, either that the Camera has accessed an incorrect memory zone, or that there was a communications error with the USB piezo controller.  

    Has anyone else had this problem with labview and USB?  and if so is there a work around?  or do I have to make sure not to plug in any USB devices while the VI runs.

[MoReese]

Do you still have issues if you plug in another USB device, or is it just related to your drive?  Are you using the drive on the same side as the other devices?  What happens if you use the ones on the back of the PC?  You might try a USB hub.  I have had some success with this in the past.

[SnowMule]

One of the tools in my computer toolkit is a utility called "Device Remover".  Go through there, show only hidden/detached devices and clean up the PC's devices.  I've seen strange things happen with USB devices because of the way windows manages them. 

FYI, if you're on Win7, this utility is the only one I've found so far that'll let you uninstall disconnected devices.  The Hidden Settings command doesn't show the hidden/detached devices in Win7's device manager.

Process Explorer's another good utility to troubleshoot driver conflicts between devices.

[sleepingawake86]

If I plug in any USB device while running the VI, the VI pops up an error message.  I have tried various ports and a hub.

I have no problem with the USB when I am not using labview, so I doubt the problem is with windows.  It appears to be something with how labview handles USB devices

[Chris V]

Hi sleepingawake86,

Could you post a screenshot of the error pop-up that you get?

I believe that Windows is attempting to reserve the USB controller when you plug in a new device to initialize/install the new device and that this is causing a conflict with LabVIEW.  Try watching your task manager while running your VI and plugging in the USB device.  If this is true, you should see the processor spike.

Have a great day,

Chris V