"Fatal Exception" Error Message or USB Devices May Not Work After You Insert PC Card

When you insert a PC Card device into your computer, you may experience one of the following symptoms:

• A "fatal exception" error message is displayed on a blue screen.
• Your USB device(s) do not function.
• Msgsrv is listed as "not responding" in Task Manager.
  
  NOTE: To start Task Manager, press and hold down the CTRL+ALT keys, and then press the DELETE key once.

This problem can occur if the PC Card insertion causes a rebalance of system resources for the USB host controller.

To work around this issue, remove the ability for Windows or the BIOS to change (rebalance) the host controller's resources by using the following steps:

1. Click Start, point to Settings, click Control Panel, and then double-click System (if the System icon is not displayed in Control Panel, click the View all Control Panel icons link on the left side of Control Panel).
2. On the Device Manager tab, click the plus sign (+) next to Universal Serial Bus Controllers.
3. Click USB Host Controller, and then click the Properties button.
4. On the Resources tab, click to clear the Use Automatic Settings check box.
5. Choose a basic configuration from the list that does not cause device(s) to appear in the Conflicting Device List, and then click OK.
6. You may receive a warning message that indicates that Plug and Play functionality is limited by forcing a specific configuration. Click Yes to continue.
7. Click Close.
8. Restart your computer.

NOTE: In some circumstances you may not be able to manually set the basic configuration for the USB host controller, so this workaround does not work.

If you insert a PC Card after you use this workaround, your computer may become unstable. For example, you may not be able to restart your computer after the device recognition. If this behavior occurs, remove the USB device before you insert the PC Card. Then, after you insert the PC Card, connect the USB device again.