Strange events when using hard drive docking station

This is a long and strange one, so settle in. I have an Inateck 3.0 hard drive docking station that no longer works correctly with Windows 11. It did work fine but it's been a while since I used it in 11 so I don't know what change could have affected it. The drives and their contents are recognized with no problem but as soon as I try to open a file or folder, explorer locks up. It doesn't matter which of my drives I have in the dock. Know that this dock works perfectly fine in a separate Windows 10 machine and when using a Live Linux Mint boot disk in this machine.

I finally figured out the explorer lockup happens when the dock is connected to a usb 3.2 port. When connected to a 2.0 port, explorer doesn’t lock up and the folders and files can be accessed though the process is very slow. If I wait long enough, a folder or file will eventually open. It takes 30-45 seconds or longer.

I have verified with both Intel and Dell that all my PC drivers are up to date. In Device Manager this dock is recognized as ASMT ASM1156-PN SCSI Device under DISK DRIVES. It shows the device as working properly with a MS driver. It is the same driver as is used in Windows 10. There is no updated driver nor is this device listed in MS Update Catalog. There are no available third party drivers for this device from either Inateck or ASMedia.

I tried uninstalling and reinstalling the USB 3.2 extensible host controller. The strange thing there was when I uninstalled it, it killed all my usb 2.0 ports as well which made no sense to me. Maybe someone can explain that to me.

I tried different drives in the dock. I even tried a different dock. Nothing changed.

I tested using both a 3.0 flash drive and an external hard drive which work as expected in both 2.0 and 3.2 ports. It’s only any device recognized as a ASMT ASM SCSI that’s giving problems.

It's not a defender or MWB scan causing it because the drives are assigned persistent drive letters which are excluded from scans. I can turn Defender completely off and it still happens.

It’s not indexing as these drives are not indexed.

The issue also happens in clean boot, but not in safe boot. Everything works as expected in safe boot.

SFC runs clean.

I need ideas, folks.

A semi-random suggestion:

Could be the USB cable.

My guess would be that it's being caused by some "other" USB device that also plugged in when you try to access the folders on the drive. Something that's only plugged into the Win 11 machine. Maybe a hub or game controller or something?
That or some other software trying to access the drive, besides defender or MWB. OneDrive?

IF it's a software issue... would a restore from backup help?




On a side note: Kudos on the very well written problem description, and excellent pre-troubleshooting.
Change those computer-type abbreviations and names to something medieval, and you'd have a good start to an adventure story.
I... "couldn't put it down". Instead of trying to solve it, I wanted to... "wait and see what happens next".
(no sarcasm intended)

Ghot said:

would a restore from backup

Click to expand...

I thought of that, but I don't know how long it's been going since I haven't used it lately. I have 6 backups but they only go back to 7/18

glasskuter said:

I thought of that, but I don't know how long it's been going since I haven't used it lately. I have 6 backups but they only go back to 7/18

Click to expand...

Well, if you have a current backup, then you can "try" the oldest backup you have.
If that doesn't solve it, you can restore the current backup.

Also, if you have a current backup, you can try In-Place Upgrade as well. Ofc, that won't fix 3rd party driver/software problems unless to tell it "not to save anything".

The only reason I mentioned restore or In-Place, is because it seems like that's just about the only thing you haven't tried.
I added some edits (collateral guesses), to the 1st paragraph in post #3






You found the path to the solution already. The answer is definitely in here...

Know that this dock works perfectly fine when using a Live Linux Mint boot disk in this machine.
The issue also happens in clean boot, but not in safe boot. Everything works as expected in safe boot.

Click to expand...

Maybe compare Task Manager in Safe Boot, to Task Manager in clean boot?
Maybe compare Services too?
It could still be a peripheral device connected to the comp, that "only" causes problems when "clean or fully booted" into W11.
A peripheral device or it's driver, that becomes disabled in Safe Boot or when running Linux Live.

And, for the hail Mary pass... make sure there are no stuck keys on the keyboard.