Hi Bob,
UV-5R. Firmware 293. Using the same USB drivers as Michael. Dev Mgr shows no problem. I tried 2 different recent CHIRP dailies with the same results. CHIRP installed fine. Set com port correctly to COM4. Tried to read the radio and CHIRP hangs with no progress. After 10 minutes or more, try to exit CHIRP and XP re-boots with no error messages, just black screen and re-boot. Two different CHIRP loads and two different UV-5R radios. Same results.
I know it's hard to believe that when you push one button and see one effect that they're not related. However, it is literally not possible* for a user application such as chirp to cause a blue-screen crash. The blue screen is a kernel crash dump, and the drivers live in the kernel.
It's clearly CHIRP doing something (legitimate) that causes the driver to crash and result in the blue screen, but it's the driver's fault for doing that. It's the entire point of a modern OS.
The reason you're not seeing this with the Baofeng software is just because it's doing things in a slightly different order, which avoids tripping over whatever is going wrong. In other words, luck.
The reason you're seeing this and others are not is likely related to some _other_ driver or piece of hardware in your system that is either actually faulty or is faulty when combined with the Prolific driver.
Unfortunately, the use of counterfeit devices in these direct-from-china cables means that you can't use the latest version of the prolific driver, with the latest set of bug fixes.
So, I would be interested in hearing if there's a solution to this issue ?
There is one sure-fire way to fix it, and that's order a cable from a reputable manufacturer (and/or use a serial cable with a known USB-to-serial adapter). You will have a hard time finding a reputable manufacturer for a Baofeng cable, but you will have no problem finding one for a Kenwood radio, and it is the same pinout.