*** Disappearing devices after 'Safely Remove Hardware' used ***

[Guest]

I have noticed a problem when accessing memory cards and other external
devices to my PC.

I am running Windows XP (Home Edition) SP2 on a HP Pavilion platform and
frequently use compact flash, SD cards, and memory sticks on my system. The
problem comes when I use the 'safely remove hardware' function from the
system tray. When I have dismounted (for want of a better word) the device
and the message 'safe to remove hardware' appears in the system tray, all
devices except c-drive, a recovery partition (d-drive), and CD-RW (e-drive)
disapper from 'My Computer'.

If I try to insert the same, or another, device it is not recognised by the
system and I have to reboot to see the devices again in 'My Computer'.

Strangely, if I right-click on the device in My Computer and take the
'Eject' option all the other devices remain unchanged, however I am not given
the 'safe to remove hardware' message and am worried that I might damage the
device or lose data.

Can anyone please help me with this annoying problem?

Best Regards...
Cliff.Rigg



PS it is NOT the problem shown below from the microsoft troubleshooting guide:

Computer Does Not Respond After You Use "Safely Remove Hardware" to Remove
External Hard Disk Drive After you use the Safely Remove Hardware function to
remove the secondary IDE channel on a Hitachi FLORA 220TX NP4 portable
computer, the computer does not respond. On your computer, the "secondary IDE
channel" that you removed is an external hard...

 

[Elmo]

I have noticed a problem when accessing memory cards and other external
devices to my PC.

I am running Windows XP (Home Edition) SP2 on a HP Pavilion platform and
frequently use compact flash, SD cards, and memory sticks on my system. The
problem comes when I use the 'safely remove hardware' function from the
system tray. When I have dismounted (for want of a better word) the device
and the message 'safe to remove hardware' appears in the system tray, all
devices except c-drive, a recovery partition (d-drive), and CD-RW (e-drive)
disapper from 'My Computer'.

If I try to insert the same, or another, device it is not recognised by the
system and I have to reboot to see the devices again in 'My Computer'.

Strangely, if I right-click on the device in My Computer and take the
'Eject' option all the other devices remain unchanged, however I am not given
the 'safe to remove hardware' message and am worried that I might damage the
device or lose data.

Can anyone please help me with this annoying problem?



PS it is NOT the problem shown below from the microsoft troubleshooting guide:

Computer Does Not Respond After You Use "Safely Remove Hardware" to Remove
External Hard Disk Drive After you use the Safely Remove Hardware function to
remove the secondary IDE channel on a Hitachi FLORA 220TX NP4 portable
computer, the computer does not respond. On your computer, the "secondary IDE
channel" that you removed is an external hard...

USB Help sites:
http://www.usbman.com/WinME USB Guide.htm

General USB troubleshooting in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/310575

Troubleshooting for USB drives
http://www.uwe-sieber.de/usbtrouble_e.html