How do I stop a USB mass storage device that XP Home doesn't recognize in the System Tray...

[cosmo]

I have a Sandisk m260 MP3 player. When I plug the device in, the
Safely Remove Hardware icon doesn't always show up in the system tray.
This device is plugged into a 4-port USB 2.0 hub by Dynex which is
plugged into a 6-port USB 2.0 PCI card in the desktop chassis. This
computer is a Sony Vaio 1.6G that originally came with all USB 1.0
ports which made utilizing an MP3 player quite painful with out this
upgrade. How do I Safely Remove Hardware on a unrecognized USB device
(i.e. the Safely Remove Hardware icon doesn't always show up in the
system tray) ? I'm concerned about damaging the device since a
previous player locked up after doing this.

 

[Robert M Jones]

I have a Sandisk m260 MP3 player. When I plug the device in, the
Safely Remove Hardware icon doesn't always show up in the system tray.
This device is plugged into a 4-port USB 2.0 hub by Dynex which is
plugged into a 6-port USB 2.0 PCI card in the desktop chassis. This
computer is a Sony Vaio 1.6G that originally came with all USB 1.0
ports which made utilizing an MP3 player quite painful with out this
upgrade. How do I Safely Remove Hardware on a unrecognized USB device
(i.e. the Safely Remove Hardware icon doesn't always show up in the
system tray) ? I'm concerned about damaging the device since a
previous player locked up after doing this.

If it is in My Computer - try right click and Eject

--
Rev Robert M Jones, Wimborne Baptist Church, UK
http://www.wimborne-baptist.org.uk
Free trial of Mailwasher Pro - effective email spam filter - (commission
goes to our partners in Bulgaria)
http://fta.firetrust.com/index.cgi?id=420

 

[R. McCarty]

It is most likely a bandwidth or power consumption issue. The way that
USB 2.0 Enhanced controllers work is this. A single controller has an
associated Hub. That hub can supply 500 mA of current to all devices.
When you plug in a USB 2.0 peripheral (regardless of Socket), internally
the controller routes the 2.0 peripheral to the single USB 2 controller/hub.
To view loading, you have to use Device Manager. Expand the USB
category. Double-Click the "Enhanced" Controller. When the details
box opens, click the "Advanced" (TAB). This will show you the total
used bandwidth. For example, I have a USB Sound card - it works
from a Composite USB device driver, which consumes 46% of my USB
2.0 channel's bandwidth. Next you have to find the Root Hub that is
served by the Enhanced Controller. Many times it will be the last Root
Hub in the listing (But not always). Double-Click to access the details
box and then click the Power (TAB). This will show you the total current
drawn by all devices on the Hub.

Possibly, the USB category has a number of "Phantom" devices, which
should be cleaned up. To do this, add System Environment variables:
DevMgr_Show_NonPresent_Devices
DevMgr_Show_Details
Set each variable = 1
Open Device Manager, Click "View" & tic/check "Show Hidden Devices".
Now each category will show "Phantoms" in diminished tone or grayed out.
It's safe to remove phantom entries from all categories except System, Sound
and Non-Plug & Play.

 

[Guest]

Usually when this happens to me (sometimes I can not disconnect my Lexar
JumpDrive) I log off of my user account or shut down the PC, and unplug it
then. Then I plug it back in and turn on or relog into my user account.

It's usually best to plug in these USB devices before you boot the computer
or log on into your user account.

-Steffani

 

[cosmo]

Right clicking and eject does not "stop" the hardware. I have the
option to disable, but that option does not shut down the MP3 player's
connection.

 

[cosmo]

You're theory may be the most plausible. I'll try running a cable from
the back of the PC instead of connecting to a hub on the destop and see
if the problem goes away. Thanks for the tip.

 

[cosmo]

What is funny is that I have a higher probability of the system tray
not recognizing the device if I plug it in before the log in boot
completes. I haven't tried powering down and then back up with the
device plugged in. I'll give that a try.

 

[Uwe Sieber]

I have a Sandisk m260 MP3 player. When I plug the device in, the
Safely Remove Hardware icon doesn't always show up in the system tray.

You could try my commandline tool RemoveDrive:
http://www.uwe-sieber.de/files/removedrive.zip


Uwe