Unsolved
This post is more than 5 years old
8 Posts
0
17549
Dell Floppy Drive Module - 'Safely Remove Hardware' is unsuccessful
I have a Dell Inspiron 510m running Windows XP HE SP2. I bought this with the optional modular floppy drive (Model No. MPF82E). The computer is a week old and I haven't installed any additional software. Here's a description of my problem:
Normally the DVD+-RW drive is in the module bay. I click to safely remove the hardware and I get a bubble telling me that this was successful and that I can now safely remove the DVD drive (a quick check of My Computer shows the drive has correctly disappeared). I take out the DVD drive module and insert the floppy drive module in its place. This is correctly detected (Sony USB Floppy) and shows up in My Computer. I can read floppy disks from it correctly. The problem arises when I want to take out the floppy drive. I click to safely remove hardware but no message comes up to say it has been safely removed. I look in My Computer and the drive is still listed. In the Device Manager, a floppy device (under floppy drives) and a Sony USB Floppy (under USB devices) are still listed but opening up their Property sheets show that drivers are no longer loaded for them.
If I then go to reinsert my DVD Drive in the bay, it doesn't get detected (I think the computer still half thinks the floppy drive is there). The module bay is unreceptive. Later on when I go to shut down Windows it hangs on the final 'Windows is shutting down' screen.
I have also tried connecting the floppy module externally via the supplied USB cable and again it is fine in operation but I experience the same problem when I come to Safely Remove it. It seems that Windows partially removes it by unloading drivers, but fails to completely remove it from memory (icon still remains in My Computer and entries in Device Manager).
Any ideas? The following posts seem to report problems of a similar nature:
http://delltalk.us.dell.com/supportforums/board/message?board.id=insp_general&message.id=169488&query.id=0#M169488
http://delltalk.us.dell.com/supportforums/board/message?board.id=insp_general&message.id=146996&query.id=135507#M146996
I'm not getting any BSOD but it does seem that these people are having issues at exactly the same point (the removal of the floppy module).
The problem is completely reproducable.
Normally the DVD+-RW drive is in the module bay. I click to safely remove the hardware and I get a bubble telling me that this was successful and that I can now safely remove the DVD drive (a quick check of My Computer shows the drive has correctly disappeared). I take out the DVD drive module and insert the floppy drive module in its place. This is correctly detected (Sony USB Floppy) and shows up in My Computer. I can read floppy disks from it correctly. The problem arises when I want to take out the floppy drive. I click to safely remove hardware but no message comes up to say it has been safely removed. I look in My Computer and the drive is still listed. In the Device Manager, a floppy device (under floppy drives) and a Sony USB Floppy (under USB devices) are still listed but opening up their Property sheets show that drivers are no longer loaded for them.
If I then go to reinsert my DVD Drive in the bay, it doesn't get detected (I think the computer still half thinks the floppy drive is there). The module bay is unreceptive. Later on when I go to shut down Windows it hangs on the final 'Windows is shutting down' screen.
I have also tried connecting the floppy module externally via the supplied USB cable and again it is fine in operation but I experience the same problem when I come to Safely Remove it. It seems that Windows partially removes it by unloading drivers, but fails to completely remove it from memory (icon still remains in My Computer and entries in Device Manager).
Any ideas? The following posts seem to report problems of a similar nature:
http://delltalk.us.dell.com/supportforums/board/message?board.id=insp_general&message.id=169488&query.id=0#M169488
http://delltalk.us.dell.com/supportforums/board/message?board.id=insp_general&message.id=146996&query.id=135507#M146996
I'm not getting any BSOD but it does seem that these people are having issues at exactly the same point (the removal of the floppy module).
The problem is completely reproducable.
Message Edited by Dave510m on 01-28-2005 01:19 AM
Dave510m
8 Posts
0
February 2nd, 2005 20:00
Further testing has shown that the problem only arises if the floppy drive has actually been used to perform a read/write operation on a floppy disk prior to attempting to Safely Remove it.
If I insert the floppy drive, allow it to be detected, and then click to Safely Remove it without actually using it, then it successfully Safely Removes itself and all is well.
Hmmmm?
DaveBITM
6 Posts
0
March 9th, 2005 19:00
I have exactly the same problem, although my floppy drive is NEC, not Sony.
Not only does Windows fail to shutdown, it can't be put into Standby or Hibernate.
The computer is new - it only arrived two days ago.
Message Edited by DaveBITM on 03-09-2005 03:56 PM
DaveBITM
6 Posts
0
March 23rd, 2005 19:00
I think I've found the solution to this problem. The module bay uses USB internally to connect the floppy and CD drives, and the USB Universal Host Controller drivers are out of date. (Even on a brand-new machine!)
Go to the Device Manager, open the USB controllers, right-click each of the 4 Universal Host Controllers and choose Properties. On the Driver tab, click on Update Driver. Allow it to look in Windows Update.
Repeat this for each of the 4 Host Controller.
This bug was supposed to have been fixed in XP SP1, but even in SP2 the drivers haven't been replaced yet.