'Safely Remove Hardware' Problem

Dear Sir/Madam,

I write to ask for help with my computer in connection with the removal of
hardware. It is a Windows XP Home machine with Service Pack 3.

It is increasingly the case that when I use the 'Safely Remove Hardware'
facility on the taskbar it will not respond. Instead I will no longer be able
to get the menu by left-clicking. I will usually still be able to open the
main window for the facility by right-clicking and selecting 'Safely Remove
Hardware' but whether or not the hardware in question is still displayed at
this stage makes no difference; I cannot get the go-ahead to remove the
hardware.

This would not normally be a problem because it certainly does not stop me
from physically removing the hardware. However, once this has occurred - that
is to say, if I select a device from the 'Safely Remove Hardware' facility
and it does not respond - the same problem always arises subsequently. When I
later try to shut the computer down it will get as far as 'computer is
shutting down' and then hang there. I am forced to switch the machine of
manually and I am sure that continuously doing this will only cause the
machine more problems.

Apart from regular USB devices I also have a memory stick with U3
technology. I make a point of mentioning this because of the quite different
way it works. In this instance the normal removal process is to open the U3
platform menu and select eject; it will then, when it is ready, provide an
indication that it is safe to remove the memory stick. When the failure I
have already described occurs in this instance, however, the indication
simply does not come and the U3 platform menu can no longer be opened. Again,
I have to take the memory stick out prematurely and Windows will not shut
down properly. It has also recently come to my attention that certainly U3
programs simply will not work at all; I cannot say precisely how often this
occurs but when it does I always have the described removal problem.

Finally, as a possible associated issue, I occassionally connect printers to
the computer using a devoted serial port. In the past I have been able to
disconnect and reconnect such printers at will without restarting the
machine. However, lately, once they have been connected, they cannot be
disconnected while the computer is switched on or they will no longer
function (without a restart) once reconnected. Again, as I recall, it is
usually the case that Windows will not be able to shut down properly if this
occurs.

Apologies for the long post but it is a bizarre problem and it does concern
me. There is another technical issue with the machine at the moment but I do
not believe it is associated with the aforementioned issues; rather it is
linked to a problem with the video card (occasional blue screen crashes and
selected menu items failing to disappear after selection).

Any advice would be much appreciated.

Thanking you in advance,
--
Karim434

Apologies but a quick note, further to my previous post.

There are two further details that may be of use:

1) The same issue occurs with a PCMCIA wireless adapter I use; the 'Safely
Remove Hardware' facility problem is as previously described and,
occassionally, disabling it can fail whereby selecting 'Disable' will not get
a response but the card will stop responding and it will not be possible to
re-enable it; even by physically removing and replacing it.

2) It is difficult to say with any certainty but I think that it these
problems only occur after the computer has been put into and taken out of
hibernation.

I hope someone can assist me with this issue.

Thank you again,
--
Karim434