Safely Unplug/eject My Hardware

[Ricky43]

I installed an Epson CX6000 all-in-one printer/scanner. My OS is Windows 2000 Pro. It works fine but when I want to turn it off, I get the message 'unsafe removal of hardware'. I went through the hardware wizard but when I came to the screen to select my device, the printer's not listed, only my USB SuperDisk drive, which works fine. I have the USB cable connected directly to the computer. I do have a USB hub that my SuperDisk drive is connected to, and when I insert a memory stick in the hub, and click on the icon in my system tray (taskbar) the memory stick is listed there and I can safely remove it with no problems. Clicking on 'My Computer, it shows my printer as a mass storage device drive, and clicking that, it's say 'please insert disk into drive D. Puzzleing. How can I get the USB printer to show up on the Safely Remove Hardware Device list in the notification dialogue box?
I even re-installed the printer software with USB cables connected, no luck. Thank you very much for any helpful info. Have a wonderful day.
Rick

[NooNoo]

Welcome to Windrivers Ricky

Yes it's annoying isn't it... printers do not show up in the safely remove hardware dialogue but 2k goes right ahead and does it anyway.

All I can suggest is that you make sure you are using the latest drivers for the Epson and that you check Windows Update for optional updates that may solve this problem... I no longer run 2k, but I seem to remember an HP all in one doing a similar thing a few years ago, but I can't remember if it was a driver or a windows update that solved the problem.

Also, when you first post, your post has to be vetted, so you did make 4 posts in all, you weren't going mad, but you didn't read the bit at sign up which says your post may not show up straight away. I have deleted the others for you. Your posts all should now show up unless you are on an known address for a spammer.

[slgrieb]

R43, you don't have to worry about trashing your printer by turning it off, but I have seen USB flash drives loose data (and even need reformatting) after improper removal, and I've seen a few PCMCIA slots and devices cooked the same way. XP is certainly more sophisticated in this regard. Still W2k is great for older systems that aren't quite up to running XP well. Got it on two of my older laptops.

[NooNoo]

SLgrieb, I put xp on some really cruddy laptops to find they ran better under XP SP2 than they did under 2k SP4... go figure?!

[slgrieb]

Noo, I suspect your standard for "really cruddy" may just be a bit higher than my definition of "older". I have a ThinkPad with 256 MB, a 1 GHz PIII, and a 20 GB hard drive that only lives to serve as a diagnostic device; mostly doing site surveys for WLAN installations and related troubleshooting. My fallback is similar, but only a 750. I've used all my free legal XP copies, and don't want to invest time and money in upgrading these, because they are perfect for what I need.

Spill the beans, woman! Just how cruddy is "really cruddy"?

[NooNoo]

Try a PII 600mhz with 192mb ram... that's the worst, and an 800mhz PIII with 256mb ram. As long as the virus checker has a small foot print, it runs really well!

[Ricky43]

Thank you both for such a detailed feedback, I really appreciate it.
I had XP on a different cpu, but that one crashed and this new one, the builder suggested 2k. Thanks again!
Rick