Can't remove DVD burner without Vista having Startup problems -- Help!

1. I decided to remove the Plextor 755SA DVD burner.
2. I uninstalled the drive.
3. I shut down the computer|OS.
4. I removed the SATA connector from the motherboard, and the same (along
with SATA power connector) from the drive.
5. Upon reboot, the computer experienced Startup problems, and I had to run
the Windows repair from the disc (on a DVD/CD drive I wasn't removing, of
course).

It's almost as if Vista is 'tied' to the devices somehow, and won't let me
take out what I want to remove. (I'm removing the drive to put it into a
different computer, and will later be adding a Blu Ray drive to mine--which
is the whole reason for doing this).

6. I put the SATA connector back (motherboard, drive), and power to the
drive, and rebooted.
7. I ran the Startup repair disc again, and got back into the OS--saw the
desktop again.

It's been a big headache, because now (during one of the repair sessions, I
mistakenly chose to roll back to a previous Restore point, and now my X-Fi
card is spazzing, failing to load a driver (IDT something). I disabled the
audio card for now, so that's not the reason for posting this. I just want to
know what method is best for removing a device, and still have Vista
functioning fine? Is there any way to 'untie' the device from the OS, beyond
merely going to the Device Manager and uninstalling the device from there?

I did go into the BIOS to look, and when the drive was unplugged from the
motherboard, etc., it was automatically removed from listing (just like it
and other devices like hard drives automatically appear there when present,
having been sensed and read for what they are).

As a sidenote, I got to thinking about all that occurred after removing the
drive. The Startup repair process, etc. When rebooting, the screen showing
the Microsoft Corporation copyright along with the animated progress bar
seemed to appear forever. I thought it had hung, so hit Reset. I hooked the
drive up again, went through the repair process, rebooted, and when it
reached that screen (with the progress bar), I had to leave the room for
something. When I came back, it was at the password screen. And during one of
the repair sessions, it said the OS had booted correctly. So, maybe, I just
didn't wait long enough for things to re-adjust or reconfigure or something.
I'm going to try it again when I get the nerve :-) and this time I'll wait it
out and see if goes ahead and loads without the drive connected. I'll also
keep the BIOS thing in mind, in case I *can* change something something. I
seem to recall hitting Enter|Return on that empty slot and being taken to a
screen where it tried to auto-detect something there, and found nothing (when
I had the drive disconnected). So, in that case, there wasn't any manual
selection for 'none'; it just did that automatically.

"Cari (MS-MVP)" wrote:

Did you remember to reset the BIOS to say [None] on the SATA entry?
--
Cari (MS-MVP) Printing & Imaging
www.coribright.com/windows

"Stephen" wrote in message
...
Can't remove DVD burner without Vista having Startup problems -- Help!

1. I decided to remove the Plextor 755SA DVD burner.
2. I uninstalled the drive.
3. I shut down the computer|OS.
4. I removed the SATA connector from the motherboard, and the same (along
with SATA power connector) from the drive.
5. Upon reboot, the computer experienced Startup problems, and I had to
run
the Windows repair from the disc (on a DVD/CD drive I wasn't removing, of
course).

It's almost as if Vista is 'tied' to the devices somehow, and won't let me
take out what I want to remove. (I'm removing the drive to put it into a
different computer, and will later be adding a Blu Ray drive to
mine--which
is the whole reason for doing this).

6. I put the SATA connector back (motherboard, drive), and power to the
drive, and rebooted.
7. I ran the Startup repair disc again, and got back into the OS--saw the
desktop again.

It's been a big headache, because now (during one of the repair sessions,
I
mistakenly chose to roll back to a previous Restore point, and now my X-Fi
card is spazzing, failing to load a driver (IDT something). I disabled the
audio card for now, so that's not the reason for posting this. I just want
to
know what method is best for removing a device, and still have Vista
functioning fine? Is there any way to 'untie' the device from the OS,
beyond
merely going to the Device Manager and uninstalling the device from there?