-=> Quoting JEAN PARROT to LEONARD ERICKSON <=-

 JP> Good morning to you Leonard, how are you today ? 
 
 LE> Then reboot. Windows doesn't actually *remove* the drivers if you just
 LE> pull the hardware or even if you remove the device after a normal
 LE> boot. You have to do it in safe mode.
 
 JP> It was not the driver or the device that was at fault. I would
 JP> like to know how one can remove that IDE controller and reset
 JP> it physically that is, like one can remove a CD device ?
 
 LE> So disable the IDE interface in the BIOS. :-)

 JP> You got me here. I do not know if there is actually an IDE
 JP> interface anywhere as such. I think that it is part of the OS
 JP> to enable this function.  No ?

If you are using IDE drives and don't haver a controller card, then
there's at least one *usually *two*) IDE connectors on the motherboard.
And the CMOS setup utility  *will* let you turn them off on many (if
not most) motherboards. In fact, you can disable an amazing amount of
the "built-in" stuff on the motherboard. 

I had to disable a serial port on a motherboard because it was getting
weird. Luckily, we had a spare slot and a spare serial card. 


--- FMailX 1.60