We have HP laptops with a Broadcom NetXtreme Gigabit Ethernet card. For some reason, it is possible to 'safely remove' the network card from Windows. Obviously this disconnects the machine from the network.
Even worse, removing the network cable from the laptop (e.g. to move it to another room) automatically 'safely removes' the NIC. The machine cannot be reconnected to the network until Windows is rebooted!
I haven't been able to find any settings on the network adapter in Device Manager that changes this behaviour.
Does anyone know how to stop Windows from listing this device as hardware that can be removed?
Disable LAN Power Save in BIOS.
Look here: http://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Notebook-Hardware/ethernet-card-disables-when-unplugging-power-cable/td-p/104485
Dutch
A quick fix would be to "always hide" the icon. right click on the system tray, go to Properties->Customize, then find the 'Safely Remove Hardware' icon and hide. I'm going to try to find a registry hack for you. I think this is the only way around it.
Here you go. The answer is at the bottom of the discussion. You may want to test it on a dummy machine that isn't very important first. Good luck. The answer is at techrepublic
I recall an issue like this on Dell Latitudes and they eventually came out with a driver patch. Will this only happen while the machine is on Battery, or plugged in too?
Tom
go to Device Manager, right click on the NIC and select the Power Management tab. You will have an option called
Uncheck the option