Recently Windows XP was installed on my computer with a new Epson printer (that has the ability to read memory cards, such as CompactFlash and SecureDigital cards). Now, when shutting down the computer a message appears saying ‘CardReaderLookup’ is trying to close. How can I stop this message from appearing, as it is interrupting the shutdown process of the computer?

Earlier this year a reader submitted a similar question asking why the ‘CardReaderLookupWindow’ process (which I assume is the same error message that you are receiving) was hanging on shutdown and causing a window to appear, asking whether the process should be closed. The answer to the question is available in the SK Archive at www.siliconkid.com.au/sk_archive/windows_xp/end_program_cardreaderlookupwindow.html .

As you will read in the SK Archive article, the reason this message appears is because a USB device connected to the computer is still active when Windows is shutting down, causing the shutdown process to be interrupted. So, even though the window indicates the problem is with the CardReader process, this is a bit misleading since it isn’t specifically to do with memory card reader hardware, but instead relates to any USB hardware which is still active as the computer is shutting down.

Since this problem only occurred after installing the new Epson printer, it is likely Windows thinks the Epson printer, or the card readers on the printer, are still active when the computer is shutting down. We can test this theory by unmounting the printer before shutting down, which will essentially tell Windows to disconnect the printer from the computer, so Windows will no longer see or communicate with the printer. Hopefully, this should prevent the interruption on shutdown since, as far as Windows is concerned, the printer is technically disconnected from the computer. To complete this operation, in the system tray on the taskbar (the row of icons next to the clock) find the icon for ‘Safely Remove Hardware’. This will appear as an icon of a green arrow pointing down and to the left. To confirm you have the correct icon, hover the mouse cursor over the icons in the system tray until the caption for ‘Safely Remove Hardware’ appears. If this icon is not visible, the system tray may have collapsed and hidden the icon. In this case, click the left arrow on the left-hand end of the system tray to expand the tray and make all icons visible. Once the icon has appeared, double-click on the icon to open the Safely Remove Hardware window. In the list of devices, select the printer and click the ‘Stop’ button. A confirmation window may appear listing other associated devices which will also be stopped (most likely, the card reader will be one of these devices that will also be stopped, since it is built into the printer). In this event, click OK to confirm you would like to stop the printer and these associated devices. A message should appear notifying that the device can be removed from the computer. Click OK to close the message. Should a message appear saying the device cannot be stopped at the moment, this indicates the device is still in use. In this case, make sure there are no pending print jobs, and that nothing is open which could be interacting with the printer (e.g. any open Windows Explorer windows viewing the contents of a memory card, etc.) and then try again. Once the printer has been successfully unmounted, shutdown the computer. Hopefully on shutdown the ‘CardReaderLookupWindow’ message should no longer appear, and the shutdown should complete successfully.

Assuming the shutdown completes successfully, and the ‘CardReaderLookupWindow’ does not appear, it seems the printer was causing the problem. Unfortunately, I have been unable to find a permanent fix for this issue. The best option would be to visit the Epson website and download and install the latest device drivers for the printer, in case the problem has been resolved in a newer version of the drivers. The only other two solutions, which were covered in the SK Archive article, are to force non-responsive applications to close on shutdown, or manually unmounting the USB device before shutdown. However, both these are far from ideal. So, if any other readers have suggestions then please write in.

In the event the ‘CardReaderLookupWindow’ does still appear on shutdown, it seems the printer is not the root cause of the issue. In this case, the problem is likely being caused by another USB device. So, follow the same procedure and unmount any other USB devices which may be connected prior to shut down and see whether this resolves the issue. If so, try to narrow down the problem to a particular device (e.g. only unmount one device before shutdown, and see whether the problem persists) to find out which device is causing the issue. Then, if you need further advice please contact me again.