MP3 XP Connection Problems

OK, I’m on my mom’s XP computer, which i’ve used the Fuze on before. My sister’s boyfriend’s mp3 player (I believe its a Clip) was in that computer’s usb port for about 12 hours. When I plug my Fuze in the other usb port, nothing.

I take the Clip out, nothing.

I restart the computer, nothing.

10 minutes later, the Fuze connects to the computer, only to disconnect 15 minutes later for no reason.

how can this be fixed?

OK, I think I fixed the problem. My sister’s boyfriend’s Clip - when its removed - does not go through that safely remove hardware thing that XP does with other ones (because - you see - he is not good with computers and downloads from LimeWire and usually just takes the first MP3 up, even if its only 2 seconds long). So I “disconnected” the phantom “USB” on the safely remove hardware thing and my Fuze worked again.