System hangs when I insert pen drive

[Aislinn]

Hi guyz, Recently my friends gifted me with a Kingston 16gb data traveller Pen drive. It was working fine few days back but now when i insert the pen drive my system gets hung up. I tried many times but the system hangs up. This all started after i inserted my pen drive in a cyber cafe. Also when it gets detected it cant be ejected using by safely remove hardware. Is it due to some virus?
I am using Windows Xp Service pack 2.

[Dr. V]

It can be due to faulty USB port or a faulty USB device. First check if the USB port is working properly by connecting some other device to the same port. If the device works properly then Check the Pen drive in some other computer. If the pen drive turns out to be faulty then get it replaced as Kingston Drives come with a warranty cover which is void only if there is physical damage to the drive.

[Solomon]

Boot the windows in safe mode and then insert the pen drive. If it gets detected then format the drive if the pen drive does not contain any important data. After formatting the drive boot the windows in normal mode. Before booting in normal mode unplug the drive. Insert the drive only when the windows has booted completely. Now see if you are able to access the pen drive or not.

[Lillebror]

As your system hangs as soon as you plug in the drive, it may be because of the driver conflict. Firstly right click on my computer then select manage. Now select device manager and then select USB controllers and check the status of all ports and controller. There should not be any Question mark sign. If there is a question mark sign against any controller and port then right click on it and select troubleshoot. the on screen menu will help you through the process. After completion of the process there should not be any question marks. If there are then uninstall the drivers for USB and then reinstall them.

[jesse]

Kingston pen drive recovery software's are available online which you can use it to make your pen drive usable on your computer. You just need to install them and run the tests on the pen drive. But as you are not able to connect the pen drive to your system, install the software on some other computer and run this tool on your pen drive. The Kingston utility will the problems in your drive after the tests are over. You can go through the results and then fix the problem by highlighting them one by one.

[SalVatore]

You cannot ignore the possibility of your pen drive infected by a virus. As the pen drive is not detected by your pc there must be some virus which is continuously accessing the drive which is the reason that your system is getting stuck. I suggest you get your pen drive scanned and cleaned by an updated antivirus program. After cleaning format the pen drive once and then connect it to your pc. It would definitely get detected.

[Giuseppe]

Hey alot of good ideas above so here there are some solutions:

1)Check Device Manager a see if there is any Conflicts in any of the USB hub Roots
2)Driver conflicts could be because you have not updated your machine to Service Pack 3 which has an updated Windows Catalog so this could also solve the issue
3) Someone said to download a Kingstone Software Utility which also very useful
4) If any other device is detected on the USB post then there is no issue with the pen it is actually your machine
5) If you have an Antivirus try to check USB for any Virus on the pen if detected.

Let us know if helps!!