Small Computer Problem At Work

Stildawn

New Member
Hi All..

Just a little problem...

On one of my work computers (running XP all updated)

When I plug my USB Stick in... More often than not the whole computer will crash... Not BSOD but funky ass colors and I have to reset...

Any idea on what it could be and a fix?

Cheers
 
tried another port? i have had dead USB ports before and they did go absolutely ape shit if you plugged anything into them.
 
I would go with the idea of a dead usb, or your OS is failing or corrupt, is it possible to screen cap or anything? does the computer still function like can you move the mouse or does the screen do that and everything freezes.
 
The screen goes full ape poo....

Like mulitcoloured and lines and whatever you know the typical panic freeze lol... Nothing works or can be seen other than the colours etc, must reset.

There are two ports in the front of the tower which I use, both go ape lol.... Ill try one of the back ones next time.
 
Is the drive a U3 drive? Sometimes the U3 software can do funky things to computers. The other thing to check is if the port itself is faulty and causing issues.
 
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Try watching your CPU usage... maybe it's an old enough computer that the USB stick is overloading it? My bud had a Corsair stick and we knew his computer was old when we found that the hard drive on the computer was only twice as big as the flash drive.
 
Could possibly be something malicious on the USB stick, you never know what gets on those if you're not careful/lend them to anyone. Otherwise my only thought would be a prank or one of the issues said above.
 
well funky colours/lines on the screen points to a GPU problem... but i don't see how USB ports could make that happen - unless your powersupply is peaking when you plug a usb stick in. AFAIK, USB drives use about 0.5 amps...

Any chance of identifying the powersupply for us? oh and your GPU. might as well post your whole system specs then.
 
well funky colours/lines on the screen points to a GPU problem... but i don't see how USB ports could make that happen - unless your powersupply is peaking when you plug a usb stick in. AFAIK, USB drives use about 0.5 amps...

Any chance of identifying the powersupply for us? oh and your GPU. might as well post your whole system specs then.

That'd be a pretty close margined power supply...given the MAX a USB device can draw is 500mA, but more like 100-200mA. Given USB works off of around...what? 5V? Given this, and the equation P=IV, you see that max power is 2.5Watts, but more like .5-1Watts.

Does the computer do this under any other circumstances? Try plugging in a different usb device and see if it still affects it.
 
well funky colours/lines on the screen points to a GPU problem...

I concur. That's why I'm wondering if the drive works in other machines. The drive itself may be broken and causing a short which screws with other nearby chipsets. If the GPU is an integrated one, it could be getting a small jolt and giving you the video issues. It doesn't take much.


but i don't see how USB ports could make that happen - unless your powersupply is peaking when you plug a usb stick in.
I have had bad USB devices (with shorted pins) shutdown computers due to voltage overdraw. Most modern systems will just disable the faulty port and give you some notification of the issue, but some older systems freak out. I doubt this would cause the PSU to peak.


AFAIK, USB drives use about 0.5 amps...
You are correct.
 
The Stick works well on other machines....

I would monitor my CPU usage but its pretty instant aye, like it crashes before Ive even put the stick the full way in lol.

Im leaning towards faulty ports or faulty wires cause its the front ports and unless Im mistaken those are just one wire for both leading back to the motherboard..

Its one of our server PC, but not a heavily used server, I just back up some stuff each friday on my stick to save on internet usage (cause we backup over the net) So Ill be doing it again today, will try a few things are report back.
 
The Stick works well on other machines....

I would monitor my CPU usage but its pretty instant aye, like it crashes before Ive even put the stick the full way in lol.

Im leaning towards faulty ports or faulty wires cause its the front ports and unless Im mistaken those are just one wire for both leading back to the motherboard..

Its one of our server PC, but not a heavily used server, I just back up some stuff each friday on my stick to save on internet usage (cause we backup over the net) So Ill be doing it again today, will try a few things are report back.
Well, if its happening as soon as you put it in id lean towards faulty port(s), if its something such as two front USB connectors on the machine both doing it, then it could be an issue with the cable that goes to the front ports or if its only a single port could be a faulty port.
 
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Do you work in a high static environment by any chance?

When checking the cable connections, you may also want to check for bare wires touching the metal of the case. This can cause a grounding issue.
 
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