I got a new Sandisk 4GB memory stick recently and when I try to plug it into the wife's laptop, it just freezes the system up. I know it uses the E3 technology, and it seems to lock up before any of that can start. I plug it it when running and the autorun starts then just sits there searching for files, the only way I turn off the laptop after that is to just hit the power button. Anybody have any suggestions as to why it works in our other computers but not the laptop? By the way it's a Toshiba Satellite laptop and we do have Windows XP on it.

Could be a known bug, software incompatibility or otherwise?

You can determine if it's a hardware conflict or software conflict rather easily. Press the CAPS LOCK key on your keyboard repeatedly. If the "Caps lock" light lights up, then it's a software conflict the majority of the time. If not, it's a hardware conflict.

Please be more specific about three things: Give me a model number for the laptop, and give me a specific model number for the memory stick. Finally, be more specific about what version of Windows, as this is often important. XP Home? XP Media Center? XP Pro?

Thanks. Will touch back on this in the morning.

OK it's a SanDisk Cruzer Micro 4GB.

The computer is a Toshiba Satellite 1800, running XP pro.

Sorry I couldn't test the CAPS LOCK trick, it looks like I left the stick at work. I have tried to look up issues on the SanDisk site, but the only conflict they mention is with Nero's InCD program, which is not, and has not been on this laptop.

Not trying to be a butthead here, but Which version of the Toshiba Satellite 1800? There are like ... 10 of them - I only know this b/c my father in law has A Toshiba Satellite E85 which is very similar internally to the 1905-series Satellite.

The product number on your laptop is typically 1800-S### (Where ### = a number in the 200s usually Ex: Toshiba Satellite 1800-S207)

OK it's a 1800-S203. Thanks butthead! (j/k):lol:

:lol:

Here is a link to all of the driver updates and software updates for your laptop:
http://www.csd.toshiba.com/cgi-bin/tais/su/su_sc_modItemList.jsp?moid=1073833650&ct=DL&BV_EngineID=cccfaddjlheefejcgfkceghdgngdgnn.0

I'm giving you that link just in case you want it. Files are posted in order of newest to oldest - so, obviously, you only want to install the new stuff if you get around to installing anything.

What I will suggest to you before we do anything, is to download the latest BIOS for your laptop and flash your BIOS to make sure this isn't something Toshiba fixed already. Link to the latest BIOS:

http://www.csd.toshiba.com/cgi-bin/tais/su/su_sc_dtlViewDL.jsp?soid=240479&moid=1073833650&BV_EngineID=cccfaddjlheefejcgfkceghdgngdgnn.0&ct=DL

You might also try installing their software upgrades package:

http://cdgenp01.csd.toshiba.com/content/support/downloads/swupg32.exe

If you need help taking care of the BIOS, let me know.

Once all is done, take a whack at it again with the Cruzer and see if all is well. It's possible this might not help, but IMHO it's the best place to start. Get your system up-to-date, then if something is not working, look in other places.

OK Shifty, I updated the BIOS, installed the more recent updates and also installed their software upgrades package. (I also discovered it's a 1800-256, not a 206 and updated accordingly)

I tried again and still no luck, I checked again and the CAPS LOCK light will come on/off while the computer is frozen.

Here is typically the series of events that happen after popping in the stick. The "safely remove hardware" icon appears, along with the balloon message "Your device could perform faster..." then sometimes the system freezes there, other times an autoplay folder appears and it starts searching the files on the cruzer, where it will just sit and search forever, if I try to do anything else the computer is unresponsive.

I don't know if you have any more ideas on this but any more suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thansk for running that test. With the details you indicate (caps lock light DOES work), this suggests it is a software problem/lockup and not hardware problem/lockup.

What happens if you hit CTRL+ALT+DEL when the computer is not responding? Do you get a popup window with several options, maybe after waiting a few seconds? Is "Task Manager" one of those options? If so, click that option. After some time, the Task Manager should open. Click the "Processes" tab. We want to "Show processes from all users" and we also want to see if there is a specific process that has really high numbers in the "CPU" column. You can click the word "CPU" to sort the column by the numbers (may need to click twice to get it to the top).

In a normal case, you will see nearly "99" for "System Idle Process". IF something is hogging up your CPU and slowing/freezing your system, you will see that process bouncing anywhere between 20-50.

You may want to try all of this BEFORE you put in the memory stick just to familiarize yourself with the task manager.

As you will see, each process is listed by its ".exe" file name on your computer.

I would also like to see a HijackThis logfile for your computer.

Here is the Hijack this log file...Logfile of HijackThis v1.99.1
Scan saved at 7:23:19 PM, on 1/16/2007
Platform: Windows XP SP2 (WinNT 5.01.2600)
MSIE: Internet Explorer v6.00 SP2 (6.00.2900.2180)

Running processes:
C:\WINDOWS\System32\smss.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\winlogon.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\services.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\lsass.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\svchost.exe
C:\WINDOWS\System32\svchost.exe
C:\Program Files\Common Files\Symantec Shared\ccProxy.exe
C:\Program Files\Common Files\Symantec Shared\ccSetMgr.exe
C:\Program Files\Norton Internet Security\ISSVC.exe
C:\Program Files\Common Files\Symantec Shared\SNDSrvc.exe
C:\Program Files\Common Files\Symantec Shared\ccEvtMgr.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\brsvc01a.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\brss01a.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\spoolsv.exe
C:\Program Files\Symantec\LiveUpdate\ALUSchedulerSvc.exe
C:\WINDOWS\Explorer.EXE
C:\Program Files\Norton Internet Security\Norton AntiVirus\navapsvc.exe
C:\Program Files\Common Files\Symantec Shared\CCPD-LC\symlcsvc.exe
C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\THOTKEY.EXE
C:\Program Files\Common Files\Symantec Shared\ccApp.exe
C:\Program Files\Common Files\Real\Update_OB\realsched.exe
C:\toshiba\ivp\ISM\pinger.exe
C:\PROGRA~1\MUSICM~1\MUSICM~2\MMDiag.exe
C:\Program Files\Messenger\msmsgs.exe
C:\Program Files\Musicmatch\Musicmatch Jukebox\mim.exe
C:\Program Files\Internet Explorer\IEXPLORE.EXE
C:\Program Files\Common Files\Symantec Shared\AdBlocking\NSMdtr.exe
C:\Program Files\HijackThis\HijackThis.exe

R0 - HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Start Page = http://www.yahoo.com/
O2 - BHO: AcroIEHlprObj Class - {06849E9F-C8D7-4D59-B87D-784B7D6BE0B3} - C:\Program Files\Adobe\Acrobat 7.0\ActiveX\AcroIEHelper.dll
O2 - BHO: Norton Internet Security - {9ECB9560-04F9-4bbc-943D-298DDF1699E1} - C:\Program Files\Common Files\Symantec Shared\AdBlocking\NISShExt.dll
O2 - BHO: NAV Helper - {BDF3E430-B101-42AD-A544-FADC6B084872} - C:\Program Files\Norton Internet Security\Norton AntiVirus\NavShExt.dll
O3 - Toolbar: Norton Internet Security - {0B53EAC3-8D69-4b9e-9B19-A37C9A5676A7} - C:\Program Files\Common Files\Symantec Shared\AdBlocking\NISShExt.dll
O3 - Toolbar: Norton AntiVirus - {42CDD1BF-3FFB-4238-8AD1-7859DF00B1D6} - C:\Program Files\Norton Internet Security\Norton AntiVirus\NavShExt.dll
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [ccApp] "C:\Program Files\Common Files\Symantec Shared\ccApp.exe"
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [MimBoot] C:\PROGRA~1\MUSICM~1\MUSICM~2\mimboot.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [TkBellExe] "C:\Program Files\Common Files\Real\Update_OB\realsched.exe" -osboot
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [Pinger] C:\toshiba\ivp\ISM\pinger.exe /run
O4 - HKCU\..\Run: [MSMSGS] "C:\Program Files\Messenger\msmsgs.exe" /background
O4 - Global Startup: Adobe Reader Speed Launch.lnk = C:\Program Files\Adobe\Acrobat 7.0\Reader\reader_sl.exe
O4 - Global Startup: Microsoft Office.lnk = C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office10\OSA.EXE
O8 - Extra context menu item: E&xport to Microsoft Excel - res://C:\PROGRA~1\MICROS~2\Office10\EXCEL.EXE/3000
O9 - Extra button: (no name) - {08B0E5C0-4FCB-11CF-AAA5-00401C608501} - C:\Program Files\Java\j2re1.4.2_11\bin\npjpi142_11.dll
O9 - Extra 'Tools' menuitem: Sun Java Console - {08B0E5C0-4FCB-11CF-AAA5-00401C608501} - C:\Program Files\Java\j2re1.4.2_11\bin\npjpi142_11.dll
O9 - Extra button: Messenger - {FB5F1910-F110-11d2-BB9E-00C04F795683} - C:\Program Files\Messenger\msmsgs.exe
O9 - Extra 'Tools' menuitem: Windows Messenger - {FB5F1910-F110-11d2-BB9E-00C04F795683} - C:\Program Files\Messenger\msmsgs.exe
O16 - DPF: {6E5A37BF-FD42-463A-877C-4EB7002E68AE} (Trend Micro ActiveX Scan Agent 6.5) - http://housecall65.trendmicro.com/housecall/applet/html/native/x86/win32/activex/hcImpl.cab
O20 - Winlogon Notify: WgaLogon - C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\WgaLogon.dll
O23 - Service: Automatic LiveUpdate Scheduler - Symantec Corporation - C:\Program Files\Symantec\LiveUpdate\ALUSchedulerSvc.exe
O23 - Service: BrSplService (Brother XP spl Service) - brother Industries Ltd - C:\WINDOWS\system32\brsvc01a.exe
O23 - Service: Symantec Event Manager (ccEvtMgr) - Symantec Corporation - C:\Program Files\Common Files\Symantec Shared\ccEvtMgr.exe
O23 - Service: Symantec Network Proxy (ccProxy) - Symantec Corporation - C:\Program Files\Common Files\Symantec Shared\ccProxy.exe
O23 - Service: Symantec Password Validation (ccPwdSvc) - Symantec Corporation - C:\Program Files\Common Files\Symantec Shared\ccPwdSvc.exe
O23 - Service: Symantec Settings Manager (ccSetMgr) - Symantec Corporation - C:\Program Files\Common Files\Symantec Shared\ccSetMgr.exe
O23 - Service: ISSvc (ISSVC) - Symantec Corporation - C:\Program Files\Norton Internet Security\ISSVC.exe
O23 - Service: LiveUpdate - Symantec Corporation - C:\PROGRA~1\Symantec\LIVEUP~1\LUCOMS~1.EXE
O23 - Service: Norton AntiVirus Auto-Protect Service (navapsvc) - Symantec Corporation - C:\Program Files\Norton Internet Security\Norton AntiVirus\navapsvc.exe
O23 - Service: SAVScan - Symantec Corporation - C:\Program Files\Norton Internet Security\Norton AntiVirus\SAVScan.exe
O23 - Service: ScriptBlocking Service (SBService) - Symantec Corporation - C:\PROGRA~1\COMMON~1\SYMANT~1\SCRIPT~1\SBServ.exe
O23 - Service: Symantec Network Drivers Service (SNDSrvc) - Symantec Corporation - C:\Program Files\Common Files\Symantec Shared\SNDSrvc.exe
O23 - Service: Symantec SPBBCSvc (SPBBCSvc) - Symantec Corporation - C:\Program Files\Common Files\Symantec Shared\SPBBC\SPBBCSvc.exe
O23 - Service: Symantec Core LC - Symantec Corporation - C:\Program Files\Common Files\Symantec Shared\CCPD-LC\symlcsvc.exe
O23 - Service: THotkey (THOTKEY) - TOSHIBA Corp. - C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\THOTKEY.EXE

Damn, that is a beautiful sight. Rare to find a clean system these days.

I can't help but wonder if Norton Internet Security is causing the problem. Maybe in the process of that thing loading, Norton is causing you guff. There is a way to temporarily disable Norton. Are you familiar with how to do this? If you're uncomfortable, you can unplug from the internet and do it, so you don't have anything bad happen (which is so unlikely it's not funny).

Also, did you get to the "Task Manager" stuff I mentioned previously? Just trying to cover all the bases.

Yep sorry I posted that before I started playin with task manager. I tried it three different times, and have not seen much actually taking up alot of CPU. Idle Processes is about 95-96 then taskmgr.exe running up to 10 on occassion. the one weird thing I noticed is that it is usually the taskbar that is locking up, when the stick gets plugged in the icons go dead, then after task manager is fired up it disappears never to return, start button on keyboard doesn't work, alt tab nothing. I tried to open explorer using the desktop icon and the hourglass momentarily appears, but nothing happens. After trying this I did notice that the following programs started hogging the CPU:
LuCalbackProxy.exe
LUCOMS~1.EXE
CCapp.exe

Not sure if that means anything. Also tried disabling Norton and it still locks up.

All three are Norton processes: ccapp is Norton's realtime scanner protection. LuCallbackProxy is something related to Norton's Live Update feature. LUComs~1.exe was something I thought would be related to Logitech Cam or something, but it's actually Norton process as well.

If it's possible to disable Norton's realtime scanning "until reboot" and pop in the USB key, I would do so. I can't help but think Norton has a problem with it.