FAT32 USB Freezing PC

[scojoh239]

I am new to these forums as I have had my PC Specialist machine for about 3 years with no problems.

The problem is when I insert any external storage device formatted to FAT32 my PC freezes. The PC only freezes when I insert the USB device when the PC is on.
When I insert the USB device with the PC off and then switch on I can access the USB device.
I have searched the internet and it looks like it could be the USB drivers but all my drivers are up to date and I don't have any exclamation marks in device manager.

I have another laptop with windows 10 and this PC does not have ANY problems when inserting FAT32 devices with the PC switched on.

 

[ubuysa]

First off, does this particular USB stick work ok when plugged into another PC/laptop? If not then it's the USB stick that's faulty.

If the USB works ok in another PC/laptop then it may be a problem with the device driver for that USB stick, the solution is to uninstall the existing entry for that USB stick. To do that open Device Manager, click on View and select Show Hidden Devices. Now expand the Disk Drives entry and you should see greyed out entries for all the USB sticks you've ever used. (If you don't see below*).

Right-click on each greyed out device in turn and select Uninstall Device. Do that for all greyed out disk drives and reboot. Your USB stick should work ok now.

*If clicking Show Hidden Devices doesn't show any hidden devices then you'll need to add an environment variable. Open Control Panel and then System, click on Advanced System Settings and then click the Environment Variables button. Under the top box (the variables for your userid) click the Add button. In the top line (variable name) of the New User Variable dialog that opens enter devmgr_show_nonpresent_device, in the bottom line (variable value) enter 1 and click Ok. You may need to logout and back in but the Device Manager Show Hidden Devices will work now.