Anytime something is plugged into a USB port my computer locks up and has to completely shut down and restarted. What could be going on?
I would start will a full spyware scan, followed by eliminating any unnecessary programs which run at startup…
Is this a recent development? What USB equipment are you using? Have you a powered/unpowered hub?
Could be a corrupted driver or similar. Check the Event Logs and see if they have captured anything.
You didn’t mention the manufacturer of your computer or motherboard, but you could also try flashing the BIOS with the newest version from their website.
I have a similar problem that just started with my Sony Vaio Picturebook C1VP. Unfortunately I suspect something is wrong with the USB hardware on the motherboard, because now I constantly get “Power Surge on Root Hub” messages in the tray and have to reset the USB hub, even though there’s only one USB port and a MemoryStick reader hooked up to the USB, and neither has anything in it.