The hardware: a systemax laptop pc, circa 1999, with one usb port available. 400Mhz, 64Mb ram, 3G hdd, win98se. a memorex usb 2.0 travel drive 512Mbs.

The history: pc had had usb drivers installed so usb port could be utilized with a usb flashdrive. I downloaded the necessary drivers for my travel drive, installed them per instructions, and plugging in the usb drive via a 1.0 hub in the usb port, it was recognized. the intsall was successful,as far as i could tell. i didn't transfer any files to it. removed the travel drive from the hub, and all was well. shut down pc normally, but windows hung up on the last window (with the flag) and wouldnt completely close, so i shut it off using C-Alt-Del/shutdown. left the pc sit a couple of days before using it again.
next time i started up pc, everything normal. i inserted flash drive directly into the usb port (not into the hub, as previous) and some moments later, without a second thought, removed it. usb devices are hot-swapable. (i am well aware of the "safely eject hardware" icon when using windows xp.) since i had remembered doing this before, via the hub, i expected no problems this time.

The result: the pc crashed immediately and would not respond. the screen was black, but unresponsive to any keystrokes or use of power/reset button. i removed power cord from wall and pc and packed it up.

The question: is there a viable solution here ?

i've owned 8 computers over the years and never had this happen before. is using a boot disk or boot cd a possibility ? (there appeared to be a blank, black screen, and power to the pc was ok, but no response to any keys pushed or the power button either. after i removed power, i did not attempt to restart it. guess i should have. if there is no response from the pc at all next time i start it up, is it dead ?)

any help much appreciated from this forum newbie.

Hi jokro, and welcome to the PCHF!

Basically, there's not alot that i can suggest until the computer is turned on again and attempted to boot up