I fail to see how "neo" can deduce that your stick has been damaged by a voltage spike from the USB port! What a load of tosh.
The most likely cause is the loss or corruption of the driver software. Windows XP comes equipped with various drivers already, but they can sometimes be affected by software conflicts, damage by overzealous pc utilities like anti virus software, or from an unforseen conflict caused by a Microsoft update. In XP, always set a restore point before installing new software so you can revert to it if things go wrong subsequently.
Best advice is to switch off and reboot your computer. Many times that will solve the problem. If not, navigate to the device, select run, then when windows tells you there's no driver installed it gives you the option of searching online for the correct driver.
The manufacturers website may also have a download section for a suitable driver. In any case, they should be able to advise you via email.
Mr Big
January 2007