Peripherals causing laptop to crash

I recently had my laptop re-formatted, and now when I try to connect any peripherals (externl HD, iPod, camcorder), the laptop shuts down and reboots to a message screen telling me that windows has failed to start up properly and offers a number of options; start in safe mode, use last known good configuration etc. None of these work, the laptop gets so far, then shuts down and reboots to the same message over and over again. If I disconnect the externl device, the systems boots up no problem. I have an acer travelmate 2414 with windows xp professional and sp3, and this is melting my head!! :cry Anybody got any ideas?

Thanks

 

When you say "had" my laptop reformatted, I'm assuming that some one else did it for you? All of the devices that are giving trouble are USB connected? My first suggestion would be to check the Device Manager and see if there are any devices listed with yellow triangles, exclamation points, or question marks. Second suggestion would be to install the chipset drivers from the manufacturer. Welcome to Major Geeks!