I got a cheapo 8GB TakeMS memory stick for Christmas - However it's now died - It keeps saying "please insert disc" when I put it in my PC (or the laptops) as it seems to think it's an optical drive.

Any ideas on what I could do to get it working?

I don't use it for anything important (got the SanDisk Cruzer Countour 8GB for that) but it'd be nice to get it working again

(Re)install drivers if you had a CD with it?

Didn't get a CD and if it needs drivers it's useless to me (plan on using it alongside the work memory stick to store there overly large demo software).

Get Gparted live CD and see what it see's

Quote from CSU1 :

Get Gparted live CD and see what it see's

Doesn't seem to show up

Hit it with a blunt object. That got mine working long enough to get what I needed off of it after it died I recommend using a hurley, worked for me

There isn't much else you can do, unless you're an electronic engineer that can dismantle it, assess what's fryed, and replace it. I presume you've tried on more than one PC (and by using GParted, you've used more than one OS), and if it still doesn't show, it's not a driver/software problem, meaning it's properly borked. Hammer time

Tried in Vista x64 on my PC and Windows 7 x64 on my laptop, and GParted again on the laptop

Shame as I could really use it atm (but don't want to spend a penny on something for work!)

Quote from dougie-lampkin :

Hammer time

+1 !

,

or, you ~could superglue it to the pavement alongside that old notebook I suggested a while back

...just the luck of the draw with cheap crap really, it's probably just down to quality control