Laptop Fails when USB port used.

Hey I am experiencing some issues with my laptop that when I plug/unplug stuff from the left hand side USB port the computer completely shuts off. This happened once from a USB DVD drive and the system was non responsive for a few hours, and it just happened to me now but the laptop booted right back up this time. I use this for school and keep my stuff on a thumb drive that I probably plug/unplug in every day now. What would be my best options now? By the way the thumb drive was hot to touch.