How to fix flash drive errors?

Hi friends,
I am having a lot of problems with my flash drive. I don’t know if it is a problem of my flash drive or my system. I cannot copy files from that flash drive to my hard disk drives. But files can be copied into that flash drive. It’s a very embarrassing situation for me. Moreover, it is not being formatted in my PC while I am trying to format it. This is a new flash drive.
I bought it just few weeks ago. So, probably the problem is not in the flash drive (I am not sure). Sometimes the files on the flash are not showing properly. And some files are not being deleted while I am trying to delete them. Furthermore, the red led of the flash drive is flashing without downloading/uploading when.
As far I know it flashes when something uploading or downloading from the flash drive. I use Avast anti virus. I have not been updating it for several months. Is it a viral effect? But my anti virus has not found any viruses when I scan the flash drive. What should I do now? Will anybody please help me to solve this unexpected problem? I use Windows XP sp3.
Thank you very much.
