Usb key not recognized on Linux Mint 18

[trigor]

Hi! My usb stick has from one day to another stopped working on my computer (Linux Mint 18, Sarah). the light is blinking and sometimes it gives off the blip sound as if it was being mounted, but it isn't. It isn't even recognized (if I understand it correctly). Running sudo fdisk -l doesn't show any /sdb, only /sda (and none of them fits the usb stick characteristics any way).

Sudo fdisk.jpg

The sudo lsusb doesn't show it either:

Sudo lsusb.jpg

Thoughts: 1) The key doesn't mount on my friend's Mac either which makes me think that it's something wrong with the key (what can be wrong with it? It just stopped working, nothing special has happened to it, no extreme temperature, no nothing.. However a friend of mine has used it quite often and she repetitiously forget to eject the stick from the computer, just pulls it out. Can that cause a problem like this? I thought it would still show up though)
2) What is against that it's the key that's broken is that a sd card inserted doesn't show up either, no reaction what so ever.

I should add that I have both a mouse and a keyboard and they work without problem (so the usb ports are working). Also the problem happened to come shortly after I had updated the computer with the normal updating (and only 1-3 rated updates, not 4 and 5's), but that could be a coincidence since I can't see how that would cause a problem like this.

Any ideas? (I'm new to commando lines and stuff so maybe I've missed something, sorry if so)

[BG405]

It's likely the flash or (more likely) the controller chip has failed; I've had this happen. It is also possible the stick has been corrupted by unsafe removal. Another possibility is worn or tarnished contacts on the USB stick.

I've never used "sudo" for lsusb, not sure what difference if any, so will try later & let you know if there is. Maybe lsusb -v will reveal something but doubt it. Still worth a try though.

[trigor]

Hey, thanks for the answer! I've never heard of an usb failing, this one is just a bit over 1 year old but maybe it is cause my friend hardly ever removes it safely. Thanks for the answer, I'll try to clean the contact surfaces and if it doesn't work I'll just let it R.I.P

As for the different commands, I have no idea, I just kind of used what I've found on the forums around the net I don't know anything about using the commando line so I just did what everyone else said to do