Key stuck in USB Drive...

smith457 · Joined: Oct 11, 2009 Posts: 1

While I was typing an email my beautiful 3 year old daughter decided to stick a house key into one of the USB drives on the front of the computer. BANG! the comp shut off instantly. I'm happy she didn't get shocked...and my computer turned back on and booted correctly but now my USB drives don't work...front or back. Any ideas? Am I about to buy a new mobo?

drwho07 · Joined: Nov 29, 2007 Posts: 1546 Location: Central FL, USA

WELL, it sounds like the USB port driver chip is blown.
But all is not lost.
You can buy a PCI USB expansion card and plug it into a spare PCI slot, if you have one.
If that works, you can even run a USB hub off of one of the ports on that card.

Good Luck,
The Doctor Cool

PS: The USB ports on my mobo are alive and well, I still have a PCI USB expansion card for five extra USB ports. It comes in handy.