Hi, first timer here.
We have two front USB ports that are one on top of the other. My 2 year old daughter yanked the flash drive out of the top one, which seems to have broken the middle piece between the two ports. When I discovered it, the middle piece was tilted down and the top port was missing the little white plastic thing.

I bent the middle piece back into position after shutting down the computer. The top port was a goner, but I could fit a flash drive into the bottom port again. I tried to turn the computer on, but nothing. It was dead. Like what you car does when you find you've left the headlights on all night. Then I noticed a faint, weird, burn smell or something. Hard to describe. Couldn't smell it unless I was right down on the ground near the USB ports.

I disconnected the front ports from the motherboard, still nothing. What in the world happened?? Thanks!!

The burnt smell isn't encouraging. Do you get any indication that it's trying to start? Anything at all?

Nope. Nothing. It's like it's not even plugged in (though it is, and the surge was flicked off and on and the power switch on the back was flicked off and on).

Doesn't sound good. With no noise at all, it's likely that the power supply is toast. And, since it's presumed that the USB port thing caused it, I'd also suspect that the motherboard may be fried also. Finally, this may have also affected other components (such as the memory and the hard drives).

Ouch. Not good news. I'm taking it in for a diagnostic tonight. I guess I'll find out in about a week. I reset the CMOS (with power unplugged and battery removed), put it all back, unplugged the culpable USB port, still nothing. Not even the little red bulb on the motherboard. Blah. Thanks for your interest, usasma.