All USB ports blown! Help!

[billyhill123]

I'm building a new computer. Everything was done, but then the front USB ports had to be wired up. I stupidly didnt bother checking the diagram, and wired them up and started the computer. After about 30 seconds, there was a loud pop and flash, and I could smell burning, but only the front usbs were fried. Later I discovered that all the USB ports on the I/o were fried well. This left me with no way of connecting any keyboard/mouse.
My question is: Could I buy a pci to USB adapter and have that work fine. It would have to be plug and play, as I would be unable to install any new drivers.
Thanks in advance.
Billy

 

[bjaminnyc]

A PCI USB card should work Plug and Play. That's an unfortunate situation. Will the bios let you boot into windows without detecting a KB?

Hate to say it but even if the USB card works this is still going to be an ongoing headache. Might be worthwhile to bite the bullet and replace the MB, its likely something else was damaged in addition to the USB IO. You wouldn't want the MB to fry your ram or CPU. If money is tight, a cheap replacement MB placeholder if a far superior fix.

 

[alyoshka]

Billy .... why would you be unable to install any new drivers?
Secondly, yes a PCI USB thingy would be fine, but using a blown up mobo is going to slow it down considerably, and , the errors you get later on will be unknown.
But I would advice against it.

 

[billyhill123]

A PCI USB card should work Plug and Play. That's an unfortunate situation. Will the bios let you boot into windows without detecting a KB?

Hate to say it but even if the USB card works this is still going to be an ongoing headache. Might be worthwhile to bite the bullet and replace the MB, its likely something else was damaged in addition to the USB IO. You wouldn't want the MB to fry your ram or CPU. If money is tight, a cheap replacement MB placeholder if a far superior fix.

Thank you. The computer luckily let's me boot fine into windows, and if the mobo dies later on, I can use the adapter on a new mobo. The problem is I've been given the mobo, and I'm trying not to spend too much money on this build, as I'm probably going to build another one soon, but would like to salvage the mobo if at all possible.

Billy

 

[bjaminnyc]

Another option is to try to log in via remote desktop if for some reason you need to manually install anything with the USB card.

 

[billyhill123]

Another option is to try to log in via remote desktop if for some reason you need to manually install anything with the USB card.

That's a great idea. I've just looked very carefully with a magnifiyng glass at the mobo and checked all the fuses with a multi meter, and there doesn't appear to be anything wrong. Would it be a blown chip, or possibly a driver issue?