Question Can a badly plugged USB 2.0 header cause a motherboard short/failure?

[Lars Aas]

Hello!

After a failed attempt to get my USB device to work when plugging it into the front panel of the case, I instead tried to plug it directly into the motherboard ports. When doing so, the computer shut down and attempting to boot it up again would result in failure. No sounds and nothing showing up on the screen.

So I tried to find out the cause by removing RAMs, trying out 1 stick at different lanes, tried to unplug/plug the PSU cable etc. This is when I found out that my USB 2.0 header was not properly connected. It was connected too much to the right, meaning that it did not have the 2 pins on the left side connected.

Can this cause my motherboard to short? Is there anything that can be done?

Thank you!

Edit:

MOBO: MSI B85-G43 GAMING
OS: Windows 10
PSU: Corsair 650W
RAM: Corsair Vengeance DDR3
GPU: MSI Geforce GTX 980
CPU: Intel i7 4th gen, do not remember specifically which

 

[Ralston18]

Yes. That could cause a short and a boot failure.

Depending on the nature and location of the short there may or may not have been motherboard damage.

E.g., what pins/connections touched that should not have been touching.

Update your post to include full system hardware specs and OS.

What USB device? Will the computer boot without it?

Set up as simple a boot as possible. Determine if the computer will boot thereafter.

 

[Lars Aas]

Yes. That could cause a short and a boot failure.

Depending on the nature and location of the short there may or may not have been motherboard damage.

E.g., what pins/connections touched that should not have been touching.

Update your post to include full system hardware specs and OS.

What USB device? Will the computer boot without it?

Set up as simple a boot as possible. Determine if the computer will boot thereafter.

Update your post to include full system hardware specs and OS.

MOBO: MSI B85-G43 GAMING
OS: Windows 10
PSU: Corsair 650W
RAM: Corsair Vengeance DDR3
GPU: MSI Geforce GTX 980
CPU: Intel i7 4th gen, do not remember specifically which

What USB device? Will the computer boot without it?

Tried to connect an HyperX Cloud II Headset, and the computer wont boot even without it and other USB devices plugged in

Set up as simple a boot as possible. Determine if the computer will boot thereafter.

I feel like I've tried everything at this point and there is not much happening when trying to boot it. No sounds and nothing displaying on the monitor. With the confirmation that a bad USB header connection can cause a short, I am starting to believe that the motherboard is dead.