Honey I blew up the USB ports

[Ed Greshko]

> I wouldn't call NE US "arid" but yes, it's not unusual when the temp and
> humidity drop to get lots of static discharges. I didn't notice anything
> this particular time, and I wasn't walking around before the event.

Right, not quite as bad as in MN when I lived sometime ago.  But even in NE
US using forced air heating and a less than effective humidifier could
result in static build up even without walking.  Lived in NJ as well.

> That's the strange thing to me: everything looks normal. I guess it's
> possible to zap the line drivers and not have the controller detect it,
> but that seems surprising to me.
> 
> ... Ok, in putting this message together, I see now that there are some
> signs I had missed before. Before the crash, a USB game controller
> attached to the system was detected, but not afterward. And after the
> crash, I get new messages like this:
> 
>> kernel: uhci_hcd 0000:00:11.2: HCRESET not completed yet!
> 
> So everything looks like I fried the USB ports, and perhaps the
> controller itself.

Probably just the "output" side of the controller.  Does your system have
USB ports in the front as well as the back?  In some systems they are driven
by different components and they may still work.  And you can always try
POMC.  Power on Master Clear as someone has previously suggested.