Thanks to Dcrewchief's comment from way back in 2005, I was able to "fix" our son's computer which emitted burning odor after he broke off the plugs on one USB front panel port. Removed ribbon connector from mother board to the damaged USB port, and computer again works like a charm! Fortunately, the back USB ports still work.
Many, many thx!!!!!
"Dcrewchief - 01-26-2005, 08:33 PM - try unplugging your front usb ports from the header pins on motherboard and see it powers up. just a thought maybe it will work."