What is this piece called?
SpywareShooter
127.0.0.1
Today I was getting out of my chair when I happened to have a USB cord wrapped around my leg. When I took a step I heard a crack and my USB cable went flying across the room, along with a piece of my case (which I found is supposed to come out). The end of the USB Cable was bent (no problem, I fixed it with a pair of pliers), but it also bent the port and broke the chip that it connects to. I took the front and side of the case off hoping to find the name of the chip written on it but I couldn't find it. Does anyone know what it is called? Its at the front of the case where the USB slots are, and the port sort of plugs into it. Any idea how much a replacement might cost?
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Comments
What brand and model# is your case and MB?
Logically, from your description of the events leading to the mishap, I would deduce that you have snapped off a piece of the USB front-panel connector. You'd either have to buy a replacement from the case manufacturer, or rig up a regular USB bracket to fit in the space.
That folds down to expose three USB ports, an expansion bay for an extra hard drive, a firewire port, and a place for speakers, a microphone, and another thing (I can't tell what it is by the sticker next to the port), along with a few memory card readers. It is the middle USB port that is broken. With the piece of the case that goes around it off, it looked like the chip that the port connects to was broken, but the port is definately bent. Sorry I can't explain it better or have a better pic.
What kanezfan mentioned is a good idea. You can buy a hub that fits in a spare 3.5" bay that will give you your broken port back, plus a few more.
I'd take a close look and be sure that your little impromptu case mod didn't mess something else up, or short out the connector. If there's nothing else attached to the MB, I'd see if I could remove the wires from the MB at the other end.