massive USB failure

Approximately 8 months ago, I lost the ability to use my wired mouse through any and all USB ports on my computer due to, get this, a smack of static electricity when my hand hit the mouse. The mouse would not work in ANY USB port and I had to resort to activating my keyboard's mousekeys. Eventually I attempted to plug in a wireless optical mouse and sure enough, that worked. Outside of changing the batteries every now & then, everything was just fine. Strangely, all other USB devices worked just fine as well...all except the corded mouse. (and I tried numerous different mouses, all meeting similar fates) So here I am, utilizing my computer when today, as I began surfing the internet, I was on a page (the official homepage for the rock band Queensryche, for what it's worth) when everything froze. I was unable to move the mouse. My first thought was a crash, so I went to "control/alt/delete" it and discovered I wasn't able to do that either. My mousekeys, which have been activated all along, did not work anymore. Essentially, my mouse and keyboard both decided to fail. I did a reboot via the power button, waited for everything to boot up, and tried again. The computer would not recognize my mouse (the batteries were changed) or my keyboard, which displayed no lights whatsoever. I attempted to plug both devices in every USB port, front and back, with no luck. I tried numerous other USB devices, but none were recognized. I read advice for people with similar problems with USB failure and the problem here is this...I cannot go into safe mode. I cannot go into my control panel. I cannot go into the device manager. I cannot even progress beyond the sign-up page (because my computer is password protected). I can literally do nothing but hold the power button in and see if another reboot fixes it, but nothing changes. I cannot plug in a PS/2 keyboard because all I have are USB ports. I am literally stuck. So tell me...is my computer screwed? (for what its worth, I have a DELL Dimension E310 running Windows XP SP2)

 

Ahhhhh.... the glory of the Dell with no PS2 ports. I'm sorry to hear that this happened, and this is why I tell people to be careful with USB devices because they do carry live voltage that can cause short-outs (as you have discovered). It doesn't seem like this was your fault or that you could have done anything to avoid it. You could try getting a USB controller card for one of the PCI slots. They make 'em with up to 5 ports; maybe that will work long enough to at least recover some data, but I think you may want to look into the terms of your warranty. There is a slight chance that the power supply has failed (maybe the 5v output is shot), so look into that also.... Have you tried unplugging the power cord from the back of the PC and leaving it unplugged for awhile? Like over an hour. Before you plug it back in, hold in the power switch for 10-15 seconds, release it, then plug in the power cord and try to boot up....
Good luck! :major