SheevaPlug eSata black, USB serial port not working

[Zorael]

I have a SheevaPlug eSata that ordered back on the 4th of April, which I have been using as a server and occasionally as a router. I ordered it along with an SD card (preinstalled with UBIFS jaunty) to which I later installed Debian testing and it's been working well.

Last week a co-worker said she got an electric shock from it, so I disconnected it and put it in my pile of things to troubleshoot. Now when I boot it up and connect the mini USB-B cable to establish a serial connection no message is output to dmesg, nor does udev generate an event. The ftdi_sio module doesn't get automatically loaded, and while manually loading it naturally works no connection to the device is ever established and no /dev/ttyUSB* nodes get created. I've tried it on two different computers with two different USB cables.

Luckily the device does power on and properly boots my Debian installation, so it's not completely broken. I have an ssh server installed so I can manage it via the network, but this doesn't bode well if/when I have to reinstall the system.

Any advice on how to troubleshoot this further? Have the serial USB bits simply fried? Both USB ports have always been a bit "loose", but even jiggling the connector a bit doesn't seem to help. From day one something seems to have dislodged inside the case, such as a piece of plastic or a screw. I haven't opened the case up yet due to the ominous "warranty void if broken" sticker.

Does the warranty cover this, or does it count as force majeure? I have only ever used the provided AC cable.

[sh]

I have read NewIT people on here saying that there is no problem opening the case, despite the ominous sticker.

It is quite possible that someone using this device can sustain a mild electric shock, but that will happen with anything which has a switch-mode power supply and no mains earth connection (two-pin inlet).  There is a 120V AC potential of high impedance between the local earth of the Sheevaplug and real earth, which goes away when you connect local earth to real earth, by, for instance, connecting via USB (not ethernet - that's isolated) to a desktop computer.  If someone were to touch both the case of the desktop computer and the shell of the unplugged end of a USB lead connecting to the Sheevaplug, they would likely feel a mild shock.  It is due to noise suppression capacitors in the power supply which assume that the mains is "balanced" around earth, whereas in the UK it isn't.

It is possible that this potential has fried the USB to serial converter inside the Sheevaplug, if the pins connected in the wrong order (i.e. earth not first).

[Zorael]

So there I was; emboldened by hearing that I could ignore the sticker, I opened it up and had a look around, multimeter ready at my side.

...It turns out pin1 (+5V) on the serial USB port had gotten bent and pushed in at some point. No idea when, but naturally unrelated to the shock. I guess the next step is to desolder the port, then either butcher an USB cable and solder its cables directly onto the board, or buy a USB-B port and try to somehow fit it there.

Thanks for the help!