Dell g5 usb dead

I was working with an ESP32 that I connected to my laptop, and soon after, something went wrong. It’s possible that the ESP32 either caused a short circuit or inadvertently supplied power back into the laptop. At first, I assumed that only the port wasn’t registering in the IDE, but eventually, I found that both my USB 2.0 and USB 3.0 ports stopped functioning.

With the USB 3.0 port, nothing happens at all. With the USB 2.0 port, when I plug in a device, it briefly registers—without supplying power—and then stops working entirely.

Here’s what I have already checked:

• I reinstalled drivers and updates.
• I ran the Dell hardware check, which did not report any errors.
• I haven’t noticed any burn marks or a burnt smell.

This leads me to suspect that the Realtek RTS5144 (the chip used for the card reader function) is likely still working properly, and the issue may lie between the physical port and the chip. Of course, it’s also possible that the problem exists elsewhere.

I haven’t yet examined the USB 3.0 port physically, since that requires unscrewing the entire motherboard. Perhaps there is a fuse (such as a resettable polyfuse) on the board that I could test or measure.

I have tried various USB devices and even phones, but nothing seems to respond, except that the 5V power and data lines of the USB-C port appear are functioning correctly.

Could someone suggest what might be wrong or which test points I can use to further diagnose the issue?