My computer lost USB :(

I am using an ASUS T3-M2NC51PV and it has been a great little computer until recently. The USB died on it and it killed the card readers with it (same internal device). I have already tried throwing on different versions of Linux on a live CD and it doesn't do anything to remedy the situation. I have yet to strip this thing down to the bare essentials to see if I can spot a problem, but I doubt I will find anything. Both the front and the rear connections are down so it can't be the funny little card on the front came undone (it is screwed in, after all!). I haven't been able to try updating the BIOS either, ASUS is not giving me any help with how to do this under Linux. ASUS hasn't supported me on another one of my purchases as well so I have lost my confidence in the company. While I love their products, their support is even worse than Sony has been for me(!).

Link to where I purchased this kit.