Burnt Components

well from my days in electronic technician school , embarased to say their name because they are not recognised officialy , but my teacher was one hell of a guy Art Scott

we would use a diode on any 5v or 12v power supply line , if it's DC to prevent voltage back flow

which in your situation you got a DC circuit , from what I understand

and that would mean it would be a VERY good idea to USE a diode to prevent any unwanted back flow of voltage , specialy in a DC power feeding line , you don't have to but it's a good idea.
in some situations you absolutely have to if it's a DC critter as in a bridge rectifier or

hey just a side thought , there are 4 diodes in a bridge rectifier for turning AC into DC ,


I would need a detailed circuit print out to be able to tell you whats really going on.

doubtful that you have a bridge rectifier situation happening , probably you just have a blown diode
on the 5v power feed line. that would be extremely good news , as thats easy to test and replace
unless it's a surfface mounted diode micro type.

the history of the diode can get long winded in a hurry , the shotkey family made the shotkey diode
it's more for AC circuits to kinda sorta replace a coil or bridge rectifier , it's excellent as a voltage smoother...

but you're probably dealing with just an ordinary zener diode PNP , or NPN , who really knows without the schematic or testing it , you know the story

it's extremely difficult to deal with microcircuits these days , without a lab and the extremely expensive tools to work on them , such as electron microscope lol , the electronics industry
which is basicaly IBM and the others lol don't really want the general public to be able to work
on anything , shhh it's conspiratorial thinking lol

you just kinda opened up an old wound is all , back then I thought the specifications of a diod would never change and that I would be able to build anything electronic that I wanted , but now thats changed and you need machines to make machines now , it hurts my geek pride a bit but I'll get even one day lol

I don't really know what to say except try your best with what you have , and if you simply feel this
situation is beyond your ability , it's not shameful to send it to people who can fix it.

I admire you for trying , and I appreciate you , you made this old ( in geek terms ) 38 year old engineer feel better about things , and made me reflect.

I just fixed one that my son plugged in with the 5 and 12v rails swapped over.

It was a seagate 160gb barracuda. The 5V line measured dead short to ground, so I did the smoke test with a 5V at 2A psu and the part that smoked was a 6V2 zener which is connected across the 5V rail as a crude over voltage protection