Desktop Computer USB Ports Failing

I don't know if my PC is dying a slow natural death or if an outside insult caused it. During a recent thunderstorm, a power flicker turned off my computer. After rebooting, I had no Internet access. That problem seems to have been simply a bad cable between the router and the cable modem, however I did have to fiddle with the tcpip settings. But while checking cables, my wireless Logitech mouse quit working. I plugged the mouse receiver into an empty USB port next to the one it had been plugged into on the rear of the machine, and it worked again. The other port is still dead. Later I found that one of the two USB ports in front of the machine no longer works. I can still use it to charge my phone, but it pops up a "Device not recognized" message if I plug a drive/camera/phone/etc into it. No conflicts are shown in the device manager. I would feel safe in assuming a power surge from lightening had popped something on the MB causing the failure, but there's another possibility. The day before all this happened I purchased a cheap 4-socket USB expansion hub and used it in one of the front sockets to plug in several devices, a scanner and my phone and camera cables. Has anyone ever heard of one of these hubs causing a blown circuit? Strange that the failing sockets are in two different physical locations.