Never heard of that particular problem. You may have to reset the AR and reload the codes. I'd do some research first, though. Once you reset the AR, you pretty much have to deal with a blank AR and if it turns out to be bricked, well, you just have to work with an AR that won't communicate with the computer.
Btw, don't be hard on your little brother. My AR bricked for no apparent reason while I was loading in new codes using the computer. After researching this, I discovered that the AR programming or hardware or both is very fragile and bricked ARs are one of the main complaints from AR purchasers.