I have an IBM A31 laptop and one night I forgot the printer was connected to it and I picked the laptop up which pulled the usb connector out of the laptop. Each time I press the power the lights just flash and the laptop won't power on. What needs to be done and ab out how much should this cost is this some I could possibly do myself, I have moderate experience with building desktops and only had to do upgrades on laptops like memory, changing hdd, installing network cards.

Do you mean-- the plug came out of the socket ?
OR
the socket came out of the laptop ??

Pulled the socket connector out of the motherboard

Which could have damaged other stuff if it was "live" at that moment.
This would take a physical check by a qualified tech, I'm afraid.