Markings on the board are numerous but include:
ASSY.411810400004-R
TF041-TH-PCB:PWA-82581_8858/DAUGHTER_6L.BD
HL 94V-0
E251244
and on a paper bar code label
GP.8258 IC DD.GDA609157.0060. YX

Thanks for staying up with me but its midnight now so perhaps we can take this up again tomorrow? Better both get some beauty sleep Lol!

Have a good night rest. I will try to shoot this information further to the blokes in Europe.

cheers ...

Update - no go so far. But a suggestion was that what if you "remove " the USB from the board.

cheers ...

Confusing suggestion Q! Do you mean "remove" as in de-soldering and physically removing the 2 twin USB ports from the board? If so I fail to see the relevance to the problem. If on the other hand you mean "remove" as in software/BIOS set-up then I won't be able to do that as the laptop doesn't power up.

I in the meantime have got a little further with this as in:

1. A startling admission that there is a major problem with these boards and they suffer an extremely high failure rate.
2. They are no longer produced by the manufacturer.
3. There are specialist firms who will repair the boards for "ONLY £100.50" + VAT.
4. The main problem is with overheating of the centre DC pin where it enters the board, causing carbonisation and loss of conductivity.
5. I have located a fair-minded outfit in Birmingham (sparesweb.com) who may be able to offer me an affordable solution. They have my board and are taking a look.

Yep. Removing the USB = desoldering them from the board.

Great that you found the place, hopefully just some resoldeting with newer parts? 100 quids plus is a bit stiff for such a small board.

cheers ...

Maybe this could help.

http://www.ipc-computer.de/it-pi-n-P...d-1883502.html