Interesting..
When the esc went up in smoke, was it before or after turning it on with the switch (after connecting the lipos )? Any chance the batts were plugged in backwards (reversed polarity )? Wasnt possibly damp inside due to condensation?
I doubt the firmware update hd anything to do with it, and it updated fine without the bec causing the castlelink to heatup rapidly, so it kinda looks like its one of those random, meaningless failures that happen upon turning the esc on..
Castle should warrenty it for you I imagine, so it will just be a little bit longer before you get to drive your truck again.
