Brian,

I almost can't resist the learning experience. If it is just a burnt trace, that shouldn't be too difficult to repair, if my electronics vocabulary isn't letting me down I think I know what you mean.

I've used Arctic alumina a lot when potting electronics for portable applications. You wouldn't believe how soft it gets at around 170*. You can actually pick at it with a dental pick and remove it. 170* shouldn't hurt anything on the MM either. I feel that mine should come off since I had to epoxy the heatsink back on and I used AA to do that. Of course, as you said, the smart thing to do would be to send it to Castle.