Well, this is getting annoying.
With no other fix offered, I attempted to make a warranty claim, and get the board replaced.
The seller refused to assist, saying that it was Intel's responsibility.
Ok, so I attempt to use Intel's various warranty claim systems for my region.
The on-line warranty-claim system attempts to look up the Serial/AA number combination, but after a long delay, consistently reports that it is "temporarily off-line - try again later".
The Chat system is consistently "temporarily off-line - try again later".
When I try the phone, I'm on hold for so long that I never manage to complete the call before I need to deal with something else.
Why is this so hard ?