My trusty Saffire Pro 40 went belly up

My Focusrite Saffire Pro 40 has developed a problem, after it's been on for a while (warmed up) I will get random dropouts when recording.  It's not the PC or the Firewire port that I can tell, as it doesn't do it until the Pro 40 has been on for a while. 
 
I had a problem with it earlier this year that the AC power on/off switch was flakey and it would either not connect (firewire) or take a long time to finally connect.  I replaced the power switch and it appeared to be working OK.  But now with the dropouts it's time for something else.  The 3rd party vendor in N. Las Vegas that services Focusrite wants too much - minimum of 2 hours at $100 per hour just to look at it.  With a flakey problem such as I have they would most likely just replace the main board and go on (and considering the $100 per hour labor costs it wouldn't take long to exceed the cost of the new main board).  Thus looking at (estimate) $400 to repair compared to I only paid $429 for it, sadly it's not worth repairing.  I'm a tech but without a schematic and the specialized tools to work on surface mount technology boards I can't really do anything.
 
I also have an MAudio Fast Track Ultra 8R so I still have a backup recording interface and not pressed to get something "now".  But the preamps in the 8R are no where near the quality (fidelity) of the Saffire Pro 40.   I'll start looking at a new unit, but it will be USB and not Firewire.

I've got some "cooler" but with all the SMT and multi-layer PC board, which I don't have the proper tools to work on, I'd be hard pressed to fix it.  Being intermittent and random makes it that much tougher to find. 

My gut feeling is that the DICE II chipset or related components, is the problem since I previously had some issues with the Firewire connecting and that could be causing the dropouts.  For a while, only one of the two Firewire ports in the unit was working which also suggests the Firewire I/O area is where the problem is.

 

It's in the 3 year timeframe. Not sure exactly but when I had the power switch problem, it was right at the 2 year mark.  It had a 1 year factory warranty.