Common issue Z77 OCF

[Kona64]

So i've heard of a few other cases besides my own of people with Z77 OCF's that are dead and have extremely, if not identical, symptoms.
A few i know have, like myself, checked the board for shorts and not found anything out of the ordinary, but it seems important standby voltages aren't coming up when the board is hooked up to PSU; so it won't even attempt to turn on, I/O not getting VCC either since no +5V at power on pins.
I've talked to RageBone and it seems there are one or two voltages that can be measured in a very limited area near the ICH, he believes that these boards have all entered some kind of protection mode and that's whats keeping them in this state, but due to lack of documentation of any kind i haven't heard of anyone with this issue being able to fix it (i'm aware of 4 or 5 people with boards in this condition, there are probably more, this seems like that issue with the audio IC on the rampage iii extreme)
Any tips or help would be greatly appreciated!