I just had a Parallax poop out on me. We would occasionally smell something burning but couldn't locate the problem.
On the converter board, located behind the 12v fuse panel, there are 4 or 5 resistor along one side. If they've failed the board will probably look scorched. When mine failed the toroidal core transformer had a melt down. That's the large round donut shaped thing with wires wound on it.
These are fairly well known for taking there own vacation. I checked the price for direct replacements and didn't like spending that much on a unreliable product. I ended up getting a Power Dynamics PD9260. It was in the $165 range with shipping and about $100 less than the Parallax.
