The municipal electric kinda hates me cuz I "watch" the power. Ever since I had a problem 10 or so years ago and had to go deepoh, it took out the system neutral and a 7200 v line and with our limestone poor grounding paths...it went looking.

Anyway, one of the new accepted ways of running grounds is to place them in the footing of the building- rather than driving rods as in the past. The "footing" concept was developed by a guy in the DSW, IIRC.
Electrizimatical can be a funny thing- especially when it comes to the new electronics. I would also "sniff" around on the boards for an oder. Lastly before you heave it, try running it again both from the remote and the TV mounted controls. While you may not be able to "float" in some SMT part (or even get the part), I like to see what went wrong.
OM