Replicator 2x Bricked?

[EduTech]

The school where I work has a Makerbot Replicator 2x. Prior to my starting work there another member of staff attempted to update the firmware on the 2x and something went wrong.

Currently the 2x seems to be bricked. Makerbot Desktop will not connect to the device on any of the computers I have tried with various USB cables. (All of our computers are running Win7 Professional.) The screen on the front of the 2x does not power on or display anything. The Makerbot itself is powered. There is a small, sprung switch inside the rear of the print bay at the top that when depressed illuminates a red LCD confirming this.

Having had a good look at the official support pages I would like to either push new firmware to the Makerbot or perform a factory reset on it.

Unfortunately a factory reset requires the LCD on the Makerbot to be functioning, and firmware updates require it to connect to Makerbot Desktop.

At this point we are looking down the barrel of the $100 Single Incident support fee from Makerbot themselves. As a very small, not-very-well-funded school we would very much like to avoid having to pay this.

If anyone has any ideas then I'd be very grateful for your input!