A case would fix it, but a cheaper fix would be to just put a dab of nail polish or other lacquer on chip U16, which seems to be the culprit.

Handy tip! Which - just tested - seems to work for me, at least with a couple of coats of black nail polish, and double-checked with a high-end Canon flash and a random green laser pointer. (Of course your mileage, and nail polish, may vary.)

I should change the hostname to nemi. ;)

There's another 'shiny' chip on the board too, next to the HDMI port, U8 I think, but it doesn't seem to give a damn what you do to that.

Compared to having to resolder all the Ethernet ports by hand, or USB power issues, this is a pretty minor errata! I presume the factory will pop a blob of epoxy on it for future runs, if they can't get this chip with a package on it.

Don't you get on the NSA's subversive person list for buying black nail polish?

If it were that easy, all the cool kids would be doing it. <g>