Can't program an X-Board v2 using FTDI Basic Breakout

Hi all,

I'm fairly new to Arduino but know enough now to be dangerous ;)

I've been working on a basic project using the X-board v2 (SKU:DFR0162) and the Basic Breakout FTDI programmer (SKU: DFR0065).

I have been using 1.5.8 IDE on windows 8.1 (disabled driver signing etc) and have had no trouble with uploading various sketches using the above right up until yesterday.

Now, literally overnight, I get "avrdude: Error: Could not find USBtiny device (0x1781/0xc9f)" using USBtinyISP or avrdude: usbdev_open(): did not find any USB device "usb" when using AVRISP mkII (default) when uploading a sketch.

I have attempted: rebooting, unplugging/plugging; swapping USB cables; changed computers (same OS); removing all sensors from board; changed IDE to 1.0.6; uploading an empty sketch; bypassing built in headers on the breakout board; checked all solder joints are clean; changed all programmers in IDE (even though I hadn't changed beforehand).

What I see: the L light is flashing very fast and almost looks dim; the last sketch seems to be running (I can see the x-board on the network); COM ports seem OK on PC/s (get the same result on two separate computers); voltage is set correctly (5v) on the FTDI.

Remember, no changes were made between when it worked and when it didn't.

So, this is where my knowledge drops off a lot. Can the bootloader be corrupt? What are the best programmer settings for the FTDI programmer? Is the board bricked?

Really appreciate any help.

Cheers
Nick