URGENT! Looking to a creative work-around for MBOX 2 Pro Firmware Crash

[studiomagic]

UPDATE: I just got the blue screen of death, but lived another day. The good news: The machine restarted and windows rebooted! The bad news: ****** light is still flashing. Now what? Is my Mbox 2 Pro box fried?

So here's the cheeky fun I've gotten myself into...

I'm on a Windows 7 machine with a HD that's on it's way out, but currently is up and running smooth.

I just did some work in Pro Tools LE 8.04 that I really like. It's using plug-ins that work with that version and everything is exactly how I want it.

Unfortunately ... The driver crashed mid session and I had to force quit. I do have the work saved, but ever since, I've had the flashing orange light of doom and the firmware is corrupted. This has never happened before.

Here's where I need the workaround:

I'm sure simply restarting windows would repair the connection, BUT... if I do, Windows might not boot.

Yes, I do intend to fix this rig ASAP, but I have other non-music work to finish and I'd really love to bounce this track. It's for a gofundme page to support someone in the ICU for Covid and someone is waiting for it. My OS is running fine at the moment. I have a single bad physical sector in the boot portion of the drive, so as long as I don't shut down — I'm ok.

What I tried:

1. I don't have access to another PC with a Firewire port, so i can't follow Avid's instructions to bring the box back to life.
2. Disabled/Enabled both devices(The firewire driver needs a restart to update)
3. Tried multiple cables
4. Tried to delete the MBOX 2 PRO entries in the registry so maybe the firewire can see it as new, but there are a few that I can't take ownership of and they can't be deleted. Those are the ones connected to the firewire port.
5. Hooked up a M-Audio Firewire 410 to see if by some miracle I could use LE with it. Obviously I can't (duh), BUT it did load the drivers using that same Firewire port and the device is usable. It also shows the port is still ok.

Am I missing something easy here? Help?

[Note: A Sandra report is coming up in the reply. Please don't hate on the system, I really like this OS and I have what I consider the "sweet spot" versions of all my software. I'm not a newbie and have used new versions of PT, I just like this set up and it's never given me any issues.