Maxblaster, The fact that it just died would indicate a technical failure with one of the components. Sending it back for replacement is possibly your best option. If that is not going to happen then I suggest following the DEAD PLAYER RECOVERY GUIDE
HERE
Doing this however is going to void any warrenty you may have though.
If by shorting the chip as outlined in the guide the player shows no sign of life (screen illumination or flicker) the player is most likely cactus and your other suggestion with the hammer may provide a tiny piece of satisfaction.
If it shows some signs of life then the fact that you have a backup of your original firmware there is a odds on chance it can be restored following the guide. Once you have the player in recovery mode you are going to have to flash it twice once with one of the full version firmware files (in the Firmware download section) I suggest one of the 3.5.35 versions and then with your backup.
Sorry there is no hard and fast answer man, but let us know how you go.