All fixed!

Reassembly with the new board was straightforward with the exception of the display ribbon connector. Seems I missed the fact that it has a locking tab when I withdrew the ribbon during disassembly. A black tab that sits across the top of the connector pops up when it's edge is located and lifted with minimal fingernail pressure, or using a suitable plastic lever (not metal, that could result in damage). Once this tab is raised and released (it remains attached, so no risk of losing it) the ribbon easily enters or leaves the connector. I found it best to do the ribbon bit when all other cables are removed from the board, giving maximum ease of access.
After replacing the cover and connecting speakers and power the standby light quickly responded to the arrival of power.
When faulty the unit would display a familiar blue graphic screen for quite a few seconds before being replaced by the standby light, but the unit was then totally unresponsive, apart from the production of smoke & smell.

Part arrived!

That was quick!

Part number: DM726013 (LCD DRIVE & INVERTER PCB) - ordered!

Expert Opinion

Just had a helpful chat about the likelihood of inverter failure vs backlight problem, and it's the board we're ordering.....
Thanks Kym!

Where theres smoke...

This AWA DVD Micro system has decided to send up smoke signals at power up!
A quick disassembly of the cover and careful application of power soon identified the source. Turns out it's the (Inverter) supply to the LCD backlight.

A call to (Telefix) AWA service and an email with a picture (above) of the suspect part soon got an availability and pricing response. The surprise here is that a relatively small part which costs less than $20, cost $22 to "freight", puzzling!
Before committing to order a replacement a cautious reassessment of the (observational) diagnosis is called for:

1. It appears that the board is faulty, only by the fact that smoke and heat damage are apparent.
2. However, what if the LCD backlight (which still appears to function - screen active during P.O.S.T.) is actually faulty and overloading the Inverter, causing overheating and smoke, but perhaps, so far not terminally damaging the board?
3. So, we need to reassemble the board and it's connections, save for the feed to the LCD backlight, then reapply the power and see if we still have heat and smoke...