@mikeymike:
I don't know enough about flashable memory, but couldn't this be a "feature not a bug" type thing, so that people can't completely screw up the flash ROM and have to return it?
No, it`s a manufacturing fault, only some early models (first production run of XE's or sth. like that) are affected. IIRC, this was already confirmed by both KDH and Point Design on some German mailing list.