[Jim Zondag]

Thanks for the suggestions, I was going for the lowest effort solution, which would be a simple board swap.

Basically, the input port on the PIC micro was somehow damaged. It is always pulled low to ground, which squashes the output of the IR reciever IC. If I disconnect the output of the IR reciever from the board , I can then see the waveform with an oscilloscope. If I reconnect it, dead. Result is the micro cannot read the input and thus will not ever work.

If no one has a spare board for a simple swap, I will pursue implementing Kevins solution.