"gone" is his way of saying it has a fault of some kind but he is not qualified/equipped/permitted to attempt a repair to it - a control board may cost as little as £10 to make (they buy the components in bulk) so there's no point in setting up a repair channel to fix broken ones - not when a new board may be sold for £100 or so.
To repair a board will need spare components - test equipment and schematics - things the engineer will not have available to him. The cost of a repair will far exceed the cost of production of a new board and there's no profit for the manufacturer - the manufacturer will not go out of his way to make the boards easy to repair.
Under some circumstances it may be possible to repair the board yourself if it's an obvious and simple fault - the motor drive transistor for instance will cost just a couple of pounds but you will need soldering equipment and heat sink compound and confidence to attempt it.
Some companies make money by repairing control boards from consumer goods and offer an exchange service for about a third to half of the cost of new - I'm not sure if this is offered on washing machines.
Good luck...
Peccavi, January 2010
