It is well established that all micro electronics work by containing an active loop of magic smoke. As long as the magic smoke is contained within the circuit everything works well. However, many things can conspire to break this wonderful system. You will know when this happens, because you will observe the magic smoke leaking out of your device.
In all seriousness, a bad crimp on a heavy gauge wire going to the heated bed platform shorted out causing damage to the molex connectors (easily, if not cheaply replaceable) and to the screw terminals on the RAMPS board (much more tricky and potentially expensive to replace).
Here are some photos of the damage:
I was able to remove the burnt connector from the RAMPS board. The local electronics store was closed and although I think I saw these connectors there, I was not positive. I replaced it with insulated wire of a lower gauge that I was previously using, and replaced the heavy gauge wire with something more appropriate.
