Well, I'm sure you've heard of 'slow blowing fuse'. I'm a network engineer and can troubleshoot my share of problems. With this particular problem, because it was intermittent IP (I could run a load, then the next load the dryer wouldn't run. I'd unplug the dryer for a few hours and it would work again for one or two loads, then quit again, start process over) told me either thermistor was going bad or a component (typically a relay or capacitor) in the control board was going bad. So I decided to just take the most-obvious-to-the-least-obvious approach rather than spend hours fault isolating. Looking back, I probably should have gotten the schematic out and gone that route. But I was already into by then.
Everyone has their way of doing things; and if it's different than yours, why is that a big deal? I did not intend this thread to become a debate about how to troubleshoot electrical problems. I simply was asking for information/help; which only a couple of people were. I just don't get peoples' propensity to feel they have to use even the most benign of situations to always prove how right they are.