Easy does it. 
There was some context in my email to them that i was able to leverage what you reported on this thread. So i presume they were willing to offer some other possible things to try. If i was the first person to ask about this i would have probably got the same response as you. Strength in numbers!
And remember these are just ideas to try there are no guarantees. Perhaps i just got lucky. Who knows?
Okay so this what support emailed me:
Sorry for the inconvenience caused.
Your router model is MT2500A with aluminium alloy shell, right? Did you try factory reset? You can press the reset button and hold it for 10 seconds, release it until you see LED flashing quickly.
And if you are able to access the uboot page 192.168.1.1, kindly pls refer to the following steps and see if it helps.
Then visit http://192.168.1.1/gpt.html
upload the attached file
If successful, the router will boot up.
If failed, the webpage will show you an error message
Here’s the file to flash: gpt_main.zip (567 Bytes)
Unzip it before flashing.
i flashed this at 192.168.1.1/gpt.html. I flashed the firmware at 192.168.1.1. i unplugged and reset the router several times. The key for me was achieving a solid white led light. I got this after holding down the reset button while plugging in the power cord, waiting for 5 blue blinks and then releasing the reset button. You might have to experiment here as the timing here is a little subjective. What i did notice is if the router was slowly blinking blue (for an extended period) i was hosed and i couldn’t get to the standard admin page at 192.168.8.1
Getting that sold white led light is key. 
Let us know if this works for you.