As for the other motherboard that wouldn't boot... (2/2)
When I was removing it I discovered that I did in fact cause damage to the board when I was opening the case. What happened was I snapped off one of the metal connectors at the top left of the board that makes contact with the back case. I'm not sure what it actually is, I couldn't find any information about it. I'm not even sure if it's important.
Either way, that breaking off wouldn't cause the board not to boot. What did cause the issue, I think, was the broken piece worked it's way between the screen and the board causing a short.
I transferred the original USB board to the cracked 1520 along with bad motherboard and I had hoped removing that piece would allow the board to boot but no dice. However, what I did discover was this time the recovery tool discovered the phone. It performed an emergency flash and low and behold the LCD came on with the RED Nokia flash screen and showed the flashing progress. It said that the flashing was successful and I removed the phone but it still would not boot. Only way I can get the screen to come on is to initiate the flash process.
I guess the board is garbage but if anyone has any ideas let me know. Would like to sell the cracked phone at least for parts. Would be nice if the board was working.