I totally agree with you BB.
I'm thinking it very well may be a voltage spike that got thru and blew out something along those lines.
Trying to determine what particular component went bad is the hard part for me because I don't know how to actually test a PDIP device.
Simply testing an onboard resistor, diode, capacitor, or a trace is simple enough with a multi-meter.
Checking for abnormal or non-existent logic signals with a probe tester isn't easy though because I don't know which legs to touch and what I should be looking for with flashing LEDs.
Same thing goes for my BK oscilloscope...I'll be checking out Randy Fromm videos till I'm dead.
This board I believe is buffered rather by an 8-pin DIP at U14, which is located just above the 4021 at U6.
U12 on this board is waayy over on the left in the reel chips near the main caps but I get what you're saying.
I'm hopeful your tester can help us pinpoint this unusual problem?
I've never had a bad Self Test switch circuit before now.
Are you ready for me to send this off to ya? Less typing!