Whitfield Profile 30 control panel problem (maybe)

I have a Whitfield Profile 30 pellet stove. My problem is it stops working and the green light flashes rapidly. When I push the green power button then the red and yellow, heat and fan lights blink on and off, and at the same time you can hear a popping sound like points opening or closing. If I shine a light up the feed shoot the stove starts running. Everything seems to run except the ignitor, since the stove got the signal that it was lit from the light. If I shut it off and then back on, I get the red and yellow lights blinking again. So I shine the light back up the feed shoot and it starts running again, but no ignition. Usually after 3 or 4 times when I shut it off and then back on it will start without the light and run the normal start-up sequence and the ignitor working. It will then work for a while. Sometimes a few cycles (it's on a thermostat) and sometimes for a day or two. Then for no apparent reason I get the rapid green light and have to go through the hole process again. I've been told that it sounds like the control board. I don't want to buy a new board at $360 to find out that's not the problem. Any ideas.

Your stove uses a photo eye to sense a fire...so yer faking it out. Weird. Let me think it through...