My Whirlpool Gold GS5SHAXNQ00 side-by-side fridge was doing exactly what has alredy been described. At 2 1/2 to 3 years of age, the lights all went out on the fridge side, the number display for the temperature settings went out, and a rapid (and distressed sounding) clicking came from what sounded like a gone-crazy relay switch every time we opened the door. The compressor continued to cool. When I removed all the light bulbs from the fridge side, the number display came back on--but it stayed on even when the door switch was pushed in. I discovered that one of the three light bulbs was blown.
I opened up the circuit board compartment in the back (and yes, it's very easy to do this, even with limited fix-it experience) and looked for char marks. They were indeed there, both on the board itself and on the white plastic casing in EXACTLY the same spot as already shown in the pictures posted above on this thread. I called Whirlpool to explore whether they might do the right thing and replace the board, which absolutely HAS to be defective, considering the multiple parallel reports posted here, but, of course, they wouldn't. I did verify from them that the old board had been "rendered obsolete" but they wouldn't say why. (I think we know why, though!) They confirmed that the board P/N had changed from 2252189 to 2304095. So I ordered it from Appliance Parts Specialists at Appliance Parts Specialists: 1-800-310-5150 . They had the best price - $108 including shipping. (They shipped immediately and I got the part in less than a week.) I unplugged the old board, popped the new one in, held my breath, and plugged the fridge back into the wall. Everything worked perfectly. Oh, before I did that, I put all new bulbs into the fridge.
So, here's my theory for why this is happening: The reason everybody is reporting a 2-3 year time lag before the board fries is that it's a blown bulb that causes it. And it would logically take about that much time for a brand new bulb to reach the end of its lifespan. Then, when it blows, it triggers a surge that fries that one contact point on the printed circuit. That, in turn, causes the weird symptoms. I'm determined to change all bulbs once a year from now on whether they need it or not (with the fridge uplugged) to make sure this doesn't happen again. The new P/N board may be designed to be OK when a bulb blows, but I can't count on that. Hope this post, and the others in this thread help others who have this problem to not have to call a service tech and pay so much more than is needed to fix it.... | 
