Nikon D3100 Thumb Wheel Died

This happened about half a year ago, and since then I've been extremely frustrated with search results online... So yay for a first post on ANY photography forum : P

I'm pretty sure this started after I was using a old manual lens from my dad's Nikon F104s, because about 3 hours into shooting the aperture just locked on me. I couldn't change it, but it would just fluctuate back and forth to the original number. Further testing showed that it did it with EVERYTHING the back wheel controlled (ie. shutter, iso). I've tried battery pulls, different SD cards, reflashing the firmware, and cleaning the contacts. I'm actually rather desperate now, has anybody figured out a fix for this, or should I throw in the towel and save up for an old D90?

Thanks,

Cheney