The Intel SSD Toolbox tells me there's no SSD connected until I do the power connector shuffle. Then it tells me the drive is absolutely fine.
I'm going back home tomorrow and will have a play with a delay in the power feed to it next week. As long as that will bring it online before the BIOS times out looking for it, I may have a workable kludge. I'm still apprehensive about relying on it for day to day work though.
Nothing heard from Intel since I gave them all the serial number and spec information. Google results show numerous people with the problem and none with a solution.