The reason the sum of forces "failed" if that for static equilibrium in 3 forces members, the forces if they are not parallel then they (the 3 forces) must be concurrent, but as you can see in the geometry on the FBD you used the forces were not concurrent or parallel therefore one of them had to be zero in order to maintain the sum of moments condition of equilibrium.
Btw, I'm happy you feel this way. What i was saying earlier that if we look closer at the "failed" FBD you will see there cannot be static equilibrium for the reasons already stated. Now i want you to remember again that in frames there can be more than 2 forces acting on a single member. What this means is that generally the forces wouldn't be directed along the members in which they act; their direction is unknown. This is not the case for trusses (i've the feeling you are familiar with them), so in the future for solving problems with frames consider the method described in your book, or the isolating each simple member and applying Newton's 3rd Law.