Did you just unplug the photocell from the burner or did you disconnect the leads from inside the control box? If you disconnected the leads from the control box and it went to lock out, then yes it is a faulty photocell.
However, is the boiler a Firebird Environmax HE Condensing boiler? If so, the last few days have been very windy and I would check the very end of the photocell and make sure that it is not black, i.e. the cell itself is clean. It sounds like this is the issue. The Environmax has a design issue that results the in the above symptoms and it is very common problem. It will happen on windy days!