My Prometheus was having issues recently. Sometimes it would not start. It would turn on half way, the red power light is on, but the blue boot light was not. Sometimes it would not wake up out of sleep. Sometimes it would crash while playing. Or the usb hard drive I had connected would randomly disconnect. Worst of all, the power switch would start getting HOT! I haven't changed anything and was thinking maybe it bit the dust. It was only a 3 years old.
After taking it apart to look for possible issues, nothing looked wrong. I used a multimeter and measured the power supply and it looked fine, within spec. And then the 5V/USB and it was low. After a lot of missteps, I figured out it was the stupid power switch. It was dropping the power down by a lot, preventing the board's switching power regulators from working properly. Power was unstable causing my issues. It had a resistance of 1~10kΩ. A switch is supposed to have a resistance of <10Ω. This is why it was heating up. A large resistance causing a voltage drop at high current, it was wasting power as heat. It also lost it's click-y-ness, no click sound when toggled on to off. When I bypassed the switch with a wire, the box worked for hours on end.
I was going to replace the switch, but since I had no switch the same size to use and didn't want to put an ugly one in, I ended up taking the switch apart. The SPRING inside was either corroded/dirty, or stuck. Using an eraser to clean it, and pushing the spring loaded button in a few times, I put it back together again. Measured it, it was back to normal resistance. Connected it and tried it out, and it worked.
This picture will show you how it's generally built. You should be able to figure it out once you see the switch. You need a flat head screwdriver, insert it between the switch and the body and gently pry the switch part out. It doesn't take much. The bulb part on the right is the spring loaded part. Make sure it can be pressed in and out, and that all the metal parts are clean and shiny.
After taking it apart to look for possible issues, nothing looked wrong. I used a multimeter and measured the power supply and it looked fine, within spec. And then the 5V/USB and it was low. After a lot of missteps, I figured out it was the stupid power switch. It was dropping the power down by a lot, preventing the board's switching power regulators from working properly. Power was unstable causing my issues. It had a resistance of 1~10kΩ. A switch is supposed to have a resistance of <10Ω. This is why it was heating up. A large resistance causing a voltage drop at high current, it was wasting power as heat. It also lost it's click-y-ness, no click sound when toggled on to off. When I bypassed the switch with a wire, the box worked for hours on end.
I was going to replace the switch, but since I had no switch the same size to use and didn't want to put an ugly one in, I ended up taking the switch apart. The SPRING inside was either corroded/dirty, or stuck. Using an eraser to clean it, and pushing the spring loaded button in a few times, I put it back together again. Measured it, it was back to normal resistance. Connected it and tried it out, and it worked.
This picture will show you how it's generally built. You should be able to figure it out once you see the switch. You need a flat head screwdriver, insert it between the switch and the body and gently pry the switch part out. It doesn't take much. The bulb part on the right is the spring loaded part. Make sure it can be pressed in and out, and that all the metal parts are clean and shiny.