This has happened on occasion during the last 6 months: will be watching a program...no issues..then suddenly a 'Pop' will come from the box.. and it will just show black screen. power still on it. Only disconnecting the power from it will start a reboot. In the past month, i have also put it and my TV on a UPS650 to help with power surges.... as gulf coast post-Harvey has the worst fkn power in the lower U.S.
any ideas?
Pop apart, look for exploded capacitors. They look like tiny batteries Google for some images of swelling and leaking. Power bumps will do this, but it would most likely be in the wall wort not the actual box, as the box itself only expects perfect DC power and the wall wort would take the power and convert it. When it pops do you have any burnt cat piss smell if you get really close? It could also be a type of ppfc (resettable) fuse that resets when unplugged. Usually, when caps go you'll get fucky operation. Constant crashing, freezing, unstable wifi, rebooting.. afaik PSP power adapters are a direct swap out just ensure they are the 5V 2A ones. I would not open the wall wort. They are glued together and need a Dremel. You'd need to load test it with a 10W resistor that'll pull 2A from a 5V load for 30 minutes and see if it shits the bed. Likely overkill considering an eBay usb wire and new wall wort are like $10US.
Does that ups work for both surges and brown outs? I find the brown outs the most destructive. Many ups kick in at 85V but not all