Thanks for the useful post about how to disassemble the unit. Once you know how, it is pretty easy.

I used to be an electronics technician, so this is familiar territory to me. I cleaned the circuit board, but it made no difference. There was no obvious water (or other liquid) damage. I certainly would have noticed soft drink damage as that is usually so obvious.

There does not seem to be any wear on the circuit board - and it is very rarely used (I am no couch potato). It would not have been used for more than 3 or 4 sessions a week. I can go days without watching TV at all. No-one here smokes. So it seems I am just unlucky.

I would send it back for repair (replacement), but with freight and the like, I am looking at around +$200. Not worth it. Also, URC is not a friendly company to deal with - it took me some effort just to buy this thing. I do not need the aggravation of trying to fix it as well.

I have since bought myself a Pronto TSU9400. Nice bit of gear. Not as solid as the MX900, but much more powerful. Mind you, Philips is not much friendly than URC to deal with...funny isn't it!