My 2509 is dying

The trusty 2509 that saw me progress through my CCNP is on its last legs.  It likes to get into a boot loop most of the time usually it breaks out of it just when I get frustrated enough to take it out of the rack and look at it.

I have played with re-seating the flash and DRAM to no available - I also tried swapping both of those that I had in my 2414 as well to no avail.

I am half thinking of getting another one on ebay but they still go for more money than I feel like spending.  As an alternative I am thinking of using my 2610 which has a NM-4A/S and just getting some RS-232 cables and going that way.  My plans are to emulate routers and use real switches, so 4 ports (ok 5 if you include the Aux port) for serial management is plenty.

It's kind of sad to see a faithful bit of kit fade away but its just got to go.