I have tried power cycling it. Instead of replacing it, one work-around would be to relocate it and use flashers to control the four pieces of gear in the tower (TV-monitor, DVD/VCR combo, laser disk player, and AVR).

I'd need to get an extension cord, then, for the flasher that runs to the projector.

This would probably end up being a better configuration as occasionally students do walk in the path of the IR beam and block the signals. It's a pain, though, to have to reconfigure everything.