dpss fail modes

[Draco]

Today one of my chinese made laser pointers that is in the 300mw output range now only does about 20 mw, i was monitoring voltage, current and head temp when it failed, it whent to about 110F with a voltage of 3.04 and a current of about 1.5 amps with it's protection device in circuit, i have the unit apart the optics are in aluminum discs screwed and glued into a stack, cosmetically it all looks fine, i put my glasses on and fired it up to find the laser diode easily over-ranges my crappy power meter, the question i have this, could the diode have shifted frequency or failed in some other way that i don't know of?

[Draco]

basically
what i am wondering is, would a new diode fix this?

[Draco]

i have a running theory to what may have caused the damage, i was using a buck converter that has a constant current mode but i find some to have insufficient filtering and can have transient voltage spikes that exceed the voltage rating of the diode, when i rebuild the laser i am going to use lasorb devices, when i dismalted the laser it lacked even a basic zener at the laser diode, i even miss it now, to date it was the best green for the basic display it was used in, on plus its a c mount diode so i am hoping i can find one, a 470mn is still outside of my budget