amp I bought 3 days ago not powering on - electrical engineer advice wanted

Wow, $800 for 3 days' fun.  That seems a bit too wild.

@parkergetdean 's amp sometimes powers up normally, and sometimes it gets stuck in protection mode. But either way, it always powers up, in the sense that it comes to life, some LEDs light up, etc. 

That almost certainly rules out the power switch, which is most likely doing its job just fine.

@thecarpathian the truth is I wanted to respond. You are my favorite here. I just had no clue. I am so sorry for the appearance of ignoring you. 

Is the power switch connected to the little board behind it or no?

yes I believe so

Are the power switch connections spade terminals or soldered?

soldered

even someone as mind boggling inept 

you know me so well.

@devinplombier I think you are on a good path. 

Yes, either way, something turns on. So, it should mean that the power switch is working. But somewhere down the line, the amp (selectors) stay dead. You keep saying "Protection Circuitry." which sounds very foreign to me, like a government office in Scotland. But I will just find it and rewire it (just kidding!)

@parkergetdean 

I used to live in SoCal. If I still did, I would give you a hand. 

As it stands, remote troubleshooting is not really an option unfortunately.

So, when the amp is on, it stays on forever unless you turn it off, right?