Modding Netgear Switch for 5V

[Driver]

Hello,

I have an old Netgear switch that I need to embed in to a project and as such would like to power it from 5V DC. Unfortunately the Netgear is spec'd for a 7.5V supply and it won't operate when only fed 5VDC.

It has a AP34063 dc-dc chip, which had 3.3V on Pin 2 when fed by the original supply. So after disconnecting the original supply, I got my own LM2596 regulator board and fed 3.3V to this pin - which in turn makes unit work off my 5V supply.

Questions:
1. Is this mod correct? Whilst it appears to be working fine, should I bother to disconnect/isolate the original dc converter chip? I noticed I then had ~2V on the original 7.5v input connection
2. Or does anyone have a better idea to mod the onboard regulator's input spec?