Can switch 'damage' spread?

Hi guys, I believe I have a problem with a switch, I've posted on other subreddits before with the same issue, however my question this time differs.

The switch in question is a Netgear GSM7248 v1. I realise this is an old piece of kit, but I can't afford to replace it with newer at the moment. I identified at least one 'suspect' port, mainly with packet loss of around 20%. A couple of others with similar figures appeared to be within the structured cabling. On those I changed port on the patch panels and the problem appeared to go away. The faulty port however I plugged a laptop in directly trying several cables in case I was just unlucky. This pretty much proved a faulty port. The server (running nas4free) was moved to other ports (2 x 1Gb LAGG) and tested again using ping from several directions and monitored over a few hours of use with zero packet loss.

Fast forward a number of weeks and I am seeing packet loss again and slower responses. Packet loss is a few percent and is random. If I am browsing folders it takes ages to show the contents or open content but the machine is showing no stresses on the status pages.

My questions are: can damage to switching fabric cause such problems? If so, can this damage spread to other ports? I can't rule out damage from spikes etc as I've no way of discovering how it has happened in the first place.

Thanks in advance! Hopefully I can stop pulling my hair out soon!!