I’ve got an ONKYO 7.1 surround sound home theater system, and in the past 6 months the volume buttons stopped working, well not stopped… they would periodically work if you mashed/held the buttons (up or down) but generally they stopped being responsive.
After searching online, I almost bought a new remote on ebay just to make the problem go away, there just didn’t seem to be reliable information on the remote itself, let alone how to fix the issue.
Luckily, I searched a bit longer, and found an obscure reference to someone taking the remote apart and cleaning the connectors under the volume buttons.
What I did to open the remote:
- Remove the remote batteries (open cover)
- Unscrew the single screw in the battery tray
- Use a guitar pick or plastic thin device to open the remote (it has plastic clips that hold it together that will ‘pop’ free, just apply the right amount of pressure and work your way around.
- Cleaned the ‘gunk’ that was very visible in the area of the volume buttons (oil from fingers? maybe glue? not sure)
- Isopropyl alcohol with a q-tip worked well, and dried the area with a paper towel after.
- Closed everything back up.
That quick process got my remote working back to 100%
So if you have a problem with your volume on the ONKYO RC-710m Remote, don’t panic, just clean it!
Worked.
Thanks for taking the time & effort to post solution.
My remote is working just fine now; previously unresponsive volume buttons.
WOW! This worked like a charm. Thanks so much for these great instructions.
Thank you so much for the post. You are a life saver.
Thanks for Guitar pick tip, worked well.
Thanks for the instructions however it didn’t work for me.
I opened it up and found it was pristine inside, no dirt at all. I proceeded to clean the volume up button anyway with some lenses cleaner and a cotton bud. Also used compressed air on the area of the circuit board in case there was some dust that I couldn’t see.
I put it all back together and now none of the buttons work (was only volume up and mute before).
I took it apart and put back together but no joy. Also tried different batteries. Will have to purchase another remote then, damn its fragile, I was careful with it!
it worked for me !! thanks for your tip!!
Same problem, this fixed it, thanks for the post!
thanks a lot
It works for me
Always the product have guarantee for 1 year or 2 years, for to change if the products has problems with the fabric made.
Manuel
Great to find this fix for the seldom functional volume control on the Onkyo remote! Thanks for the post. It seems to be a problem a lot of people experience with this product.
Brilliant, saved me the price of an expensive RC 837M remote, I used the little plastic tools you get for repairing iPhone screens (don’t have a guitar lol), absoulty no damage to the casing. Cleaned it up inside using switch cleaner that I got from a car shop ages ago. Thanks for providing the post….my biggest worry was damaging the remote case, thanks for showing how not to ?
Worked well for me. I have the RC-765M remote and volume buttons were not fuctioning at all.
The opening of the case really required brute force. I used a dull knife to pry off the parts. Found out that there is a bit ‘softer’ spots in the seam maybe 2cm from the front of the remote on both sides and also on both sides of the batteries. In those spots it was a little easier to get the knife in between.
The contacts were covered with some grease-type ‘goo’. Used few q-tips to clean the goo. I guess pure alcohol would be best, but instead, since I couldn’t find any in the house, I soaked the q-tips with my wife’s 85% alc. Vol perfume… ? now the remote also smells good…
Volume buttons are now working okay, not perfect, but huge difference to not working at all. Also have to remember that the remote is 7-8years old.
I did break couple of the plastic clips when opening the remote, but everything seems tight after putting it together…
Thanks for the instructions, helped a ton!
Got my ancient Onkyo RC-608M working again!Thanks!
It worked for me as well. Thanks. You saved me $25 for a replacement remote.
First open’t up tryit cleaning it up without alcohol and dayum it was dirty, of course did’t work then i took it out put on regular dishwasher soap on it cos it removes fat hot water on whole thing dryit it properly, tested it bit later and worked.
Alcohol probably best but if don’t have it try dish washing soap, ofcourse before you do anything discharge caps take out batteries press few buttons untill light stops lightning up, then its save.
Make sure its dry before using remote also.
i found it was the conductive cover on the back of the buttons.
The buttons are one of those silicone membranes with little black rubber disks on the back that are responsible for actually making the button-contact, the black rubber disks are just graphite-loaded rubber/silicone.
Buy a roll of Duck HVAC aluminum foil tape.cut to size and stick under volume buttons
or go here
http://electronics.stackexchange.com/questions/6584/fix-remote-controller-button-contacts
They say its silicone oil Under the buttons check it out at
http://www.michaelshell.org/gadgetsandfixes/keypadsiliconeoil.html
thanks for sharing, i had the exact same problem, did as you said and everything now works fine.
Perfect! Thank you.
Same problem – volume control button didn’t work anymore. All other buttons were fine. I opened the thing as described, cleaned the contacts and the electronic board, but it doesn’t help… Then I sticked on a small piece of household aluminum film at each rubber contact (+ and -) to allow for better electrical contact. Now it’s perfect again 🙂
Thanks so much ! This worked perfectly. One tip : If you do not have isopropyl alcohol, whiskey is a great substitute. Yes, whiskey will work as well. I don’t know about tequila or vodka, just whiskey.
Brilliant! Nothing more to say, worked perfectly. Used lens cleaner, didn’t want to waste good whisky (or even cheap whiskey).
Thank you for saving me $33+. Had to use a very thin micro screwdriver to get remote open. Gotta love google.
Great tip – found the same grease/whatever. Cleaned as directed. Now it works perfectly!
sweet thx works gr8!
Thanks man, I just have googled to purchase a new remote control, but your post saved my money!! ???
Greetings from Wiesbaden/Germany:-)
Thank you for taking the time to publish this. It was easy and it worked…
Thank you SOOOOOOOOOOO much for this advice this worked first time!!!!
Thank you again.
Jay
Thank you SO much for this advice this worked first time!!!!
Thank you again.
Jay
Worked for me as well – thanks!
Really worked and a very simple and quick solution.
thanks a lot for the information.
Worked for me. Did this in 5 minutes and now every button is working as new. Thank you for sharing the info.
Thanks for advise racking my brain why it wouldn’t work
Thank you so much. This worked perfectly
I’ve been having the same issue with my Onkyo RC-738M. After opening it up, I saw the same issue as you described… works perfectly now! Thanks!