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!
The volume on my RC-682M became sluggish and finally quit working altogether. I pried it open with a metal nail file and cleaned with alcohol and swab but it still didn’t work. Rats. So I took Michael’s advice and placed tiny pieces of foil on the + and – volume nubs. Viola!
Doncha just love it when stuff turns out right? Thanks y’all!
Simple cleaning did not work for me, upon opening mine did not have so much as a spec of dirt or any kind of buildup on the contacts at all.
I swiped with contact cleaner with no change, but adding small tabs of aluminum foil to the + and – contractors for the volume button did do the job for me as well.
adding small tabs of aluminum foil to the + and – contractors did the trick, brilliant
Thanks for this! Cleaning the “gunk” from under the volume buttons fixed my remote too. Much appreciated!
These instructions, plus the tinfoil comments worked perfectly for me.
Here’s my guide I sent to a friend.
I think there must be a design flaw, seems to be a common failure.
Taking the cover off the remote requires more force than I would have thought. Remove the screw and start at the bottom end and lever that end off first. Then choose a side, and lever the clips one by one. Don’t rush, pulling the chassis off by itself won’t work. Be forceful with your levering and do it one by one on each side. There are no clips on the top end, just the plastic wedges on the underside to remove it from (near the IR LED).
Anyway, volume buttons (both the rubber membrane part and the pcb side) were covered in weird goopy muck. I suspect this is a deteriorated contact buffer. No other buttons have it on them. Can’t think of why they would design it with a difference, except perhaps that volume gets the most use…
Anyway. Followed the main instructions to clean with multiple cotton buds and then some alcohol (i wiped the gunk off then just sprayed deodorant on the bud and wiped both the pcb and membrane clean.)
Put it back together, volume down worked if you pushed hard, up still didn’t work. So I read the comments and followed the idea about the tinfoil. Just put a tab of foil on each button contact. (single sheet folded in half was sufficient. Too much more and it doesn’t leave enough room for the button to function.) Also, i used a skim of glue-stick to hold it on to the membrane and prevent movement while reassembling.
Voila! It worked. Both volume buttons now function as they did originally.
My volume buttons haven’t worked for about a year or so, and now they’re fine.
This article was spot on! Thank you so much for the info!
Chris from NJ
Great help thanks
Thanks for the advice. Got my remote volume working again
Thanks a lot.
Just cleaning worked perfectly for me. Also here, only some oil/glue/dirt?? under the volume buttons.
Volume buttons did not work for over a year, never gave it too much thought until I googled for a solution and found your post. Should have done this much earlier. Great work!
Wow, I was about to buy a new remote or receiver altogether! This solution worked perfectly for me. For some reason there was some kind of oily residue under the volume buttons only. So cleaning with rubbing alcohol solved the problem. Do you know why this happens? Anyway, thank you very much for posting this solution.
Same problem and same solution for me. It wasn’t just a simple operation to separate the remote into two halves, however. I used a spark plug gap measuring tool from the seventies to pry it apart. It took a lot of effort and about 20 minutes of frustrated prying, but finally I got it apart.
There was the oily residue on the volume circuit just as advertised. I used a Kleenex to absorb it and finished with a Qtip with alcohol to clean it and then dry it with the Kleenex again.
The remote is a little rough around the edges, but works like new.
I have to give the author credit for figuring this one out. The tip off is that every other switch on the remote worked fine except the volume.
Why the oily build up? I guess it is because it is the most used switch on the remote. I was about to give up and buy a new one just like the author.
Thanks for the very useful tip!
Aghr.. This is the most awful remote (rc-765m) I’ve ever opened. Started with guitar pic and finished with leatherman multitool. I took me like 20 minutes to finally budge this. And I managed to broke a few clips not mentioning a lot of scratches on sides.
Following these introductions fixed my remote as well.
It was a bit fiddly lining up the rubber buttons back up nearlly, but ass works.
Only a small amount f first was the problem, I used glasses lens cleaning wipe to clean contacts.
Thanks for the detail! The Mute button on ours was the problem. Opened it up and fiund the gunk. Wonder if it was meant to be a dielectric grease? Anyway gave it a goid clean with Q-tips and alcohol, snapped it together and voila! Mute button works again.
Worked for me too! I recommend using a couple of old credit cards to open the remote, together with a guitar pic.
Worked for me! There wasn’t any gunk, but I cleaned the contact area anyway with alcohol and that did the trick.
Getting the remote open was tedious. I used the guitar pic and credit card approach. Thanks for that tip! I doubt I would have had any luck otherwise. The case is really tightly sealed.
Took me maybe 12- 15 minutes. I really didn’t want to scar the remote or break a prong so I went really slowly and carefully. The end opposite the batteries was the last and worst to get off and back on. There is a delicate way the clips line up. Be patient!!
BTW, I’m an-over 60 woman, and am please I could do by myself!!! Good luck.
Worked like a charm. My remote had TWO screws to remove in the battery well; and separating the two body pieces was a little dicey, (in the end, “left a mark” or two). But once inside, I followed the script (the oily film around the volume location was quickly apparent), gave a little cleaning and TLC to a few other areas, closed her up and voila – problem resolved.
I only wish I had seen this one remote ago!
Thanks very much for sharing!
Worked great! Saved me $15. in buying one out of China.
Just cut 2 small squares of foil, wrap over volume contact on the rubber button, keep the button facing down and you re-attach the bottom half of the remote. Attach to front of the remote first, then snap together both side at the same time all the way back to the battery compartment. Install the screw in battery compartment. Enjoy volume again! Important note: don’t use any glue or silicon to hold foil in place, this my get the contacts of the pc board.
Good luck!
Another satisfied customer!
My Onkyo remote is a RC-803M, but the same common problem and the same common solution. Not sure the foil squares were needed, but I wasn’t going to risk having to open up the unit a second time. Works like a charm now.
Thanks!
Thanks bro!
Simple fix thank you
thank you. The separation of the case was a little tough, use a butter knife and use a second to keep the section open as you move along.
there was a grease/fluid under the volume flex pad and PCB. I wiped it clean with acetone (nail polish) and quickly wiped the area. washed the key pad flex pad and it works perfect.
thank you very much.
Worked like a charm. Had apparently spilled soda or something greasy on volume button it seems. Hard to get remote separated/open but used small flat head screw drivers from a pack of screwdrivers I had for eyeglass repairs. The larger of those small ones worked the best. After cleaning and foil application and put together, then I sanded down the nicks that I had made in the outside of the remote to get it open. Thanks All.
Yes, I had a lot of shiny muck on the PCB and switch rubbers, Cleaned both sides of the contact and it worked well.
(The plastics in my remote were brittle and some little pieces broke of in opening it up. But it still clipped back together)
Omg ! It worked ?, thanks for this !!
Searched the web like you, and found this article — bam it worked!! I took apart the remote, ran the rubber under hot water for a few mins and cleaned all the surface on the remote and electric board — works perfectly. THANK YOU!!!
Thanks so much! This worked like a charm.
Thanks so much to everyone for posting the solution and step by step instructions for repairing the volume button on my Onkyo RC-762M remote. Cleaned and added the aluminum “tabs” to the + and – portions of the button, with a tiny dab of Gorilla gel glue. It worked perfectly. With appreciation to ALL for sharing your repair suggestions! OMG…indeed. It worked!
Thanks so much for this – here in the U.K. it was going to cost me about £60 for a replacement r/c. The fix took me less than five minutes. Cotton buds removed most of the ‘grease’ followed by a liberal spray with contact cleaner = job done?.
Instructions worked pretty well. I still have to push the button kind of hard, but it actually works now when it didn’t before. I could have opened it a little more gracefully, I took my pocket knife and wedged it in the bottom then slowly pried around the sides. Overall a success. If it stays to get worse I might try the foil suggestion,but for now it works thanks again
Awesome tips! Cleaned the contacts, but that didn’t quite do it. However, when i applied the foil to the contacts, Voila!
fantastic advice down to the ‘more force than expected’ to open the remote. Tin foil after removing guk–works perfectly. Thanks everyone
Brilliant! I just cleaned off the liquid intranl deposit with an anti-bacterial wipe and now as good as new.
Excellent advice, opened the remote and cleaned the liquid residue, now remote works perfect. Thanks for the post.
Thanx David!!
Man, that circuit board was gross! Everything works again. Saved me about 60 euro’s.
Greetings from the Netherlands.
Dennis