Toshiba A105 volume is finicky

[DeadAir]

The volume on my A105 is out on 95% of it's range. It's like tuning into a radio station on the old dial-style radios. Luckily, the good part of the range is in the 90-100%of the full volume.

As I move the wheel it is mostly dead air but then when I hit the sweet spot I micro adjust it back and forth a little for it to produce sound in stereo. Kind of like if you were searching for a station on on an old radio where you would turn the tuning wheel until you found sound then move it back and forth to fine tune it(ya know what I mean?).

This has happened progressively over the past year, or so, in which the dead spot has become larger and larger and now it is getting closer to 100%. The same exact amount of sound comes through using both the headphone jack and speakers.

I'm wondering for when I open it up if there is something that I can clean or do I have to replace the motherboard.

I have searched the forums and have not found a thread that addresses this issue.


I perform regular maintenance and upgrades on this laptop myself so I am comfortable doing whatever is suggested.

-Cheers

The volume wheel is in the lower right hand corner on this picture of the motherboard.

http/www.irisvista.com/tech/laptops/Toshiba-Satellite-A105/big/Toshiba-Satellite-A105-23.jpg

 

[jarotech]

Hi, you can try cleaning the potentiometer with an electrical contact cleaner called Deoxit.

 

[DeadAir]

Hi, you can try cleaning the potentiometer with an electrical contact cleaner called Deoxit.

Thank you for upgrading my technical vocabulary

I was planning to open it up to swap the CPU tomorrow so I was hoping to be able to fix the volume issue while I have everything out.

After doing some research on thumb-wheel potentiometers it makes sense that the contact area could use some cleaning. I will probably have to use a substitute for the Deoxit.

My guess is that the mechanical part is underneath the the wheel or on the bottom of the motherboard because I can't find a diagram of the moving parts of a thumb wheel potentiometer. I'll know when I get there and update the thread when I am done with pictures for the record.

-Cheers

 

[DeadAir]

Follow Up:

Cleaning the thumb wheel potentiometer fixed the issue!
My volume now works in the full range from 0-100%
I had the motherboard out and held it perpendicular to the floor and then I dripped a few drops of rubbing alcohol in the contact area just underneath the wheel. I then used the length of my finger to spin the wheel back and forth quickly numerous times. I did this on different parts of the range of motion of the wheel. Then I sprayed a tiny bit of WD-40 in to the contact area. Viola!... Just like new

 

[jarotech]

Good to hear that you have solved your problem.