Help The most annoying thing about the Desire - volume buttons

[Deleted User]

I've had the problem since day 1 but having just done a search on the forum it seems no one else has this problem.

When I try to adjust the volume (ringer/media/navigation) I press the button and sometimes it's okay but mostly nothing will happen for up to 5 seconds and then all of the sudden it'll catch up and shoot right to the end.

If I press it repeatedly instead of holding on, it normally takes a few presses before the first adjustment then it'll work pretty much okay but it might do a few moves then stop again randomly.

The most annoying time is when I'm on the phone and I can't hear what's being said!

Anyone get this?

And please, before anyone suggests it, I do not want to install a volume control app.

 

[SUroot]

I've had the problem since day 1 but having just done a search on the forum it seems no one else has this problem.

When I try to adjust the volume (ringer/media/navigation) I press the button and sometimes it's okay but mostly nothing will happen for up to 5 seconds and then all of the sudden it'll catch up and shoot right to the end.

If I press it repeatedly instead of holding on, it normally takes a few presses before the first adjustment then it'll work pretty much okay but it might do a few moves then stop again randomly.

The most annoying time is when I'm on the phone and I can't hear what's being said!

Anyone get this?

And please, before anyone suggests it, I do not want to install a volume control app.

Turn your phone off.

Hold volume down and press power to reboot into recovery.

The menu in recovery is navigated by the volume up and down buttons. Do you get the same result here? If so, its a hardware problem and should probably think about getting the phone repaired or replaced.

If the volume buttons work fine, it is most probably software related. You can either replace the ROM, or if you haven't touched the software yet (branding, rooting etc) then you may still want to consider getting it sorted out by whoever you got it from.

Firstly though, if you could follow my steps above, we can then at least know what sort of problem you have.

 

[Deleted User]

Turn your phone off.

Hold volume down and press power to reboot into recovery.

Yep it still does it in the recovery mode.

Does anyone else have this problem?

 

[lekky]

danfrance seems right, it sounds like a hardware fault

 

[paulfmcdaid]

Folks, the problem was DIRT.

Construction of the volume buttons
The volume buttons have a simple design. One contact is in the shape of a ring about 2mm in diameter. The other sits in the center of it rather like a bullseye. A silver cap about 1.8mm in diameter sits on top of two metal contacts. The rim of the cap sits on the outer ring shaped one. When the center of the cap is depressed it touches the inner contact and completes the circuit between both contacts. The cap is held in place by a small strip if transparent sticky tape. HOWEVER the tape does not form a complete environmental seal around the cap and the circuit board it sits on. It can allow dirt and grease to slip in. This is what happened in my case.

The Fix
To fix it I peeled back the sticky tape strip. This lifted the cap from the two contacts. Then using a small craft knife I scraped all the metal surfaces clean.

The Result
When I reassembled it I went from a situation where the buttons would shift volume once in every 30 presses to working every press.