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My laptop's volume knob has been "scratchy" for some time. I have read on The Internets that Deoxit is a good solution for this problem.

Usually, it is advised to take the device apart to apply it, but i don't want to do it, because my laptop is otherwise perfectly fine.

Question: Can i just apply some Deoxit as-is, without taking it apart? will it cause any damage? is the residue a problem?

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The problem here is that in some cases the chemical won't penetrate the potentiometer (if it's a potentiometer in the first place) or won't penetrate enough. It could for example be sealed. If you don't want to take the laptop apart, at least try to find its service manual and look for photos of the area near the potentiometer, so that you know how exactly to apply the spray. – AndrejaKo Apr 12 '12 at 20:30
IIRC it is indeed a potentiometer, i read it somewhere. anyway, here's a pic (bottom center): guide-images.ifixit.net/igi/uJbCEXIFB3EvyyRs.huge – ben Apr 12 '12 at 20:37
I can't tell from your photo which device is the volume control, but I think @AndrejaKo is implying that it might be an encoder rather than a pot. However, the "scratchy" behavior strongly suggests that the device in question is a pot. – ObscureRobot Apr 12 '12 at 22:26

closed as off topic by Kellenjb, Kortuk♦ Apr 13 '12 at 1:32

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2 Answers

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Yes just pull the battery and give it a couple of minutes for the caps to drain. Then spray the deoxit and move the pot around. Give the deoxit about 10min before you power it back up and you should be good.

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An alternative solution is to leave your laptop's volume control at max volume and use an outboard attenuator like this one. There is no risk to your laptop, and your audio quality might improve somewhat, since you are doing the attenuation away from the high frequency noise generated by your motherboard. I find that attenuators work well with premium headphones and earbuds on laptops made by everyone from Dell to Apple.

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