Creative Speakers Volume Control Not Working Repaired
On a holiday with my family I have visited to one of my friend’s home for his son’s birthday party and children are enjoying very much. After cake cutting they plan to play music and dance; all the children move to another room where they kept PC and dance program.
After a while my friend came to me and told me the sound coming out from the speakers was not working (distorted) and it worked intermittently. I managed to get the proper sound when I hold the volume control. This means the volume control is the cause of the problem. The speakers model is Creative 2.1 . It comes with two satellite speakers and one woofer and of course a wired remote volume control.
ter the party I have asked my friend to bring the speakers to my workshop because I do not have tools with me to repair at that time. Next day my friend visited my work shop with the speakers.
I opened the volume control and cleaned it with contact cleaner but without success. Now I have decided to replace the volume control. This volume control is having five pins and with a marking of “A103”.
103 means it is a 10 K ohm value potentiometer (POT). I have taken apart volume control for inspection and by measuring the resistance; I got 14 k ohm across pin 1 and 5, 11K ohm across pin 2 and 5.
Once you have taken apart this volume control you cannot fix it again and you have to dispose it. It is very difficult for me to find this type of POT. After searching in so many radio shack I have managed to arrange one but physically it is not good but I have no choice hence I have replaced it.
After replacing it, I have put the speakers “ON” and I played music, this time I got very good sound. This way I have solved the problem of intermittent distorted sound.
A replacement POT
This article was prepared for you by Yogesh Panchal who works as a Computer Hardware Engineer in Mumbai India.
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29 Comments
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S Ramachandran
April 3, 2015 at 11:09 pm
well done Mr yogesh , I have one Philips model no MMS model but i used WD40 and it is working well .
Yogesh Panchal
April 6, 2015 at 1:35 pm
Sir ,
Thanks for your comment, i did it before with WD40 but pot's metal wipers arms from inside are damaged due to heavy dust particles hence i have replaced the POT.
Robert Calk
April 7, 2015 at 2:57 am
WD-40 is sticky and attracts dust and dirt.
Parasuraman S
April 3, 2015 at 11:30 pm
I have come across this problem in creative PC speaker system used by me. I opened the volume control by prying on its holding pins carefully. Cleaned the inside with isopropyl alcohol sprinkled on a cotton bud. Then put these back and used transformer oil for lubrication. It worked well. For transformer oil, contact any big establishments or local electrical contractors or staff working in electrical board run by Government. This oil is changed periodically in a heavy duty oil cooled transformer. This oil may not have any sediments. So, very ideal for such purposes. I have cleaned many pots with this, with success, without opening it out.
Yogesh Panchal
April 6, 2015 at 1:37 pm
Sir,
Thanks for comment and Tips.
Grzegorz
October 2, 2017 at 6:21 pm
In my case a few drops of stinger oil done the job! I suppose that there was a lot of dirt inside the potentiometer. Now it works like a charm.
Btw I cannot believe that Creative Inspire P380 still working fine since 2001. 16 years so far and still more years to come!
Thanks for tip.
Thomas K Joseph
October 15, 2020 at 7:43 pm
Thankyou sir for the cleaning idea.I cleaned it with Germ protection wipes and it started working fine after long years.
Robert Calk
April 4, 2015 at 6:53 am
Good job Yogesh.
Yogesh Panchal
April 6, 2015 at 1:39 pm
Sir,
Thanks for motivate.
praveen
April 4, 2015 at 2:02 pm
hello dear sir, i am big fan of your articles, currently i am learning laptop chip level repair.
which are the main testing equipments is useful for me,, example, digital smd tester or anthing do you know, please help me............... your faithfully
Yogesh Panchal
April 5, 2015 at 1:46 am
Dear Praveen,
for basic troubleshooting you can use Digital as well analog multimeter, ESR Meter ans of course for SMD testing "Smart Tweezers Digital LCR-meter".
Andre Gopee
April 5, 2015 at 1:36 am
Excellent work. Thanks for sharing.
Yogesh Panchal
April 6, 2015 at 1:40 pm
Sir,
Thanks for your Comment.
reza
April 5, 2015 at 10:20 pm
hi
thank u
Yogesh Panchal
April 6, 2015 at 1:42 pm
Reza,
You are welcome.
Luis Estrada
April 6, 2015 at 3:57 am
Yogesh, nice troubleshooting and repair. Congratulations! Also, I found the comments by S Ramachandran and Parasuraman S valuable and have put them in my bag of tricks. Thank you all.
Yogesh Panchal
April 6, 2015 at 1:45 pm
Mr. Luis,
I am also having same habit of note down tips and tricks.
Thanks for comment.
Humberto
April 6, 2015 at 9:19 pm
Hi Yogesh, good repair. Another device saved from the dump, Creative is a good brand
Yogesh Panchal
April 8, 2015 at 12:28 am
You are right Humberto creative have good output and clarity.
Burdigos
June 23, 2016 at 9:57 pm
My creative sub woofer A 350 s video cable.. Ha s been pulled out...
Does any one knows how to re connect them?
Im been looking in the net... They have similllar pins., but the are not thesame in wirings....
Can u help me? Pls... God bless....
Rohit Prasad
July 10, 2016 at 7:29 pm
Hi Yogesh!
I am from Mumbai too. Could you please help me with fixing the M2600 volume control as I am unable to find a replacement and unable to get it repaired.
Debashis Banik
September 7, 2016 at 2:36 am
Respected Sir,
I am a student and I purchased Creative Sbs a120 2.1 home theatre 4-5 years back,my wired remote control(the wire in which one end is connected with the pc/laptop/mobile and the other in the woofer and a remote is connected to it to increase or decrease the sound,though not similar like your's,slightly different) is not working and I dont know from where to buy it,I stay in India/West-Bengal/Kolkata.Please kindly suggest me what to do cause I couldn't find a replacement anywhere.Hoping for a positive response.
Thanking You,
Debashis Banik.
Umesh
April 29, 2017 at 9:10 pm
Thank You Sir Its Worked with isoprophile wash and resoldring the Sound controller now working fine... Thank you.
Rajeeb Patnaik
October 30, 2017 at 3:25 am
Yogesh I have a similar problem with my creative 2.1. Infact after using wuerth anti moisture spray it usually works well. But off late its gone kaput. I changed it a 10k POT but dont have any volume control. Can you send me one ?
ree
June 19, 2018 at 12:39 am
I bought a second hand creative a120 with out any volume control ,do you have a schematic of the wiring ,how is the volume knob integrated ,is it on the input side or the output,I not seen a clear picture on how it wired
Roshan
September 25, 2018 at 3:24 pm
I need this Cable can u sending me
Marian Tkáč
April 25, 2019 at 4:57 am
CREATIVE A120 MODEL: MF0412. Asi po 10 minútach reproduktory vypnú - napájanie je stále -11 V =. Satelity som odpojil a nechal iba subwoofer. Tak isto vypal, ale asi po 1/2 hodine.Podozrievam Integrované obvody. Sú tam dva, asi rovnaké. Jeden je stereo pre dva satelity a druhý do mostíka pre subwoofer. Neviem typ majú na púzdro prilepené malé chladiče.
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CREATIVE A120 MODEL: MF0412. After about 10 minutes, the speakers are turned off - the power is still -11 V =. I disconnected the satellites and left only the subwoofer. He also drunk, but after about half an hour. I suspect Integrated Circuits. There are two, probably the same. One is stereo for two satellites and the other for subwoofer. I don't know the type they have on the case stuck small coolers.
Surojit
April 19, 2021 at 6:43 pm
My volume control box was totally damaged. I had to throw it and the internal circuit. I only have the cable now. Can you tell me any way to join the wires together?
Sushant pandurang Kadam
November 11, 2021 at 5:24 pm
My creative 5.1 channel speaker valume control not working, fully damage, i want new is it possible