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Repair, disassembly, and troubleshooting information for the Steam Deck with LCD display, a handheld gaming console made by Valve, released on February 25, 2022. Identified by model number 1010.

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Why is my steam deck increasing volume automatically?

Recently (after updating the OS), my Steam Deck has intermittently started increasing the volume. Additionally, when performing a cold boot, the unit loads into the boot manager instead of directly into Steam OS.

Any tips on troubleshooting the buttons on the audio board vs checking the trace? I am fairly certain I am experiencing an issue with the audio board, but I am not sure what steps to take to rule out software aside from the cold boot.

One more thing, I'm having trouble finding an audio board and would love to solder on a new button. Tips and tricks would be appreciated.

Thank you!

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Definitely sounds like the Volume up button thinks it’s being depressed even if it’s not. My first thought is a stuck down button. That could be just the button or the housing is misshapen in this area (because of a drop usually).

But usually buttons like these work by temporarily shorting the circuit to ground. So it could also be liquid damage or just plain electrical fault.

Having a look at a closeup of the board, I would test the button as follows (adding picture for context)

Block Image

With a multimeter check to see if this point on the board is reading as ground (is it continuous or less than 1 ohm of resistance to the copper bits around where the screws fasten this to the chassis)? It looks like this is a test point on the line coming straight from this button. Does it change when you press the button? I would expect this to have a higher resistance reading, but to be short when the button is pressed. If it’s always short to ground then something on that line is short (my guess is button) but no way of knowing exactly what for sure because if the circuit is short to ground, everything on that circuit will read that way. No way to isolate that to the button without removing the button (and retesting).

As for fining a replacement board, or button, I found a reddit post where someone purchased 4.5 x 4.5 x 4.5 tactile buttons. The link is since dead, but let me see if I can find something. These look a little different than the ones used by the shoulder buttons.

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1 Comment:

Thanks for the amazing information. I have had the Steam Deck disassembled a few times with no signs of water intrusion. I used the ground as the test point for all connections to switches and found the volume up button has ~1000 ohms when not depressed and <1 ohm when depressed. The switch has shorted and needs to be replaced.

I ordered a new F7A board from egamephone (since ifixit no longer carries the part), but they have set my order to processing for >3 weeks. At this point, I will attempt to solder on a new switch with hopes that this will resolve the issue and save a couple of bucks over finding a second-hand part.

Thanks for the detailed response

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Phil Barclay will be eternally grateful.
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