Back to the Klipsch ProMedia Volume Problem

I posted a blog a number of months ago about having some issues with the volume control knob on my Klipsch ProMedia speakers. I tried some basic fixes using a light oil, which seemed to work pretty well at first, but the speakers later reverted to their original behavior. I really like the sound on these speakers, but it seems Klipsch has little, if any interest in addressing the known issues - they have even stopped producing this set of speakers altogether. Actually, this isn't the first product from Klipsch I've had problems with, but that's a whole other story.

I'd really like to get these things working again so I've taken the first steps towards that goal by disassembling the volume control from the rest of the internal electronics. I desoldered the volume pot switch from the internal PCB, but now have to figure out where to find a replacement. I found at least one posting from someone that detailed pulling the casing on the switch apart and soldering new wire connects along with a series of other steps, but I just don't care to do that. What I'd really like is to find another pot that matches the one in the photo below. We'll see where this goes.

Dell Vostro 1500 - DVD-RW Replacement

The DVD drive on my laptop took a dive the other day, so being well out of warranty I decided to replace it myself. Even on the Dell website doing a search for parts for the Vostro 1500 wasn't very fruitful. I'm not really sure why they don't have the appropriate parts for this computer, but there's not much I can do about that. I ended up finding a new drive made for an Inspiron 1520 on Ebay for a reasonable enough price. I have no idea how compatibility works for these things, but I had come across a posting on the Dell forums that indicated the Inspiron and Vostro were virtually the same machine. On that advice, I purchased the drive.

Replacement was really pretty easy. Shut down your comp, remove the mounting screw for the drive on the bottom of the computer, and slide the drive out. Due to a funky configuration, you might have to remove the faceplate from the old drive and use it instead of what comes with your replacement drive. There are a couple plastic snaps that you can work loose with a screwdriver, but attaching the plate to the new drive is as simple as snapping it into place. From that point it's just inserting the new drive into the DVD drive bay and tightening the mounting screw.

Really, that's about it! For a quick test I played a CD and it worked without any hassles whatsoever. I did notice that similar to my old drive, the player vibrates quite loudly while ripping a CD. Seems like there may have been a missing part to control vibration on my laptop? I say this because another programmer friend of mine bought the exact same laptop at the same time I did, and not once did it have issues. I'm not really sure, but at least the thing works again.

Here's the old drive after removal.

Old hunk o' junk

~M