Fixing your unresponsive buttons (on a Philips cordless phone CD240 Duo)

Hi everyone! It's been a while since I last wrote something. Been very drowning with work and didn't have the time to write more stuff.

Ok. I have been living with an old cordless phone works completely fine except for button number 9, which one of the most used number because most mobile numbers in Singapore starts with 9. That button, after suffering so many presses, now needs an extraordinary amount of strength to activate it. This is a slippery slope because pressing it too hard may damage the circuit board under it.

I've watched several youtube videos and found that typically, buttons work the same way. So, no problem there since the method to repair them should be rather standard. The challenge comes in opening the device as they might be made in a way that opening it means destroying it.

Fortunately, my cordless phone is rather old and I really hope that design philosophy hasn't changed yet.

The bare minimum you need to begin:
1) Some small screws
2) Tissue paper
3) Water or cleaning alcohol
4) A week's worth of uncut fingernails (to help pry out the latches)

I won't be explaining the process of cleaning it since there are so many instructions available online. What I'll do is to describe how to open the Philips Cordless CD240 Duo phone.

Step 1: Remove the 2 main screws inside the battery compartment. (Of course, remove the batteries first)

Step 2: Pry open the top cover in that sequence. The latches are indicated by the red ovals. Do it gently and open each set of latches one at a time.

Step 3: Unscrew the 4 perimeter screws securing the circuit board. Be careful not the break any of the wires attached to different parts of the cover.

From here on, you'll be able to access the buttons and do your stuff! Happy cleaning!