Like everyone else, I also have a reciever where the remote failed to function after awhile.

I have a Kenwood VR-405 that I purchased in the summer of 2000.

I found this thread last night, and have started to disassemble the reciever today. I want to point out that, unlike what many users have said, this isn't quite as simple as people are commenting.

This isn't a 5, 15, or 30 minute job. I've been working on this for about an hour, and I've yet to even begin soldering.

For those who have yet to begin, and this is specific to the VR-405 model:

1. Remove the volume control and input select knobs, which should pull off with a little bit of force.
   
   
2. There are 12 black case screws holding the exterior metal housing on, and these are easy enough to remove.
   
   
3. The circuit board is attached by 13 more brass screws to the front bezel, which are a bit more difficult. It's much easier to remove these screws if you can first remove the entire front bezel from the rest of the housing, or at least detach it enough to move it around to get a better angle for these 13 screws. I also had to use a flathead screwdriver, as the phillips head was only stripping out the screw heads. I had the correct size screwdriver, but the metal was just too soft.
   
   
4. The front bezel, aside from the aforementioned 12 case screws, is attached by two clips on either side, to the metal housing. You just have to pull out on the clips some to get them over the stub that holds them in place.
   
   With the 12 case screws, and the 2 clips removed, the front bezel is still connected by 3 other wires. The circuit board is still connected with an additional 2 wires.
   
   
5. 1 of these is a 3-pin wire coming from the headphones jack. To unplug this wire, for me, I had to take the screw out of the headphones jack, which is attached to the reciever housing, because the connector was wrapped under another wire that was released when I unscrewed the headphone jack from the housing.
   
   
6. The next 2 wires are flat parallel cables, similiar to IDE cables in computers, which attach from inside the reciever housing to the FRONT side circuit board we're trying to remove. I haven't been able to remove these cables as of yet, and I don't think it's necessary. These cables, for me, were taped in a couple of places to other parts of the reciever housing.
   
   
7. If you're able to remove all of those, there's 2 other cables, I'm aware of, that are holding the circuit board to the front bezel.
   
   
8. One of which is another 3-pin connector that is connected to the volume control knob, and the other is another flat parellel-like cable that is, again, on the front side of the circuit board.

Anyway, like I was saying, I don't think it's necessary to remove everything. With all of the circuit boards screws out and a couple of other wires disconnected (at your discretion) you can pry up the circuit board enough to find the sensor. It's directly to the right of the front display.

The 3 pins for my sensor protrude through to the other side of the circuit board, and other people haven't been commenting on their particular situation. The pins on my sensor come out about 1/8" on the backside, and come through the solder.

For my particular situation, upon closer inspection, you could see a circular crack on all 3 solder points. Imagine a popsicle. Inside of the popsicle is the popsicle stick, and the stick protrudes out the bottom. Well, if you were to break just the popsicle in half, and slide the bottom half of the popsicle away from the top half, you'd have a section in the middle that was just the popsicle stick. Similiarly, that's what's happening here, but just on a much smaller scale. The two sections of solder are no longer making contact.

So, after applying a little solder to the 3 joints (and I don't recommend trying to use a large soldering iron. You need a smaller "finesse" soldering iron for intricate eletronic work), and my remote began working like nothing was ever wrong.

Also, when re-assembling the parts, if the plastic block that contains the buttons was moved/jostled/whatever, make sure that the top 4 buttons work. These buttons use an additional clear plastic piece, which needs to be positioned correctly for those 4 buttons to make contact to the circuitry.

I would say this takes about 2 hours from disassembly to having it put back together again, but it does indeed work.

Sorry I couldn't provide any pictures, but I don't have a digital camera, and my cell phone doesn't take high enough quality pictures.

Hope this helps.