iPhone Not Making Sounds

Hey Forum,

So I've been dealing with this issue for a long time now waiting and waiting until I can make it to an Apple Store to get my iPhone replaced. However, I figured maybe there is someone out there with a similar problem and I could get this fixed sooner.

My issue is that my iPhone 4 won't make any sound at all, minus alarms. I attached three screenshots of what my screen shows in Settings >> Sounds. I don't have a picture of my ring/vibrate switch but honestly it doesn't even matter. When I flip the switch, my iPhone doesn't do anything at all: no vibration going into silent, no icon, no nothing. It does still vibrate thankfully, so I can feel calls, texts, emails, etc. Weird thing, I can still hear my alarms. Every morning it will wake me up but never sound when I want something else. I also can not hear YouTube videos or my iPod or recorded videos without headphones or an external device.

Another symptom is the disappearance of my volume bar altogether, as shown in the final screen shot.

My theory is that the iPhone thinks it is plugged into an external device of some sort.. Like a car stereo or sound peripheral in general. Also, to qualm any ideas of damage or anything, the iPhone is in an Otter Box Defender and has been ever since its purchase in July 2011. Restores don't work either.

Anyone have any thoughts/suggestions/questions?

I had in the beginning to see no change for 24-48 hours, so I re-restored from backup

:-/

I feared that would be the only solution. Unfortunately for me I live 4+ hours from the nearest store. I suppose I'll make it up there some day...

That I haven't ah123, only the designated 30-pin wire that came with my iPhone has been plugged in (or attempted to be plugged in) to the best of my knowledge

Yes, the headphone jack is essentially the only way to hear sound (not an alarm) from the iPhone. I will definitely try this when I get home, do a restart and document if any changes happen

Haha no Wraith, the switch isn't in the Silent position. As a matter of fact, it doesn't do anything at all when switched from Loud to Silent or from Silent to Loud.

Wraith, if you're referring to the on/off slider shown beside "Vibrate" then when I turn it off it essentially doesn't notify me at all; only lighting the screen. And yes, it absolutely did work for around 4.5-5 months with no issues. As far as disabling all vibration settings, hard reseting, and testing, that made no improvements..

And I did try to reset to factory settings originally when the issue first came around. However when it made no changes after 24-48 hours, I just re-restored back to my backup from the 24-48 hours prior.

Wraith, reading that thread now and trying a solution some of them found to help.

Zigzagg, I have used the iPhone 4 dock in the past to charge my phone and can say that the purchase time of the dock and my issues beginning are closely related, now that I think of it. But no, the 30-pin water sensor hasn't been tripped, nor has the one in the headphone jack, nor the two underneath the back glass.