iPhone 3GS Mute/Silent Switch going CRAZY

[i1alian085]

My mute / silent switch on my iPhone is driving me nuts!

When it is in loud mode - it is fine

When it is in silent mode- the phone tweaks out at every slightest movement of the phone and toggles itself from being silent to not.

It vibrates all day long. When I touch the screen it vibrates....when it's in my pocket and i walk - it vibrates.

when you put your finger on the switch when in silent mode it vibrates.

Has anyone ever had this problem? I have 8 months left in my contract - but you will put the phone on silent - and next thing you know it's going off in a meeting because it changed itself back into loud mode. Not good, and not acceptable.

please help...

 

[Ivan P]

Yes I've seen this issue before on my partner's iPhone. The slightest touch anywhere on or around the mute switch would have it vibrate as it jumped in and out of silent mode. Took it into an Apple Store and it was replaced immediately.

 

[i1alian085]

But the phone is out of it's 1 year warranty.....i have had it since August of 2009.

no damage on the phone whatsoever - but the phone is inoperable now. i can't go 8 more months with this. it is my work phone and it is a pain in the ass to turn it off all the time because i am worried about my taylor swift ringtone going off.....the horror.

Yes I've seen this issue before on my partner's iPhone. The slightest touch anywhere on or around the mute switch would have it vibrate as it jumped in and out of silent mode. Took it into an Apple Store and it was replaced immediately.

 

[i1alian085]

i called apple support and he said take it into the store - but he didn't think they would be able to do anything - that the solution would be to buy the iphone 4.

i want to wait and see what is going to happen with verizon...and i also don't want to extend my contract.

 

[nathanrobinson]

Me too!!!

I have the exact same problem! My phone is the white 32gb 3GS and it is now out of warranty and it has decided to go completely CRAZY just like you have described!

I would be very interested to find out what path you have taken!

 

[richandhell]

Hi
I have been having the same problem with my Iphone 3g for the last couple of days.
I think i may have fixed it now though.
I removed the screen using videos from youtube and found i spare screw floating around near the silent switch. It was touching the metal casing and i think it may have caused the problem.
I have removed the screw and put the phone back together and it seems to have worked. I'm not sure where the screw came from but didn't want to remove anything else in case i made things worse.
Hope this helps.

 

[morrissey1]

Fixed

ok, My phone had the problem as described. The mute switch appeared slightly lose, and if it was moved all the way to "mute," it wouldn't go to vibrate, but if it was moved just a hair in the "ringer" direction, it would work. But as described, it would toggle back and forth and go CRAZY

This fix is gonna sound weird, but its free. Switch the phone to "ringer," and squeeze a single drop of superglue onto the casing part of the switch, but not inside the switch itself. Let it sit for 45-60 seconds until the glue just starts to bond, and then toggle the switch back and forth to prevent a total bond on the switch altogether. It tightens up the switch.

Do at your own risk.

-Matt

 

[ergohack]

What is actually going on, why, and how to fix it properly.

(I know this is kind of a necro-post, but this is one of the first results from a google search on this problem, and didn't completely answer the question.)

Anyways, I had the same problem. The mute switch would only work 9/10 of the way off, if you held it there, otherwise it would go insane every time you touched it.
I took the thing apart, and found that there is a small felt wear-pad in between the exterior part of the switch and the switch itself. There is a small socket in the exterior part, which the interior par of the switch sits in. The wear pad is supposed to be beside this socket, but it had actually gotten itself lodged inside the socket, causing the switch to be unable to go all the way off.
You can tell where this piece is supposed to go because you will see a small edge, (on the inside of the exterior part of the switch) and a thin grey wear line, and the space in-between fits the felt pad perfectly.
You need to actually glue the piece back where it belongs. Superglue should work, I used some fake eyelash glue, that seems to be doing fine.

Hope that helps.

 

[Benchtech]

... because i am worried about my taylor swift ringtone going off.....the horror.

Haha found that hillarious.

 

[aznjonny]

I had this exact same problem on my iPhone 3G and it would drive me crazy during class when my phone would go off!

If you're jailbroken (like I was), you can download SBSettings and the "Ringer/Silent Toggle" which lets you switch the phone between silent and loud using SBSettings. There's no need to touch the physical mute switch at all and you can leave it on loud. That's what I did for a few months until I finally got a 4S. Even if the physical switch is on loud, the phone will still be silent because the toggle overrides the setting. Hope this helps!

http://www.funkyspacemonkey.com/ringersilent-toggle-brings-silence-switch-sbsettings

 

[geniunet]

Thank You, ErgoHack!

Thank you vey much, ErgoHack!

I had the same issue and just fixed it today, after reading your post.
Amazing! I could not reutilize that tiny felt, since I just put too much glue on it and it became a rock solid! Instead, I just cut a tidbit of my goggles cleaning cloth, glued with super bond and voilá, it worked like a charm! Again, many thanks for your great valuable tip! Cheers!