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iPhone ringer switch broken. What should i do?

M

matthewHUB

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Nov 29, 2005
499
4
Hi all,

So a weird thing started happening today to my iPhone. My phone was sitting on my desk and started vibrating and showing the bell sign, followed by the bell with a line through, and kept alternating continuously. Then after a few mins it settled down. Now, whenever i touch (not move), just even place my finger near the ringer switch, the phone thinks i'm moving it and it starts continuously vibrating again. It just started doing it out of the blue. If i take it to a store, do you think i can get it swapped? Sometimes it gets stuck on the "ring" even when the button is on the silent.

I guess i use it a lot but still... it shouldn't break like this.
 
also my iPhone shipped with the 1st firmware. If the store give me a new one, will i still be able to unlock it?
 
Wow,

I thought I was the only one with this issue... However, mine fixes itself when I simply play with the switch a little bit. Basically, all I do is flip the switch on and off, and it will stop. It has happened to me maybe two or three times so far, had it for 7 months or so
 
ok well mine is almost incessant whenever my finger moves near it, even when i touch the volume controls. The most annoying part is not the vibrating, it's the fact that it could potentially be "on ringer" when it's supposed to be on silent. I am a musician and i leave my phone on silent during rehearsals/recordings etc. I never want to miss work or emails that require immediate attention. However, everyone can sympathise with cell phones going off in rehearsals/concerts, and if this happened during a film recording, i'd never be hired again. i just can't afford for it to happen, nor can i afford to turn my phone "off" whenever i need it to be silenced.
 
i too had this issue! i swear i was the onlyone with it!

But hey! i sent it into apple, and they gave me a brand new one back, no questions asked!

:)
 
I would imagine so... ziphone 2.6 was just released, which i know unlocks the new 32GB ipod touches, so i would only imagine good for the phone. However, take that with a grain of salt... Look around the forum and see what others with brand new out of the box iPhones are saying. I think it depends on the baseloader or something like that?
 
All 1.1.4 OTB can be unlocked, AFAIK. I upgraded my 1.1.2 phone to 1.1.4 via iTunes RESTORE and then unlocked and activated it via ziphone 2.5.

A friend of mine who had a new 16GB one from the states followed the same unlock procedure, and he was also on 1.1.4.

So I'm thinking you're safe in doing this. Might want to do a restore/revirginise before you bring it back to the shop though, so they can't refuse on the basis that it was unlocked and therefore no longer under warranty...
 
working properly now.. argh

ok so here's the thing... now it seems to be completely fine.

i don't want to go to a store without it actually doing it as they won't believe me. but at the same time, i can't trust it being on silent while working in case it messes up again. what should i do?
 
Seems to me that you want us to make a decision for you that you need to make yourself.

You should make a choice : either you think it important enough to send it in or bring it back to the apple store or you keep it, with the chance that it activates during your music sessions.

Or did I misunderstand what help you wanted ?
 
matthewHUB said:
ok so here's the thing... now it seems to be completely fine.

i don't want to go to a store without it actually doing it as they won't believe me. but at the same time, i can't trust it being on silent while working in case it messes up again. what should i do?
Click to expand...

I'm having the same exact problem. I can't have mine ring when I'm at school because we're not supposed to use them.

It happens all the time except for when I was getting ready to go to the apple store, or when I was trying to film it happening.

I wonder if they would replace it if I called them. I don't want them to send the same one back if they can't reproduce the problem.
 
same problem

My phone is starting to do the same thing. It's at the point where it won't go silent without me fiddling with it for a bit, and even then it doesn't always stay that way. Turning it back on always results in 2 or 3 "buzz" alerts as the switch toggles several times.

It may not seem like a big deal, but I'm a grad student and if my phone goes off during class because of this bug I get the stare of death from everyone. God forbid it goes off during a lecture by a guest speaker or at a conference.

I will call apple support about it this week and see if it results in a repair or a new phone. My phone is perfect otherwise, and I don't want to risk trading it for some refurbished phone that has bigger problems waiting to happen.
 
solution

I went to my local Apple store today and they found a small dent on the corner of the phone, right next to the switch. Seems that my cat knocked it off my bedside table one too many times. (note to self: kill cat) They said that the warranty didn't cover accidental damage like this, but that they would replace it anyway. One new (or maybe refurbished?) iPhone later, and I was a happy customer.

Just to make sure it doesn't happen again, I got a silicone case on the way out. I'm sad that my phone just increased in thickness by 50%, but it's offset by the fact that I have a new spotless phone.
 
Do Apple Stores have any old iPhones in stock at this point that could replace mine if I took it in for this same issue? Or would I have to request a repair/replacement online?
 
My first generation iphone has a broken ringer switch as well. At first I found it annoying that the hair trigger caused it to turn the ringer off as It bounced around inside my pocket. I missed a lot of important calls. Then after a few weeks, it just wiggled loosely and jammed in the off position. I have an unlocked phone that I use in Canada and Europe, so it isn't covered under warranty.

After a few months of running silent, I decided to drill out the switch and manually switch the ringer back on. My version has the bell icon, so I knew it worked right away. Mission accomplished in two minutes at no cost. I used a pin to move the microswitch to the on position.

The microswitch is at the upper half of the black plastic (outer) switch, so you don't have to drill the whole thing out. I'm going to fill the gap with epoxy so I never have to worry about losing my ringtone again. I can mute it or drop the volume if I need to run silent again.
 
mr.wilson said:
My first generation iphone has a broken ringer switch as well. At first I found it annoying that the hair trigger caused it to turn the ringer off as It bounced around inside my pocket. I missed a lot of important calls. Then after a few weeks, it just wiggled loosely and jammed in the off position. I have an unlocked phone that I use in Canada and Europe, so it isn't covered under warranty.

After a few months of running silent, I decided to drill out the switch and manually switch the ringer back on. My version has the bell icon, so I knew it worked right away. Mission accomplished in two minutes at no cost. I used a pin to move the microswitch to the on position.

The microswitch is at the upper half of the black plastic (outer) switch, so you don't have to drill the whole thing out. I'm going to fill the gap with epoxy so I never have to worry about losing my ringtone again. I can mute it or drop the volume if I need to run silent again.
Click to expand...


I am really hoping they can just exchange mine, even if it is a refurb. Perhaps I'll contact Apple support, but I was curious if the Apple stores still had these in stock. Doubt it, though.
 
mine too

mine has started to do this same thing lately, locked in the DOWN position, so basically doesn't work. I haven't dropped it or anything, not really sure why it all of a sudden started.

Will have to take it to the store for repair.
 
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