Why some iPhones rattle when vibrate is on and possible fix.

[richard371]

I currently have a on contract ATT 4S which I am returning as I just purchased the off contract unlocked. Sure enough the off contract rattles when its vibrating which is annoying. If I press lightly on the back plate while vibrating the vibrations stops. The problem is there is a very thin tolerance between the back plate and battery for some of these phones coming out of Foxcon. I have seen these types of issues with many phones such as Blackberrys and the fix is to try another back cover or put a piece of black electrical tape over the battery so there is no space to cause the rattle.

I am not going to Exchange it because the phone is perfect otherwise. No yellow screen , bad pixels etc not to mention I put my last power support screen protector on there perfectly.

Does anyone know where you can get the special screwdriver to take the back off? I am going to try switching backs with the other iPhone 4S before I return it. If that does not work I will place a piece of tape over the battery which I am sure will fix it.

I may also see if the Apple store will try another back or look at it. If this is not something you are comfy with then I would take it to the store. They will prob swap it out.


FYI the other rattle is the camera AF element and is normal.

 

[catalyst6]

Returned for exact same issue. I disassembled the phone and tried about 100 different configurations to stop the rattle. The rattle is in the actual vibrate motor which cannot be removed without taking out the entire logic board.

Some of the vibrate motors are not mounted well and are aligned just so that it is causing noise from the motor reverberating against the aluminum frame (middle of the "phone sandwich"). Save yourself time and cost of buying a Pentalobe driver (like I did) and return it.

New unit does not rattle when vibrating. It does slightly rattle near the camera but this is to be expected with Image Stabilized camera assemblies.

 

[wohast]

I have the 64gb white 4S for verizon, and it had the loud rattling noise on vibrate (very loud when id use long custom vibrations).

Took it into apple store, and genious guy didn't wanna replace it at first and tried making some excuse about verizon motors being too strong. He finally replaces it though, and the new one has the same vibrate rattling, and the camera focus rattle is very bad on this one (can hear it rattling just from light shake of phone, old one could only hear it when tapping back). Dont really care too much about camera focus rattle as it makes sense, but this vibrate rattle is driving me nuts.

Scheduled another appointment to go back tonight after reading this post, and was hoping you could tell me how things went when you went in for your replacement.

What exactly did you tell them? Any ideas what I should say since they have already replaced it once? Do I make them keep opening new replacement ones till I get one that doesn't have the problem?

What size/color was yours?


Thanks

 

[ijohnbro]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dEGmd-3Gg-s

 

[catalyst6]

I have the 64gb white 4S for verizon, and it had the loud rattling noise on vibrate (very loud when id use long custom vibrations).

Took it into apple store, and genious guy didn't wanna replace it at first and tried making some excuse about verizon motors being too strong. He finally replaces it though, and the new one has the same vibrate rattling, and the camera focus rattle is very bad on this one (can hear it rattling just from light shake of phone, old one could only hear it when tapping back). Dont really care too much about camera focus rattle as it makes sense, but this vibrate rattle is driving me nuts.

Scheduled another appointment to go back tonight after reading this post, and was hoping you could tell me how things went when you went in for your replacement.

What exactly did you tell them? Any ideas what I should say since they have already replaced it once? Do I make them keep opening new replacement ones till I get one that doesn't have the problem?

What size/color was yours?


Thanks

64GB white. I told him about how loud it was and that it was quieter to just use a ringtone or mute the entire device. Of course the store was jammed packed and it was impossible to hear anything, so the Genius took the phone into the back and disassembled it. He said he tried tightening all the screws on the logic board and reassembled it. He said he couldn't fix it and agreed how annoying the noise was. He said he was fine with an exchange if I was and had backed up all my data. Extremely friendly, extremely helpful, and was overall a nice guy.

I recommend just playing it calm and saying how annoying it is and that it isn't expected behavior. Ask if he can fix the issue and if not how you go about getting a replacement.