iphone 4s: no volume control or alert sounds, low call volume

[rga]

Everything is fine with the headphones plugged in, but when I take them out...

I can barely hear anything when making a call with the phone to my ear. Yes, the volume is set all the way up. I also have no volume control, and the lock sounds, keyboard clicks, and text/e-mail alerts don't work. The ringer will still ring, and the alarm will still go off. Pressing and holding the home button, the double ding for voice control is still audible as well.

I've made sure the volume is set all the way up. I've tried various fixes for this online. This is soooo frustrating. I have a phone that I can't even place calls with because I can't hear anything! Whoever I'm talking to, however, says they can hear me fine!

Does anybody have any idea about what I can do?? I've pretty much tried everything I could find on Google.

I should add that this phone is running iOS 6.1.3. My 3gs running iOS5 does not have this issue.

A little off topic, but, is there somewhere I can download iOS 5 blobs and try to downgrade this iphone 4s to iOS5?

 

[MotionMan]

Was it always like this, or did it just start out of the blue?

MotionMan

 

[lenasmith]

Is your iPhone 4s a new phone? Did you upgrade your iOS before? My sister is using her iPhone 4s with iOS 6 and my iPhone 4 is running iOS 5. We all have no problems.

 

[Syrome]

Hello rga. I have had this issue as well with my iPhone 4s. Did you get the phone wet in any way/shape/or form? Sometimes even a little bit of moisture will set this off for some reason. Just plug the phone into the charger and hopefully over a few hours it will fix itself when the moisture dries. Just my 2 cents.

 

[MotionMan]

Is your iPhone 4s a new phone? Did you upgrade your iOS before? My sister is using her iPhone 4s with iOS 6 and my iPhone 4 is running iOS 5. We all have no problems.

I have the latest iOS running on a 3GS, 4, 4S and 5 without this issue. I have to assume it is an issue with OPs hardware, not a 4S-wide problem.

MotionMan

 

[Niclasmai]

What an unlucky guy! It's such a rather peculiar problem that most people haven't. I think it's probably because you upgrade your iOS in a wrong way. BTW did you find anything wrong with your iPhone before upgrading the iOS, OP.

 

[ViRGE]

A little off topic, but, is there somewhere I can download iOS 5 blobs and try to downgrade this iphone 4s to iOS5?

Not unless you've saved your SHSH hashes for iOS 5.

 

[MotionMan]

What an unlucky guy! It's such a rather peculiar problem that most people haven't. I think it's probably because you upgrade your iOS in a wrong way. BTW did you find anything wrong with your iPhone before upgrading the iOS, OP.

I doubt it.

MotionMan

 

[Rakehellion]

It's like that with alert sounds as well as other sounds? Must be a hardware failure.

 

[rga]

I ended up erasing all the data and restoring the phone. I set the ringer and alerts volume to max, and disabled the option to control the volume with the physical buttons on the side of the phone. So far this seems to have fixed my issue of not being able to hear alerts and notifications, but I'm worried that the problem will resurface once I connect and remove a pair of headphones.

@Rakehellion: I stated in the my original post that I was only having this issue with notification sounds. The ringer works fine when a call is incoming. The speaker phone works. I can hear music loud and clear. The alarm sounds when it's supposed to. The ding that sounds when voice control is initialized is audible as well. I really don't think this is a hardware issue.

The low call volume issue, on the other hand, may very well be a hardware issue with the earpiece speaker. The volume is loud, clear, and adjustable when listening through headphones or speakerphone, but it sounds like the person on the other end is whispering when I hold the phone up to my ear.

I bought the phone used, locked to my carrier. I tested everything when I purchased it. I brought my wife along. I called her; she called me. We exchanged texts. I listened to music and watched a YouTube clip. I plugged the phone in and it started charging. I used the headphones. Everything was fine.

I brought the phone home, erased all data and settings, set it up as a new iPhone, downloaded the 6.1.3 file from Apple, and uses the shift+click method in iTunes to update the phone. I put the phone on the charger, and went to bed. I noticed these issues the next morning.

 

[rga]

Not unless you've saved your SHSH hashes for iOS 5.

Can I get them off my 3gs, or somebody else's phone?

 

[Tyranicus]

Can I get them off my 3gs, or somebody else's phone?

No, they are specific to each individual phone.

 

[rga]

No, they are specific to each individual phone.

/sigh

Looks like I'm stucking dealing with this shit. It's just going to be a pain in the ass to take out a pair of headphones and attach them everytime I'm somewhere that I can't use speakerphone. Definitely the last time I will purchase an iPhone.

I'm considering replacing the speaker...

 

[MotionMan]

/sigh

Looks like I'm stucking dealing with this shit. It's just going to be a pain in the ass to take out a pair of headphones and attach them everytime I'm somewhere that I can't use speakerphone. Definitely the last time I will purchase an iPhone.

I'm considering replacing the speaker...

Was it always like this, or did it just start out of the blue?

MotionMan

?

MotionMan

 

[TheStu]

Is it still under warranty, is there an Apple store near you?

 

[MotionMan]

Is it still under warranty, is there an Apple store near you?

OP seems more interested in bitching about his problem than answering our questions so we can actually help him.

MotionMan

 

[TheStu]

OP seems more interested in bitching about his problem than answering our questions so we can actually help him.

MotionMan

It looks like he added more information to a post, he bought the device used, it worked when he got it. It now does not work shortly after updating the device. Restoring the device to stock appears to be helping the issue for now so maybe OP is in the clear.

Or he can throw it out the window and get a different phone.

 

[rga]

OP seems more interested in bitching about his problem than answering our questions so we can actually help him.

MotionMan

Then leave the thread. I doubt you have the reading comprehension and problem solving skills to help me out anyway. Every question that was asked was answered in a post just a couple above the one you quoted.

 

[rga]

It looks like he added more information to a post, he bought the device used, it worked when he got it. It now does not work shortly after updating the device. Restoring the device to stock appears to be helping the issue for now so maybe OP is in the clear.

Or he can throw it out the window and get a different phone.

Only the notification and alert sound issue that I was having seems to be fixed by the restore. I still have the issue where the earpiece speaker volume is very, very quiet during a call.

I want to make myself 100% clear so that even a particular retard in this thread can understand what I'm saying: the loud speaker at the bottom of the phone is fine. Keyboard clicks, lock sounds, text alerts, alarm sounds and music are working, and it seems they will continue to do so as long as I don't use the buttons on the side of the phone to adjust the volume. The only remaining issue I have is that the earpiece speaker volume during a telephone call is way too low. It is barely audible even in a room in which it is absolutely quiet and I am alone. Details regarding the timeframe of my issue are in a post I made yesterday, five-or-so posts above this one.

 

[MotionMan]

It looks like he added more information to a post

Yeah, I missed the explanation because it was buried in a post that was specifically directed to another user, Rakehellion.

Hopefully, the problem does not resolve and OP keeps his promise to never buy another iPhone so he has no reason to post in the Apple forum again.

MotionMan

 

[TheStu]

Only the notification and alert sound issue that I was having seems to be fixed by the restore. I still have the issue where the earpiece speaker volume is very, very quiet during a call.

I want to make myself 100% clear so that even a particular retard in this thread can understand what I'm saying: the loud speaker at the bottom of the phone is fine. Keyboard clicks, lock sounds, text alerts, alarm sounds and music are working, and it seems they will continue to do so as long as I don't use the buttons on the side of the phone to adjust the volume. The only remaining issue I have is that the earpiece speaker volume during a telephone call is way too low. It is barely audible even in a room in which it is absolutely quiet and I am alone. Details regarding the timeframe of my issue are in a post I made yesterday, five-or-so posts above this one.

Yea, we're not real crazy about personal attacks in the tech forums.

Anyway, do you know if the device is less than a year old overall? The warranty should be tied to the serial number, and if you have an Apple store nearby it couldn't hurt to take it by, just remember that you have to make an appointment before doing so.

 

[rga]

Yea, we're not real crazy about personal attacks in the tech forums.

Anyway, do you know if the device is less than a year old overall? The warranty should be tied to the serial number, and if you have an Apple store nearby it couldn't hurt to take it by, just remember that you have to make an appointment before doing so.

The warranty is no longer valid; I knew this when purchasing the phone. If there was any warranty remaining, exchanging ths phone would have been the first thing on my to-do list. I'm not going to waste my time with a "genius" at an Apple store, because all I'll get is a suggestion to reset the phone with the home and lock buttons, or to reset all settings, or to restore the phone through iTunes, or any other of the things I've already tried with no success. All I'll have is the option to replace my used phone with a refurbished one for $150, and who is to say this same problem won't just happen again a few months down the road? There are pages upon pages on various message boards, including Apple's own forums, of people having this issue with new phones, old phones, and refurbished phones. I understand you are trying to help, and so are others in this thread, but I didn't cone here for help without doing any research myself.

 

[rga]

Yeah, I missed the explanation because it was buried in a post that was specifically directed to another user, Rakehellion.

Hopefully, the problem does not resolve and OP keeps his promise to never buy another iPhone so he has no reason to post in the Apple forum again.

MotionMan

You missed it because you didn't bother to read it. I'll keep my promise, and I'll continue using my phone in the meantime. If any other trouble arises, I won't bother with this subforum anymore because all I seem to be finding is a bunch of fanboys, as opposed to help with a very specific and detailed problem.

 

[TheStu]

The warranty is no longer valid; I knew this when purchasing the phone. If there was any warranty remaining, exchanging ths phone would have been the first thing on my to-do list. I'm not going to waste my time with a "genius" at an Apple store, because all I'll get is a suggestion to reset the phone with the home and lock buttons, or to reset all settings, or to restore the phone through iTunes, or any other of the things I've already tried with no success. All I'll have is the option to replace my used phone with a refurbished one for $150, and who is to say this same problem won't just happen again a few months down the road? There are pages upon pages on various message boards, including Apple's own forums, of people having this issue with new phones, old phones, and refurbished phones. I understand you are trying to help, and so are others in this thread, but I didn't cone here for help without doing any research myself.

You missed it because you didn't bother to read it. I'll keep my promise, and I'll continue using my phone in the meantime. If any other trouble arises, I won't bother with this subforum anymore because all I seem to be finding is a bunch of fanboys, as opposed to help with a very specific and detailed problem.

That's weird, because I see a lot of questions about circumstances, and some advice. There are people saying that they don't have this problem and offering condolences. There was someone saying that they had run into this, but it was a moisture thing for them. Then there are any number of people that are suggesting that it is a hardware problem, regardless of whether you had updated or not.

We don't assume that people people have done exhaustive research before coming to us simply because of historical evidence of people asking questions that were answered with the top google result. If you don't explicitly tell us what research you have done, we cannot possibly know what it was or was not.

If you take it to Apple it will be a free visit and diagnostic session, all you will have lost is time. And in the event that they tell you that it is a hardware problem, then that is a pretty good way of knowing whether the problem is going to come back in a few months.

You seem to have a lot of pre-conceptions and are dismissing certain things not because they don't work, but because you don't THINK that they will work. You have not conclusively ruled out hardware failure. Just because this happened after the 6.1.3 update proves NOTHING.

 

[rga]

Just wanted to let everybody know I fixed the problem by poking a hole into the metal grill covering the earpiece with a sewing needle and wiggling it around a bit. Made a phone call, and the volume is now like 200% louder. Seems it was a hardware issue, but I find it very strange that it happened just as I upgraded to iOS6. I guess it was just a REALLY big coincidence.

Definitely a loose connection somewhere. I kept fiddling around with it. I must have prodded something a little too hard, because the phone started to continuously restart and give a NAND memory error on the logo screen. A little bit more prodding, and the restarting and error message stopped and the speaker is back to normal. If it is just a loose connection, I don't know if replacing the entire speaker will fix the issue, but maybe there is some way I can secure the connection.