Hello all,

I will start this thread by thanking and congratulating all the community here for creating this awesome information resource. I have learned a lot since I found this place. Thanks!

I hope someone can help me with the problem I am having, I will try to describe it as best as possible.

I will start by stating that my phone is a 3G 16GB and it is running 3.0 firmware.

For some reason I noticed that whenever someone called I could not hear them on the phone, the only way I could engage a conversation was through the speakerphone. Also, when on the springboard (home screen) when I pushed the volume buttons up/down the screen would say "ringer headphones". Now, if I insert the headphones, ipod would start and now if I press the volume buttons it says "headphones".

What I am trying to say here is that the switch or relay or contact in the jack; actually works. (it switches between headphones and ringer(headphones), but never to "ringer". So, OK the contact works.

I will outline what I have already tried in order to solve the problem so they are not mentioned on this post:

- Headphones in/out several times.
- Cleaned with compressed air
- Q-tip with Alcohol.
- Restore
- Reset
- Plug headphones while phone is locked and then press power button until I see the slider to turn off, unplug headphones, press cancel, go to spring board. etc.
- I even took the whole flex cable that controls the volume buttons, silent switch, headphones jack and power button and submerged it in isopropyl alcohol (Ive had very good results with it to clean electronics) for a couple hours, then I cleaned everything including the connector and let it dry for a while..... NOTHING, same thing. So, I know for sure that there is no lint or anything in the jack, thats is FOR SURE.

So, if there is no lint, dust or anything in the jack and I have tried all imaginable and possible solutions... could this be a logic board, chip problem?

If anyone knows any other method even an application or ANYTHING that could help me I would appreciate it.

I even read in a other post about a couple guys that fixed the problem by sucking in the headphones jack, that I thought it was nuts, that would fix NOTHING but I also gave it a try and nothing.

Oh man, I am so out of ideas.

Anyone please post anything positive.

Thanks!!!

e.

I got the same Prob sometimes.

This is what I do:

- plug in the EarPhones
- open ipod and see, that its running. Stop it and unplugg.
- done

(sometimes I have to redo it 2-3 times)

has the iphone seen water at all? dampness also can cause this problem

__________________
UK iPhone repairs, 2G | 3G | 3Gs

Yes, it has seen water. You think that the problem is in the mother board? Maybe the water damaged the audio coded chip or something?

After the water damage the phone had some issues but I gave it a treatment in isopropyl alcohol until I cleaned all the mother board and it went back to normal, except for this headphone thing.

I just gave it a try and nothing =(

Thanks though

A friend of mine fixed it by replacing the headphone part inside his (first generation) phone:

iFixit - iPhone Gen 1 Headphone Jack
iFixit - iPhone 3G Headphone Jack

I also tried everything you did without success. Took it to the Genius Bar yesterday and they couldn't fix it either (offered an exact replacement for $199). Eventually traced the problem to using a non-standard, non-iphone earbuds (Etymotic ER4). The Etymotics have two plastic bands on the jack (separating the jack into three separate metal pieces). The standard iphone jack has three plastic bands separating the jack into four separated metal pieces. My theory is that the Etymotics confused the iphone. My solution was to re-insert the Etymotic jack (I had previously not done this, instead using only the iphone earbuds). This reset the iphone and everything went back to normal. I no longer use the Etymotic buds for this reasons (sent both my Etymotic and iphone buds to Ultimate Buds online and they married my Etymotic earpieces to the iphone cable for $40). So, if you have used earbuds or headphones other than the standard iphone headphones (particularly jacks that have the two plastic bands instead of the three bands) I think this might be your problem. Please post your own experiences/results. Good luck.

I spoke too soon...my problem has returned and no amount of inserting and removing the headphone jack helps. My new theory is that this problem has something to do with excessive heat build up that confuses the iphone. My reason for thinking this is that it only gets stuck in headphone mode after I've played with it for about 20 minutes. If I restart the phone and let it cool down, it seem to return to normal. I've also noticed that just before it returns to normal, the iphone will randomly turn itself on and off about three or four times. Not sure what the connection is but it is sure strange. Basically, I still don't have a fix which renders my iphone useless for normal use. A basic assumption with any phone is that it will predictably ring and allow you to accept and make calls. Without this predictability, it's useless. Very disappointing and not something I expect from Apple. Their silence on this issue is deafening (even on their own bulletin boards!!)

A further update...I'm now almost certain the problem is related to excessive heat buildup. Last night, after my kid and I played with the phone for awhile, the phone got warm to the touch and slipped into "Ringer:Headphone" mode again. Instead of inserting and removing the headphone jack as suggested here, I held the jack end of the phone into the cold air of my room air conditioner. The phone returned to the the normal "Ringer" mode almost immediately. I again continued to play for another 20 minutes or so until it warmed up again and the phone again slipped into headphone mode. Again, I held it into the cold air stream and the phone immediately returned to normal ringer mode. I repeated the experiment a third time and it did the same. Clearly this is a heat buildup problem that is affecting the built-in thermocoupler that is sending a confusing message to the iphone. This is now in Apple's court. They need to provide a software solution for this or provide free replacements (even for those iphones out of warranty).

I ran into the same problem, this is what fixed it for me:

I powered off the iPhone, took out the SIM, cleaned it, cleaned the SIM slot and stuck the SIM back in. Fired up the iPhone again and voila - sound on the speaker again!

Hope it works for you to.

Garbrand