"Broken" earpiece on used A780

[CheshireCat]

I recently acquired a used A780 with an apparently broken earpiece - no sound can be heard during call at all unless it is in speaker phone mode. I've looked around a bit on the forum, and haven't seen anything quite similar to this problem. I'm wondering if anyone else thinks it likely to be a software problem that I might be able to fix or work around - it seems unlikely to me that it is a hardware failure, as looking at the phone from the outside suggests to me that the earpiece and speaker-phone use the same speaker.

Any ideas? Perhaps flash firmware (when neostream is back up ) or muck about with gain tables (assuming they are accessible as on the e680)? I figure at least that I could change the speaker phone gain table to make the lower few settings quiet enough for regular use...

Oh, and I didn't completely get screwed here, as I did buy this phone as-is, and it was listed as working aside from the earpiece, which is true to the extent that I've been able to test so far - I did screw up thinking they meant the earpiece of a handsfree set, but that's hardly the seller's fault.

[intoxicated]

wel that happened to my fiiend's phone also.. cannot hear phone call if use the earpirce inside.. only with loud speaker or with the headset plugged in.
flashed the phone and its still the same..

[samr7]

I recently acquired a used A780 with an apparently broken earpiece - no sound can be heard during call at all unless it is in speaker phone mode. I've looked around a bit on the forum, and haven't seen anything quite similar to this problem. I'm wondering if anyone else thinks it likely to be a software problem that I might be able to fix or work around - it seems unlikely to me that it is a hardware failure, as looking at the phone from the outside suggests to me that the earpiece and speaker-phone use the same speaker.

I don't know if this could help, but you might try disassembling the clamshell cover. There is a circuit board that the keypad is mounted on, and on its underside are contact patches that touch prongs from the earpiece. Perhaps they aren't making contact?

If you actually do this, please also check the metal chip cover on that board and report if you see anything underneath it.

[CheshireCat]

Does the external keypad also use these contacts? It is functioning normally, only the earpiece speaker seems to have any trouble. My next thought was to hunt a disassembly guide, and see if I could find anything obviously wrong. Motorola's web site doesn't give me a service center, and I doubt I could convince them to do a repair under warranty, or that I even want to know what a non-warranty repair would cost.

[intoxicated]

so the reason why it has got no sound its because they are making contacts?
i wish i can open my friend's phone to fix it but since the phone itself got 2 years warrenty.. i guess i better bring it to the service centre and get it fixed there :S

[samr7]

Does the external keypad also use these contacts? It is functioning normally, only the earpiece speaker seems to have any trouble. My next thought was to hunt a disassembly guide, and see if I could find anything obviously wrong. Motorola's web site doesn't give me a service center, and I doubt I could convince them to do a repair under warranty, or that I even want to know what a non-warranty repair would cost.

I took this apart once and posted two pictures on this thread:

http://www.www.motorolafans.com/inde...ewtopic&t=1623

The circuit board connects to the "motherboard" with a ribbon cable. The keypad bubble sensors are etched on one side of that board, and the backlight LEDs are soldered inbetween. On the picture with the metal chip cover, there are two contact patches that look like screw heads, which make contact with prongs from the earpiece speaker when the circuit board is installed.

[CheshireCat]

I see two tiny slots on the flip cover near the hinge. I couldn't find a disassembly guide, but I'm guessing I need to pry there? I don't have anything to do the job with here (at work), but there's an eyeglass repair kit at home with a screwdriver that should fit. I'd like to know how you got it open, samr7, before I go ahead, though.

Don't expect anything exciting on the GPS front, btw - I didn't look too far into it, but I rather doubt that my phone with only English and Chinese language options is a European model.

[samr7]

I see two tiny slots on the flip cover near the hinge. I couldn't find a disassembly guide, but I'm guessing I need to pry there? I don't have anything to do the job with here (at work), but there's an eyeglass repair kit at home with a screwdriver that should fit. I'd like to know how you got it open, samr7, before I go ahead, though.

Don't expect anything exciting on the GPS front, btw - I didn't look too far into it, but I rather doubt that my phone with only English and Chinese language options is a European model.

There are two rubber screw hole covers on the inside of the clamshell cover near the hinge. Under them are extremely small philips head screws, remove these first. Afterwards, just progressively pry off the plastic cover, focusing on the two slots near the hinge that you found, and also the seam along the outside edge of the clamshell cover. Watch out for metal prying tools here, they will leave marks! If you can find something made of plastic, it would be recommended.

Also, if you do this, and have time and equipment to take photos, they would be greatly appreciated! There are very few freely available records of the guts of this device.

[CheshireCat]

I haven't gotten to the point where I can see the contacts you mentioned yet. I'm a little concerned about damaging the keypad, and if you have some time, I'd like to know how you proceeded at this point. I can't see any fasteners here, but the pad is fairly resistant to prying - I just want to make sure there's nothing else I should do before pulling on it any harder. There will be more pictures as I proceed, and I'll fill in some of the earlier bits when I reassemble, if I have time.

[samr7]

I haven't gotten to the point where I can see the contacts you mentioned yet. I'm a little concerned about damaging the keypad, and if you have some time, I'd like to know how you proceeded at this point. I can't see any fasteners here, but the pad is fairly resistant to prying - I just want to make sure there's nothing else I should do before pulling on it any harder. There will be more pictures as I proceed, and I'll fill in some of the earlier bits when I reassemble, if I have time.

It looks like you got the two screws, excellent! After that, notice that the metal sheath covering the circuit board has sections on the left and right sides that are bent 90 degrees down (into the body). Each of these has a hole that locks into place with a tab on a plastic ridge. Gently pry them outward, away from the plastic, and the keypad board should come off. It's kind of tricky to do because the plastic ridge structure obscures the best places to insert a prying tool.

Did you separate the tinted plastic from the silver plastic of the outside clamshell cover somehow? Er... Is that possible to reassemble?

Good luck, and thanks for the picture!