Another solution for the "caller can't hear me" pr...

Question

Ran into a problem with my cell phone the other day...  I could hear the caller, but he could not hear me.  Also, the Voice Recorder would not hear me either.  All of which suggested the microphone was not working.
I rummaged the web, tried the various solutions I found (loudspeaker on and off; phone on and off; reset device--both soft and hard; removed battery and SIM, too), and even called AT&T customer service, AT&T GoPhone service, and Nokia (they all suggested the reset steps).  No luck whatsoever.  The general consensus was that the phone was a goner and I needed to get a new one.  I was actually told that 2-2 1/2 years is about what should be expected for a cell phone's longevity!
The problem began when I inadvertently hit the camera key in the middle of the call.  So, I even tried Mute on and off in the camera's video recorder
In any event, I finally tumbled to a solution when I noticed the inside light of the cell phone shining through its side, at the bottom.  If I pressed down or squeezed the case, the microphone started working again!  Turns out that the screws inside that hold the innards to the front of the phone had gotten quite loose.  They are accessible when you removed the battery cover.  One of mine actually dropped out when I took the battery cover off.  Once I screwed them back in tightly, the microphone was back working like a charm.
Note:  The screws have some of sort of mini-Allen head type crevice for their tops (a torx of some sort?), so you'll need to be careful with what you use to screw them tight.
In any event, I'm posting this here because this was not covered anywhere else on the web and the tech people at the various companies didn't know about it either.
By the way, before you ever do a hard reset, make sure that you've backed up your stuff first and, whether soft or hard reset, make sure that you write down which settings you've tweaked-- main display, icons, custom keys, etc.--because you'll have to redo them later.  That'll save you lots of time and remembering!
On the Mac, for backing up, you can use iSync even with "unsupported" devices--search around there are tips on how to dig into iSync's contents and add your device.  Again, though, I would try the other solutions first before resorting to that.

Answer 1

iphone hardware troubleshooting   http://support.apple.com/kb/TS2802