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iPhone 4S Volume Up Button Sticking.

hello,


i got a new iphone 4s on contract about a week ago now and ever since i got it when i press the volume up button just once, it sticks and takes it to full volume. Also when im just playing a game and my thumb is resting on it, it somehow triggers it and turns the volume up?


I'm not sure what to do, shall i just take it to the apple shop?


Thanks,

MacBook, Mac OS X (10.7)

Posted on Dec 22, 2011 1:48 PM

Reply
5 replies

Jan 11, 2012 8:24 PM in response to Rob Mather

Same here. Ive had my 4s since the 5th of January and I'm experiencing the same defect. I dont know if its technically a defect or not, but with everyday use I have managed to cause this model of the 4s to have this sticking effect.


Called Verizon on this issue. Luckily I'm still under their newer warranty policy of 14 days! Verizon's tech support guided me through the same process that i previously followed. He eventually called Apple and they said there has been no issue regarding this type of complaint. Well i have a video of this happening multiple times at hand if need be.


Love Apple and have been treating this new iDevice like precious cargo. Its strange that normal tare and wear would result in this way.


I dont know how to fix it permanently. Sorry. My only advice is to get the protection plan now, if all else fails.

Jan 11, 2012 9:43 PM in response to Gardner78

I purchased my Iphone4s first week of december and it too has the same problem I rang on the 10, 11 & 12 told it was software and to restore each time ... but no luck then got told it was a hardware problem go back to my provider which I did and they told me to contact Apple.... I will never again buy an apple product because after pay for this phone (not cheap) I am told to purchase a protection plan and then they will exchange it for a new one.... **** what did I just pay for .... because there are no Apple Stores in SA I get told to pay up.... well they can get stuffed will just buy another brand app phone from now on ...

Mar 19, 2012 4:13 PM in response to Rob Mather

Hi. I had the same issue, with my few months old iPhone 4s and I have solved it. Before you read it, I would like to mention, that I am a professional electronics engineer, and I do not encourage average user to open up electronics and furthermore try fixing it themselves. I decided to put this story out for informative use.


~~~~~~~~~ Story ~~~~~~~~~


It is hardware issue. More HW than you might imagine - it's mechanical. the fix is easy, but will void the warranty, I bet. Still, I will tell you what I did, how and why.


Firs of all - I came to conclusion that issue is mechanical by trying to pinpoint exact state of the device, when the glitch happens and it turned out that if I gently push any of the volume buttons in one direction (parallel to the surface of metal side frame of unit) - volume starts to go down. If i gently push any of them in other direction - it stops going down. This pretty much convinced me that issue is mechanical, so I did not waste time to do warranty circle-dancing and got screwdriver set from my drawer.


What I found, after removing cover (two 000 size penta-star screws) and battery (two 000 star screws), was that button board on flexi-PCB can be removed by 3 more 000 star screws. I removed it and gently flipped the button flexiPCB assembly around.


Now - remember, that if you are about to do so - you should be very careful, not to mess the flexiPCB, that is glued to chassis under battery.


What I found under the button assembly, is that button caps are welded to metal plate, and on other (internal) side of the plate, there is small "sliding spring" assembly welded to same plate. Those sliding springs are pushed agains the same flex-PCB button assembly right between the buttons and on both sides of the central screw hole.


Now the issue is that those sliding springs slide directly on top of button "hot" traces, scraping off the isolation coating (and later on they would scrape through the cooper trace itself, i believe).


Next - the button cap assembly is metal, and it goes through electrically grounded metal chassis of phone, when those springs touch the trace, they make an electrical connection. The button inputs of processor or whatever they go to, are pulled up by resistor. When you press the button, it shorts the input to ground, overriding the pull-up resistor, giving logic 0 on the CPU input, that is later inverted by software and interpreted as "volume button x pressed".


Now, what happens, when those springs touch the trace, is just the same electrical action. It grounds the corresponding input through the button assembly - chassis - to the system ground, giving the CPU button press signal.


~~~~~~~~~~ Fix ~~~~~~~~~~


Now, how to fix it? Take a look at that PCB with 5x or more magnifying glass, and you'll see a tiny spot, where the black coating is scratched thru and shiny metal is seen behind it. Just glue anything on there. I just took a robust and hard scotch tape, and made 2 little (about 2mm wide) stripes of it. Then I glued them in both places, where the sliding springs touch the button assembly. Why two, if there was only one button affected, only one spring got through the coating? because second one would do the same soon, and I don't wish to disassemble the otherwise nice gadget again.


~~~~~~~ Conclusion ~~~~~~~


It's definitely a mechanical issue, further more it's a design flaw. Apple should probably recall the series and replace the button assemblies. If those traces ware just routed few millimeters away from where springs touch down on the surface - it would already solve the issue.


If this helped anyone, be my guest and have a fun repairs.

Apple - if I helped you with debug - a gift coupon would be appreciated, but not required though 🙂

iPhone 4S Volume Up Button Sticking.

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