All Common Phone Problems And Their Solutions

In this update, I will be running you through all common phone problems and their applicable solutions. Generally speaking, phone problems do occur in different areas and fixing them needs basic knowledge.

The basic or fundamental knowledge of all common phone problems goes further to help you find specific ways to solve the associated phone problems. In this article, you will find resourceful links on this blog to solving phone problems.

List of All Common Phone Problems and Their Solutions:

1.   Mouthpiece Problem Solution:

Mouthpiece problem makes it difficult for receivers to hear the callers. The problem can be fixed with a good troubleshooting skills using multi-meter, see how to use multi-meter here.
To fix a mouthpiece problem, you will have to replace the mouthpiece itself or other causative components controlling it. Causes of this problem may include: High/Low resistance, oxidation, bad or partial contact, short/open circuit (faulty audio ICs). There is a detailed guide on that here.

2.   Earpiece Problem Solution:

Earpiece problem makes it difficult for receivers to hear their callers. This problem can also be fixed with a good troubleshooting skills using the multi-meter. It is also affected by ringer settings and other causative problems as outlined in nos. 1 above.  If you want to fix phone earpiece problem, find how to do that here.

3.   Ringer (Speaker, Buzzer) Problem Solutions:

Among all common phone problems, speaker seem to be one of the frequently occuring one as more users are actively involved in playing Mp3s with high volume thus, making speakers burst and call for replacements. This problem usually causes distorted sound or no sound when phone rings or when you try to play a video or music. Detailed guide here.

4.   Charging/USB Problem:

Charging problem makes it difficult to charge a phone. The problem could be as a result of partial or bad contact, bad charging port, shorted diode or capacitor, ICs, bad charging port, oxidation etc. Learn how to resolve this issue here.

5.   Dead Boot/Power Problem Solutions:

Power problem is a very worrisome problem and the most dreaded as its locks you out of your important data you have not yet backed up. The problem makes it impossible for phones to power on. The dead boot might be as a result of water damage, hard fall on the floor, faulty charger, software related etc. Worked examples here on how to fix a power problem.

6.   Power Switch or Button Problem Solution:

Power switch or button can also make it impossible for a phone to power up. Power buttons do go through wear and tear and can be replaced with new ones to get any phone working again.

7.   Keypad Problem Solutions:

Keypads are the interface used for interacting with a phone. A faulty or damaged keypad will make it impossible to operate a phone conveniently. In smart touchscreen phones, the nos. 123…, abc…. and other symbols are used for imputing data, when there is a crack, some parts of the screen will not work. The solution is to change the touchscreen. Where the phone is not a touchscreen phone, the inner keypad or related components will have to be troubleshooted for appropriate solution.

8.   Volume Switch/Button Problem Solution:

Volume switch or button makes it possible to increase or reduce phone audio volume. It can also be used for troubleshooting and entering the the fastboot and recovery mode in combination with power and home button. When the volume switch is faulty, you won’t be able to increase or decrease sound, you won’t be able to enter recovery or fastboot mode etc. The problem can be fixed by replacing the switch with a good one or checking for related faulty hardware components (ICs).

9.   Battery Terminal Problem Solutions:

The battery terminal problem can affect a phone’s well being. A broken battery terminal can cause a phone to be going off at a slight shift or shaking. To fix this problem, simply change the battery terminal with a good one. 

10.  Battery Error, High/Low temperature:

This warning is usually displayed while a phone is charging. While the phone is not on charge it can also display same. This problem can be as a result of bad or wrong battery spec detected by the BSI (battery size indicator).

Also, using a wrong charger can be responsible for this problem.  Aside the charger, charging ICs or related components can also be the cause of the problem. With careful troubleshooting, this problem could be fix. 

11.  Phone Network Problem Solutions:

As one all common phone problems, Network problems make it impossible for phone users to make or receive phone calls due to network loss or fluctuations.
The problem can be as a result of faulty internal components listed here. To fix such problem, there is a remedy for that in the article “Phone Network Problem Solutions“.

12.  Phone Rebooting Problem Solutions:

Phone rebooting happens when phone goes off and on repeatedly. This problem can be caused by a hardware component short or might be software related. Simply check for short or flash with the right firmware. 

13. Phone Not Optimized For Apps:

This is common with phones running on lower android version. This happens when you try to download and install an app say for example from the Google Play Store and then you are shown something like “your device might not be optimized for this app”. To fix this, go for an update. 

14. SD Card Reader Problem:

SD Card reader problem makes it difficult for memory card to be detected. This problem is mostly caused by broken or missing pins,  faulty memory card reader ICs,  bad or missing resistors etc. The pins can either be straightened or replaced, the IC or bad/missing resistors should be replaced. 

15.  Phone Storage Running Low, Release Space:

Most of the time,  this is as a result of limited space on internal storage space and deleting some files or app will solve it.  However, in critical cases caused by viral infection or crashed operating system, releasing space doesn’t fix the problem. Getting this problem fixed requires reloading or flashing or removing the viruses using monkey test tool. 

16.  Phone overheating

Overheating problem is caused by faulty charging IC and related components. It can also be caused by over-activity, e.g using and charging at the same time surfing the net with data on etc. Additionally, a bad phone battery or charger can be responsible for this situation, so you might want to check all that out. 

17.  Quick battery discharge problem:

This happens when battery drains fast. This problem is also caused by faulty ICs. It can also be as a result of bad or weak battery, too much minimized apps working in the background, malicious antivirus apps or bad coded apps with bugs. 

18.  SIM Card/Lock Problem Solution:

SIM card problem is also spotted among all common phone problems as they frequently  happen to phones. This problem makes it difficult for inserted SIM cards to be detected. The problem could be from the SIM card reader, surrounding or associated components.

In most cases, SIM card or insert SIM card or USIM problem is manually caused by users. It happens when trying to remove SIMs with cuts in their frame e.g. micro or nano SIM in their frames may get hooked during removal process. Affected SIM card readers are replaceable, and where the problem is component related, it can be troubleshooted with multi-meter for solution by an experienced technician.

On the other hand, a SIM lock means that a phone has been locked to a foreign network. When a phone is locked to another’s country network, it will be impossible to use such a phone with another SIM unless the phone is unlocked. This is different from pattern, password, or others like Google FRP, Blackbery and Apple ID lock etc. You can Google Search for both free and paid options.

19.  Camera problem solution:

This happens as a result  of faulty camera IC, Disconnected camera connector, flashing custom OS or installing beta updates. The listed causes are clues to the solution. 

20.  LCD screen display and touchpad:

This problem is common amongst phone users.  It happens as a result of falling down thereby making phone to go blank, blinking, or make parts of the touchscreen unresponsive. There is more on that in this article. For other all common phone problems solutions not in this list, you may search more articles on this blog.