Microphone not working anymore

I took my FP2 here in Brussels. They first tried to repair it by microsoudure to improve the microcontacts between the module and the mother board, but It did not work. So they ordered the spare part and replaced it. Now everything is in order and I have not paid more than if I had replaced it myself.
The technician had a lot of admiration for the FP project. For him, they are precursors and their product is very valuable, especially because it can be easily repaired.
So my phone works and I’m a little less annoyed with FP: if I had breakdowns it’s the fault of no luck and often it takes a lot of sacrifices to get things done…

Hi everyone; this just in, just to add on the DIY approaches to this issue: consider cleaning the contacts on the back of the display module.

The grey pad on the back of the display where the microphone module makes contact (there are three such areas) should be shiny. Mine were dull, and somehow oxidized. I scratched them shiny again using the tip of a screwdriver, and now when I test (using Skype test call, for example), the recording no longer sounds muffled!

I was starting to think (based on the poor quality before, which was sometimes muffled, sometimes completely gone with a weird ground-loop noise) that this must have to do with the microphone module itself, whose rubber has decayed. I tried opening the module itself: don’t bother and don’t risk it.

If milimeter tape isn’t helping, or you don’t want to just push a charging cable in hard whenever you talk, try inspecting the contacts!

I also tried bending up the pins on the microphone module so they would push harder. Not sure if that also helped.

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I have had 2 bottom modules fail, replaced the first myself, second on warranty not long after first. Third is working fine a few months on…

but now can’t connect to my device by USB cable, via ADB or usual storage connection, with multiple cable, different computers, and any of the 3 bottom modules! Perhaps unrelated, hard to know if hardware or software. Still charges via any of these USB ports!

I had the same Problem with the primary microphone. Accidentally I found out that the issue comes from the USB charging port. When I pressed a specific spot on the bottom module the microphone started working again. I solved the problem by sticking a thin piece of metal between the charging port and the plastic cover of the bottom module. Now it is working pretty well again. I think this is tipical issue with the bottom module. A piece of wood or plastic should work just as well I´d guess.

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I have just repaired my mic successfully. i had mainly noise or nothing coming in the mic.
i did the following:

  • cleaned all the contacts with isopropyl alcohol: the bottom module contacts, display contacts (also had display glitches that now went away) and all the (springy) ground contacts with their counter-contact areas

  • i raised the ground springs a little bit so they apply greater force

  • i applied several layers of scotch tape on the back of the bottom module (directly behind the usb-port) so that the display applies some pressure to it

I dont know what exactly fixed it, because i did no testing in between the steps.

So it seems that at least cleaning really is a good bet before ordering replacement modules…
Good luck!

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I have just successfully repaired my microphone. I had a strong noise or nothing came into the microphone.
I did the following:

I put a small chip of wood (toothpick) to the right of the USB plug between the display and the botton module.

And it works!!

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I think for on speakers mode is a different microphone used. Check which microphone is not working in the settings-> system, maintenance -> check up-hardware diagnostics. (Hope I translated the steps correctly)
Sounds like your primary microphone is the problem. I recently had the same issue and I took out the bottom module and cleaned everything with a vacuum cleaner. Now it is working again.

UPDATE:
The problems came back. It probably was the taking the module out and putting it back in that helped more than the cleaning. :frowning:
I can sometimes ‘fix’ it for some time, by just pressing the bottom of the phone tightly together. Then the mic works.

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It’s correct, it was the primary microphone. But my “repairment” worked only for a few days. So I replaced the bottem modul (it is my third one) again and I had success.
The next time I will try your cleaning, Thanks.

This should be made correct answer. Fixed it for me, I used tiny bit of paper folded multiple times where this guy put the little bit of tooth pick

Cheers mate, worked for me too :smiley:

This is a long topic with a very unspecific title. Lots of people with different issues post here. One solution won’t apply to all of them.

But I’m glad this worked for you. :slight_smile:

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I’ve had this problem for yonks now, I even bought a new microphone about 18 months ago and it didn’t help. As I don’t talk much on the phone I’ve mainly used the secondary mic with the speaker on or earplugs (which is a bit of a nuisance as I wear hearing aids). Now I searched for trouble shootings again as I have several other issues with my phone and found this tip about bending the plug and it worked!!! Wish I’d found this earlier!

OK, I rejoiced too early! I noticed I hadn’t closed the blue buttons inside and when I tried again turns out I have to keep pressing the plug upwards, it’s only then the mic works. …

The primary microphone of one of my two FP2s stopped working today, produced a continuous crackling and hiss instead of voice. It was tested with the checkup tool. I cleaned the module and the main board contacts, to no avail. Here is the solution that I found: open the module by unscrewing the two Torx screws and by slightly lifting the side lock tabs. Inside you will find a pair of springs and golden pads for the vibrating motor and another pair for the mike. I cleaned the springs and pads and raised the springs for better contact. Reassembled and reinstalled the module, et voilà, problem solved, it’s working again. :ok_hand:

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Sorry to report that this didn’t really solve the problem. Those pairs of springs that I mentioned are for the vibrator and loudspeaker. I checked again the circuit and unfortunately the problem is with microphone soldered terminals that failed and are impossible to fix. As you can see in the picture below, the microphone (little detached metal rectangle with four terminals) is a miniature piece with soldered terminals that are impossible to reach for resoldering. This is the major design flaw of the FP2 in my opinion: the mike is soldered way too close to the USB connector on a flexiboard. The mechanical stress caused by connecting and disconnecting the USB will inevitably lead to terminal solder failure under the tiny microphone. Conclusion: had to order a new bottom module.

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Not that it makes the design any better, but at least this mechanical stress can easily be avoided for most use cases …

https://forum.fairphone.com/search?q=magnetic%20usb%20adapters

No mechanical stress at least for charging and USB connections to a computer.
USB OTG devices tend to not work this way, though.

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Thanks for the useful tip, yes, this could have saved two modules during the last 3 years.

Look at this old post from mietze. It solved my problem by using a little piece of rubbertape:

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Great! Mietze is a genius! Thank you! The test worked immediately!

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@Reri_Haufler @Fairfish Where exactly did you put he rubbertape? i tried, but it didn`t work, but i think i might have put the tape at the wrong place. If i press the phone where the microphone is located it works (not so well, but because of that I am sure it es a connection problem).