[Bryson]

So, my iPhone 3G is misbehaving. The physical buttons seem to be activated randomly even when nothing is touching them - so the phone will randomly go into vibrate, or back out, or the volume goes up and down, or the phone locks itself randomly. A reset makes the problem occur less often, so I suspect software rather than hardware. Any ideas? Anyone else experienced this?

[turtle]

My wife's 2G iPhone does that occasionally. I'm using it as a touch now but know exactly what you're talking about. I never did narrow down where it came from though. This poor thing's been through a lot so I'm glad it's alive at all. I just figured mine was due to abuse.

[Brad]

I have the opposite problem. I sometimes have to hit the home button twice or hold it a fraction of a second longer to get the click to register. *shrug*

[Bryson]

I'm going to try a full restore and hopefully it'll all be good.

Fingers crossed!

[Jerman]

I just fixed a friend's iPhone that stop registering button presses. The contacts had become corroded, so a quick cleaning of them and all was well. I believe it was dropped in a pool at some point, which would explain the damage...

All that to say, he has also had some trouble with the button registering presses for awhile, so we went ahead and ordered a replacement part for $7 shipped on eBay. So, if it ends up being a hardware problem, and you are comfortable opening it up (It really isn't too bad!), it is a cheap fix.

[Bryson]

Grr. Still doing it about 2 days after a full restore. Weird. Reset makes it better for a bit, and so far since the restore, it's only been the volume, not the lock button, but still rather irritating.

I guess I could try the genius bar, but they'll likely see that its out of warranty and suggest a replacement....something I could do without paying for. Heres another problem with forcing people to keep phones for multiple years...they run out of warranty while you're still under contract with them!

[drewprops]

I doubt that you're the only person experiencing this issue.... we're obviously going to see a raft of complaints about this 1st generation of iPads. I'm holding off a little longer to let the kinks get ironed out... so get out there and track down those bugs, you early-adopting beta-testers!!


...

[bassplayinMacFiend]

Originally Posted by drewprops I doubt that you're the only person experiencing this issue.... we're obviously going to see a raft of complaints about this 1st generation of iPads. I'm holding off a little longer to let the kinks get ironed out... so get out there and track down those bugs, you early-adopting beta-testers!! ...

Uh, this is an iPhone thread, not an iPad thread.

[drewprops]

and THAT'S what I get for trying to read the forums while printing out a proposal...... ::sigh::


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[danielsza]

Originally Posted by Brad I have the opposite problem. I sometimes have to hit the home button twice or hold it a fraction of a second longer to get the click to register. *shrug*

I had the same issue with my iPhone 3GS, when I finally got around to taking it to a apple store they ended up replacing the screen.

[Bryson]

Postscript: Took it to the Genius Bar, and unplugging and reseating the internal connectors appears to have cured the issue. Took 3 minutes!

[Bryson]

Depressing further update: After 3 weeks, it started doing it again... Only this time, it was mainly the lock key, rather than mainly the volume buttons, so the phone was basically unusable...and then I turned it off in the hope that would help. Big mistake: the phone got locked in a loop of turning itself off mid-boot (the only thing that had been saving me was the "slide to turn off" feature) so it wouldn't even start.

Had to lay out $250 on a new iPhone 3G (yes, 3G, not even an S). Grrr.

Oh well. When the 4 comes out in Canada I'm going to get that and my missus will have the G.

[Maciej]

Originally Posted by Bryson Had to lay out $250 on a new iPhone 3G (yes, 3G, not even an S). Grrr. Oh well. When the 4 comes out in Canada I'm going to get that and my missus will have the G.

Oh gosh, that's unfortunate. I'm guessing holding out for the arrival of iPhone 4 (with a crappy phone as a replacement) just waste an option?

[Robo]

Originally Posted by Bryson Had to lay out $250 on a new iPhone 3G (yes, 3G, not even an S). Grrr.

Seriously? I would have sold you my 3G for less than that. Oop.

Haha, this is some seriously Gift of the Magi shit, with you recycling that Wired and me not knowing you needed a phone and all

[Bryson]

Well, I need a Rogers one...

Anyway, this one has warranty and so on. The one weird thing is, the screen is much yellower than my old 3G. I guess I'll get used to it.