Microphone Not Working

[DLCPhototography]

My daughter has a stock Verizon LG G3, purchased via Edge about 3-4 months ago, no insurance plan. It went into the toilet very briefly a couple of months ago, but was in a Uniform Beetle Pro Series Supcase, so relatively little water got in. Within a few minutes, I removed it from the case, removed the battery, and saw a little water in that area. We blew it with a hair dryer for a while, hopefully drying out whatever moisture remained. We turned it back on later, and it seemed fine.

Yesterday she told me that when she makes a phone call, she can hear the other person, but nobody can hear her. I just tested it out, and confirmed this to be the case. If we put it on Speakerphone, the other person can hear her. If I plug in a headset, the other person can hear her. So it seems like the microphone is not working.

Any other ideas on what might be causing this problem?

If it is the microphone, is there anything I can do to repair it?

Can it be repaired by a professional, and if so, what kind of cost are we looking at?

Thanks for any information and/or advice.

Don

 

[Andy Bredemeyer]

Search this forum for other threads about microphone not working--there is a known issue about OK Google detection from any screen. When that's enabled, at least on Android 4.4, this happens. I thought that speakerphone and headphones didn't help tho. Still, you might try it. Go into Google Now (Google search app) settings and under Voice (I think), disable detection from any screen. See if that does any good. Good luck.

 

[DLCPhototography]

Search this forum for other threads about microphone not working--there is a known issue about OK Google detection from any screen. When that's enabled, at least on Android 4.4, this happens. I thought that speakerphone and headphones didn't help tho. Still, you might try it. Go into Google Now (Google search app) settings and under Voice (I think), disable detection from any screen. See if that does any good. Good luck.

Thanks for the reply and suggestion.

I checked this, and Google Now from any screen wasn't selected. I unchecked the first Google Now option just out of curiosity, but this made no difference.

Where is the physical microphone for when it's on Speakerphone? I assume it has to be different from the 'regular' one down on the bottom front of the phone.

Any other ideas on whether or not this could be a software or setting issue? Any ideas on repairs?

Thanks again.

 

[DLCPhototography]

Some additional information:

• Works fine with Speakerphone.
• Google Now on any screen was not checked. I turned off the regular one as well.
• Booted into Safe Mode.
• Uninstalled Google App updates.
• Pulled battery, SIM card, blew aggressively into the opening.

None of these worked.

If I talk/yell directly into the microphone opening, it sometimes gets through, but sporadically.

One interesting piece of information that puzzles me:

There is an 'echo' of what is spoken into the microphone coming from the earpiece, with a split second delay, even if the other party isn't hearing anything. Where is this coming from, and does it imply that the microphone is actually working, but some software glitch is preventing it from being transmitted to the person you're speaking to??

Any ideas/suggestions appreciated. Haven't tried a Factory Reset yet, but that might be next.

A big question for me is if Verizon will screw me over saying this is water damage, while it might really be an original hardware problem, or some Lollipop update artifact.

 

[Umass021]

You could try a factory reset but I don't think that will fix it either. You best bet is to call Verizon instead of going down there. They should be able to order a replacement thru the phone.

 

[DLCPhototography]

You could try a factory reset but I don't think that will fix it either. You best bet is to call Verizon instead of going down there. They should be able to order a replacement thru the phone.

Thanks for the reply. I suspect you may be right.

My concern is that the water damage indicator will show the previous exposure to water. Will this invalidate the replacement process? In other words, will they note the damage when the phone is returned, and then want to charge me full price for the replacement?

 

[Umass021]

I'm not sure how that would work. Does the phone have one of those stickers that turned color?

 

[DLCPhototography]

I'm not sure how that would work. Does the phone have one of those stickers that turned color?

Yeah it does. As far as I know, all phones do.

It's a white square of paper of some sort, with pink markings in it. If it gets wet, the pink will diffuse through the white paper, turning it pink, and that's going to invalidate any warranty. The Verizon guy in the store said that sending it in won't help - they'll examine it, it'll get flagged, and they'll want money for the refurb. The guy in the store has a little leeway, depending on how pink it is.

I'm still interested in my question above, especially the bolded part:

There is an 'echo' of what is spoken into the microphone coming from the earpiece, with a split second delay, even if the other party isn't hearing anything. Where is this coming from, and does it imply that the microphone is actually working, but some software glitch is preventing it from being transmitted to the person you're speaking to??

Any other ideas welcome.