Volume randomly dropping and raising

[AC Question]

I have an HTC One M9 and lately (the past two weeks or so) the volume has been spiking up to max or muting itself and fighting with me when I try to increase it back to normal. My phone has also been playing audio through the external speakers while I have headphones plugged in at random times. Other issues include: music randomly stopping/starting and music have second long pauses/glitches. I'm running on the most recent update (as of October 2, 2016) 3.37.605.13. I have had these issues with other music apps not just the stock app which I typically use. Any advice/answers are aooreciated.

 

[ShilpaRiktam]

There are many possible reasons for this issue. You should start the troubleshooting by checking if a third party app installed in your phone is causing this problem. To do this you need to start your phone in Safe Mode.
Press and hold the Power key.
On the screen, touch and hold Power off under Phone Options.
When the ‘Reboot to safe mode’ message appears, tap RESTART.
When the phone restarts it will be in safe mode.
If the issue does not occur in this mode then it may be caused by an app. Find the app that is causing this and uninstall it.
Even though if the problem is not solved then perform factory reset

 

[B. Diddy]

Welcome to Android Central! I'd suspect a problem with the headphone jack, which might be getting false signals to change the volume or pause/play media. Inspect the jack closely to see if there is any debris in there. Use a can of compressed air to blow it out, or a damp toothpick to root around. If it's clear and the problem still persists (and if Safe Mode doesn't make it go away, as suggested by ShilpaRlktam), then contact HTC for warranty repair.