Galaxy S4 - No phone audio
k1mu
Newbie

I've been having a problem for several months with my S4 where suddenly on phone calls I have no audio. I can't hear the other end, and they can't hear me. If you search the web for this, this is a pretty common problem, with lots of suggestions from people that don't fix it.

When the phone gets into this state, it can be recovered by a full reboot, then after some period of time it breaks again.

Here's what's happening, and it's 100% reliable: reboot the phone. Join it to my Ford running Sync over bluetooth.  Have someone call me, and answer the call. Now the phone can no longer make or receive phone calls at all until it is rebooted. Even subsequent calls while that Bluetooth connection is still alive fail. You get one call, then the phone is no longer usable.

This is apparently a common problem across multiple phones running Android KitKat. A co-worker running a OnePlus 1 phone (which runs a custom Cyanogen ROM) also has this same problem with Sync breaking his phone.

This is a serious issue as it removes the ability to use the phone for emergency calling whenever I forget to reboot after taking a call.

Is Verizon aware of this? Is there a fix?

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Re: Galaxy S4 - No phone audio
B33
Legend

If you haven't tried this you might Try pulling the Sim Card,  shut your phone down pull the Sim Card for about 5 to 10 min. use caution when removing)  then reinstall it re-power your s4 pulling the Sim reconnects the phone to system see if in doing this fixes the issue your having with your s4

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Re: Galaxy S4 - No phone audio
k1mu
Newbie

Nope, this is not a hardware issue.

If it's a SIM problem, why would it always, reliably, 100% of the time fix itself by a soft reboot - note, not a power off: a simple reboot?  Why would it be reliably reproducible across multiple phones?

I'll guarantee that if you sync your phone to the current Ford Sync you will get only one chance at a phone call.  Seems pretty strange to me that a phone company wouldn't care if it's customers could actually, you know, make phone calls..


Well, at least this gives me a reason to break my current contract with them. If Verizon can't deliver phone service, why should I remain a customer?

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Re: Galaxy S4 - No phone audio
k1mu
Newbie

I see that there's a new VRUFNG6 update for the S4, with "better connectivity with Bluetooth" as one of the enhancements. Here's hoping that update fixes this for me.

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Re: Galaxy S4 - No phone audio
ph0tic
Enthusiast - Level 3

I'm sorry and correct me if I'm wrong but that is what broke your phone.I have the same damn issue. And I had problems with an update at the beginning of this year too. I am sick and tired of this.

Re: Galaxy S4 - No phone audio
Turyco
Enthusiast - Level 1

yes, this is infuriating, been going on for a few months now for me. soft reboot doesn't always work for me, just now I restarted 4 times and it didn't work. I took out the battery and rebooted that way, it worked but obviously it's no solution. another issue I've been having that started around the same time was USB tethering stopped working (or works unreliably). even worse, if I have it plugged in to my laptop just for charging while tethered through BT or WiFi hotspot, these will sometimes disconnect whenever the USB recognizes that the phone is connected (which only happens for a few seconds at a time). These issues are *seriously* affecting usability, and I really don't know what to do. The S3 worked a lot better, my wife has one and it still runs like a champ. My upgrade's up in February but if it's just going to be more of the same with an S5, why bother. It's too bad, I really liked the Galaxy series until a few months ago. Are Verizon, Google, and Samsung in the middle of a software battle royale or something? I find that Verizon continues to offer the best phone coverage, and I really like Samsungs as well as the Android platform, but there doesn't seem to be a solution in sight. I'm getting too old to mess around with hacking my main phone, and don't like Apple. I guess it's on to a Windows phone then =^ |  In the meantime, if anybody has a redeeming solution, please do share.

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Re: Galaxy S4 - No phone audio
vzw_customer_support
Customer Service Rep

Turyco, I can understand how this can be upsetting. I want to make sure that you have a good working device at all times. Since you have had this issue have you been able to place the phone into safe mode for a few hours to see if you are still having these same issues? You can always see the instructions on how to place th phone into safe mode by following this link: http://vz.to/1o7yos4 Please keep us posted after you test this out.

KevinR_VZW

Follow us on Twitter @VZWSupport

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Re: Galaxy S4 - No phone audio
ph0tic
Enthusiast - Level 3

Honestly, here's a better idea:

Replace all of our phones with unlocked devices. Then we can fix the problem ourselves, which is... Verizon's NG6 update.

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Re: Galaxy S4 - No phone audio
ph0tic
Enthusiast - Level 3
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Re: Galaxy S4 - No phone audio
k1mu
Newbie

Safe Mode does not fix this. I rebooted into safe mode, called with Bluetooth enabled, and it worked. Then I turned the car off and made another call to my phone with no audio. No surprises for me.

When is this going to be fixed? Would a logcat from the phone help, or anything else?

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