Loudspeaker stopped working - BH

[lgtrombetta]

The loudspeaker on my Braveheart Pinephone used to work in the past. Now I realized it doesn't work anymore, while both the earpiece and headphones continue to work normally. I cannot pinpoint the exact moment when it stopped working.

While I'm not certain this is a hardware problem, I've tried various current system images (ubports, pmos, mobian) as well a factory test image and even an older image from March (when I'm positive the loudspeaker was working) with no luck, so I'm inclined to think it is.

Did this happen to anybody? Any clues on what the reason may be? Any chance there is a solution?

Thanks.

[wibble]

When I unscrewed the back of mine (just to have a look around) I found one of the connectors on the bottom board wasn't properly seated, although I hadn't had any problems. I guess it had made the connection even though it wasn't fully inserted.

[lgtrombetta]

When I unscrewed the back of mine (just to have a look around) I found one of the connectors on the bottom board wasn't properly seated, although I hadn't had any problems. I guess it had made the connection even though it wasn't fully inserted.

Thanks for the quick reply!

I opened mine earlier and upon a quick inspection I didn't see anything out of place, but I will check again later.

New info: The motor isn't working either (as tested with the factory test image). I don't recall it ever working, but I cannot be sure. As far as I can tell it is connected next to the speaker, so there is likely a common cause.

[Alho]

I have had that problem with the motor too. Worked with test image when I receiver it; but when I tested that again recently - it didn’t work anymore.
However a reset of the phone did the trick ! Out with the battery and pressed reset button for
10 seks - and then the test image worked for the motor again.

[lgtrombetta]

I have had that problem with the motor too. Worked with test image when I receiver it; but when I tested that again recently - it didn’t work anymore.
However a reset of the phone did the trick ! Out with the battery and pressed reset button for
10 seks - and then the test image worked for the motor again.

Thanks for the suggestion. Unfortunately I found the cause of the problem to be severed cables. To be more precise, the yellow section got completely separated from the green PCB board, and therefore both the speaker and the motor are no longer connected. See the picture from the store:

I am guessing that this was caused by some mechanical stress applied to the USB-C connector, most likely by handling the phone carelessly while it was connected to the charging cable. This seems to be somewhat of a design flaw, since the two sections are only held together by a very weak link, which are the wires themselves.

I am not skilled enough to try to repair it myself (and I don't want to risk making it worse), so I guess I will have to just buy the replacement part: https://store.pine64.org/?product=pineph...side-board

Too bad the shipment is more expensive than the part itself...

[daniel]

MAy be someone can upload a video how to repair this

[VaZso]

To be more precise, the yellow section got completely separated from the green PCB board, and therefore both the speaker and the motor are no longer connected.

I didn't open the phone, but these kind of cables are usually solderable.
So if these pads on PCB are intact (very likely) and flex cable is not destructed or at least it has the soldered wires accessible (at least partly), then it can be soldered to its place by somebody familiar with soldering iron.

I don't say you should do it (if you don't have experience in soldering), but I think you may find somebody around which would worth a try.