Motorola Droid only plays stock notification sounds.

[Equality 7-2521]

I can't get my Droid to play anything but the stock sounds for notifications. If I try a custom sound I get this crappy digital phone ring sound. I have made all my folders on the root of the card. I have tried rings extended but it still does the same thing. It shows the sound I want. It plays it in the selection screen but when it comes time for the phone to play it all I get is that stupid bell. I even used sounds that I know work as ringtones by copying them to the notifications folder, but still that ring is all I get. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[pyehac]

(I'm not familiar with the Droid, so it might be a bit different, button wise) Open either your email or sms, then press the menu button, and go to Settings, and scroll down to select ringtone. It should be similar to the sms.

 

[milrtime83]

I briefly had the same problem a while ago and I'm not sure what I did to fix it. Have you tried taking the battery out and putting it back in?

 

[thecrazing]

I think Pyehac is correct. Either that, or your phone is fubar'd in such an incredibly odd and specific way that doesn't really make sense.

You're setting the Default notification to your custom ringtone. But, each app can have its own specific notification ringtone. So if you want this custom tone for text messages, you have to go to your SMS app (like, 'Messaging' or 'Handcent SMS'), and change the notification settings in that app. Chances are it's not set to default. Set it to default, and it will play whatever you set the default as, and will change as you change the default setting. Change it to something else, and you'll have a differentiated notification for this specific app, but you'll have to go back to the in-app settings menu again if you want to change the notification sound again.

 

[carlz28]

I have come across this situation a few times before with my DROID. Not only would it play some dumb bell ringer, but it wouldn't even show any other media available to use as a ringtone/notification tone other than the stock sounds included with the phone. I knew darn well the sounds were on the SD card, yet not showing as an option. I atttributed it to a conflict with an app that had a notification setting option. I don't remember which app it was specifically, but I do remember I re-installed the same app and it didn't happen again. But, after the app was uninstalled, I still had to ultimately reboot the phone to get all the media avalailbe to use for ringtones and notification sounds. I would suggest trying that first, possibly even a battery pull.

 

[thecrazing]

That it gave you a wrong and limited selection for the notifications somehow makes more sense to me. Something was blocking it from checking the SD cards' notifications. But the OP is saying he can see the notification tone he wants, and it will even play it for him in the settings, but it will refuse to acknowledge those settings when it comes for the actual event. That just feels like something other than a process conflict, to me.

 

[carlz28]

Ahhhh, I see. I misunderstood the OP with my previous experience. I agree with you though. Definitely sounds like a bigger issue than the inability to read the SD card. But my experience did have in common the fact it only played the "bell" sounding ringer. But specific to my situation, it wouldn't play anything BUT the bell ringer. My settings showed the stock sounds, but wouldn't play them. A battery pull wouldn't hurt anything. It cleared my issue. Maybe it will work for the OP.
Sorry I couldn't be of more assistance OP

 

[thecrazing]

Ohhhhhh. Even if it showed only the stock ones, you couldn't even play all of those? Maybe these do have something in common.

 

[alex40cal]

if youre havin trouble try dl a new app that can select different tones. like handcent or tone picker and select either one besides the android system as default.