Help Blown Speaker?

Do you need to have the verizon insurance for the phone to get a replacement or does the regular warranty when you purchase the phone cover it?

maskeeta888 said:

Do you need to have the verizon insurance for the phone to get a replacement or does the regular warranty when you purchase the phone cover it?

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You should be able to use your 1 year manufacturer warranty....

Well I called Verizon today to get my SECOND Incredible replaced due to a blown speaker. Hopefully third times the charm!

My first Dinc's speaker blew, and now my replacement is blown as well. I found the same metal shavings in both. I'm curious, do any of you use a case on your phone?

My guess is that the shavings are coming from within the speaker itself when it self destructs - not being picked up from the environment when not using a case.

Someone reported in another forum that a Verizon rep told them a software fix was in the works. I'm guessing the software fix will only limit the audio output to prevent the speaker from being damaged.

Overly said:

My guess is that the shavings are coming from within the speaker itself when it self destructs - not being picked up from the environment when not using a case.

Someone reported in another forum that a Verizon rep told them a software fix was in the works. I'm guessing the software fix will only limit the audio output to prevent the speaker from being damaged.

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I think there just from pockets or wherever you might set the phone....The other I sat my phone down on my desk here at work....picked it and a paperclip actually stuck the back of the phone from the magnet of the speaker!....It's that easy!

Assuming the particles are still sitting on the grill itself and haven't poked any holes in the cone, a decently strong magnet will pull them off without any trouble. You can either buy one or extract a nice rare-earth magnet from any dead hard-disks you have lying around.

I have both the extended back (HTC 2100mah battery) and a silicone skin and I still saw some small metal particles on the grill. There are no sound issues so far and it cleaned up with one swipe of a strong magnet.

matab14 said:

I think there just from pockets or wherever you might set the phone....The other I sat my phone down on my desk here at work....picked it and a paperclip actually stuck the back of the phone from the magnet of the speaker!....It's that easy!

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My speaker has sounded like shit for a few months now. I've been needing to return it.

Best of luck with your refurb then. I've had mine since release with no issues #knock on wood

You might be back in the same boat later, so just keep an eye on it. I'm super serial.

ManbearpigIMO said:

My speaker has sounded like shit for a few months now. I've been needing to return it.

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Lol that's one reason I haven't returned it yet. Ive had it since release and don't want a refurb

I'm taking my 2nd DInc back this weekend. Gonna show my ass and see if they'll let me switch to the Droid X.

I have noticed another real issue with my phone that is killing me. The optical trackball will go crazy and randomly start skipping around. When it does this, I can't text because the cursor moves through the words as I type, I can't browse the web because the screen is constantly moving. I can't do much of anything with the phone when it does that, to be honest. I know it's the trackball, and not the screen, because I can see it highlighting links in the web browser. I'm meticulous about my phone being clean so I know it can't be dirt or anything like that. Anyone else have this problem?

Blown Speaker Update - Well I just blew out my 4th Incredible Speaker! Only thing that seems to be the same on all the phones is my plastic/rubber case. So I am cutting the back out of the case around the speaker area and see if that fixes my newly shipped 5th phone! All I can figure is the case is causing the speaker sound to bounce back at the speaker and cause damage over time. That's my theory!

holdshort said:

Blown Speaker Update - Well I just blew out my 4th Incredible Speaker! Only thing that seems to be the same on all the phones is my plastic/rubber case. So I am cutting the back out of the case around the speaker area and see if that fixes my newly shipped 5th phone! All I can figure is the case is causing the speaker sound to bounce back at the speaker and cause damage over time. That's my theory!

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Metal pieces. Try a piece of tape over the speaker hole

Yeah I always have the metal pieces coming out before the speaker takes a crap. What would the tape be for?

holdshort said:

Yeah I always have the metal pieces coming out before the speaker takes a crap. What would the tape be for?

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The metal will stay on the tape and not the speaker magnet.

Has anyone gotten new DI's or have all the replacements been refurbs? My speaker cracks real bad when at higher volumes. I have a launch day INC and would rather have a refurbed amoled then a new TFT screen.

Called just now got my refurb coming on Tuesday. Hate to part with my launch day INC but the speaker is driving me nuts. Hopefully the replacement has no issues with it. I refuse to baby my device as far as volume goes. HTC did extensive testing regarding speaker/sound capabilities. My HTC Vogue handled everything I could throw at it without any problems for 2 years and I expect the same for my DI.

I've had my incredible since release. I drive at minimum 5 days a week at full speaker volume. My speaker still sounds great.

The one thing I have noted, since I've heard about this speaker problem, is that the exterior of my speaker had a fairly substantial amount of metal particles in it. That magnet is strong, and if it's anywhere near powdered (ferrous) metals it will pick them up whenever you put your phone down.

I have removed those particles twice now (using a rare earth magnet) and everything still sounds great.

Reddog80p said:

Called just now got my refurb coming on Tuesday. Hate to part with my launch day INC but the speaker is driving me nuts. Hopefully the replacement has no issues with it. I refuse to baby my device as far as volume goes. HTC did extensive testing regarding speaker/sound capabilities. My HTC Vogue handled everything I could throw at it without any problems for 2 years and I expect the same for my DI.

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well chalk me up for another blowout! Made a decent run this time. Went almost 4 months! DINC #4 will be here tomorrow!

Mine blew yesterday and Verizon is sending me a replacement phone over night which should be here tomorrow...

My release day incredible blew the speaker about 6 weeks ago. They sent a certified replacement or what ever. Now I noticed that one went bad today. Just been in the house all day and did not use it but 5 minutes and noticed when I raised the volume and it beeps that it is real tiney sounding. Then tried playing music and it sucks. It has lots of static sound even at half volume.

I think I will try wiping with a rare earth magnet and see if it helps as I have only played about 2 hours of music through this one. My old one had 100 hours or more on it.

I do use the alarm at full volume with alarm sound SNOOZE. I WONDER IF THAT IS TOO LOUD FOR SPEAKER AS IT REALLY WAKES ME UP IN A PANIC?

Well there is something to this idea about metal filings on the speaker. I took a close look today. I took the back cover off which exposes the battery. If you look at the area where the speaker is there is a small oval area in the cover. At that spot on the speaker there was a ton of metal filings on the exterior standing up trying to get into the screened off area. They are attracted by the speaker magnet. I also saw some metal filings on the inside of my silicon protective cover that i usually have on the back of the phone. Those I wiped off with a paper towel.

I took the battery out and I took a stong earth magnet that I salvaged from an old disk drive about 15 years ago and made sure i kept the magnet away from the SD card and the batery, in case the magnetic field would cause any harm to it and lose data. I was also concerned about the other stuff in the phone around the speaker and if it would be effected by the magnet.

Then I swiped the magnet over that area and it pulled the top stuff off. Then I noticed some had gotten inside and was along the edges of the box area. I tried to get those out too but was less successful at that. But some came out. Nothing seems to have gone bad from it and I litteraly laid the magnet right on the screen and swiped it back and forth many times.

I even tried this with the phone ON and music playing later as well and it did not do anything strange as of yet. No garantees on that though, so be careful if you decide to try this.

After removing the filings, the distortion I had was reduced by about 50% but there is still some there. It is still not crystal clear like it was when I got the first incredible or the replacement. So I will probably still ask for a replacement sometime.

But now i think I know what contributed to the speaker failing. There is no protection over the speaker to keep metal shavings out. The screen area seems to actually be the seaker resonator. If you touch it the sound volume is reduced a lot as well as the distortion is reduced.

I also found if I put the battery cover on and then a piece of folded up paper towel over the speaker hole and then put my silicone cover onn over that it reduces the static and the volume. You lose a lot of volume. I have to have it on high most of the time now with that in place. But it sounds better.


The moral of the story. Stay away from metal shavings. In my case I have it with me when I work on my truck which I have been sanding on and I guess it got dust in the air and sucked it in. I use it to take before and after pictures with and doucment parts I take off the truck so I know how to put them back on. Somewhere in that process it picked up the metal dust/ filings.

So on my next phone I will have to protect it better. Maybe put some scotch tape of something over the oval hole above the screen.


You should take a look at that screen with the battery cover off and try to remove any shavings that may be on it as they will mess your phone up.


No software fix will fix that problem!

you ****in geniuses... i swiped a stack of rare earth magnets over the speaker and cleaned out a lot of the shavings and now my phone sounds fantastic again... you guys saved my dinc from getting a LCD screen. <3

Bought mine on launch day as well, replaced it a month and a half ago due to a defective power button but speaker was fine. Just ordered my replacement for a blown speaker and defective mic today, should be here thursday.