iPhone Problem: Left corner pressure reproduces random vibration

Fix mute button/random vibration on the iphone 3gs

My Problem

My phone is usually on vibrate. I don't like it possibly going off during a meeting and I share an office. A few months ago, my phone started to vibrate for no reason. During the middle of the night, under my pillow when no one was texting me. At about the same time, I noticed that it was vibrating when I pulled it out of my purse and also when I put it in my pocket. When I pull it from my pocket or purse, I use the left top corner. It vibrated whenever you pressed lightly on this same corner. Why didn't I just leave the volume on? Well, I just could not get used to it and all the sounds coming from the incessant texts, games etc. I really love my phone so I didn't want to upgrade even though its available to me. And I can't resist a tech DIY challenge.

I found this site (http://www.ifixit.com) and found another user who had a similar problem. It suggested that it be the mute button and a possible need for a replacement of the headphone jack.

Found this guide: http://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Installing-iPhone-3GS-Mute-Button/4488/1. I did not have the appropriate tools according to this site. I did instead use tweezers, a philips 00 screwdriver and a suction cup that I took from one of my kids toothbrush holders. I got nervous about opening up the phone, but I did it twice, but did not get through the whole list of instructions because I was so nervous.

Things you may need

• Spudger
• Tweezers for holding screws in place. Normally you would use a magnet or something, but I just didn't think a magnet was a good idea near my open phone.
• Felt like cloth
• Replacement Mute Button - though I am still unclear what the difference is between my replacement button and the one I removed. It's just a piece of plastic. 
• Small containers to keep your screws separated (I used masking tape, instead)
• Suction cup

My Fix

I finally chose to purchase the spudger and the mute button replacement. I took a deep breath, told the kids not to pull on me while I was doing this project and opened the phone up again. I executed all of the steps in the instructions except one; I could not actually get the battery out. I worked around that step, luckily you can get the job done without removing the battery. It just takes some patience and steady hands.  I had issues with putting the mute button in and keeping it in while reassembling, it was so small. AND I HAVE SMALL HANDS!



I used a pair of tweezers to hold it in place while trying to screw in the three screws to hold the volume parts back in place. I ended up using a strip of painter's tape to keep track of the little screws and grouped them by Step number and by size. Everything went very well and it was completely fixed when I got it back together. It was good that I had a couple of run throughs before the actual work.

Here I am testing that the vibrate icon doesn't
pop up

In many places the instructions say "gently" and "carefully" and those are really handy. I imagine that those are for people who are not generally gentle with their devices. I can't imagine doing this project with bigger hands.

My Advice

Make sure you have good light, tweezers, piece of felt or a towel. Tweezers are needed to help put the tiny screws in place. Oh and Duh, back up everything first.
Also, I figured out really late that if you have little kids, you really need to have a towel or something under your work area. That way, when your toddler wants to pull on you, and you drop the tiny tiny screws, it will drop but not necessary run all the way across the kitchen floor and under the stove. Just sayin...

http://www.ifixit.com/Story/3464/Left_corner_pressure_reproduces_random_vibration