Phone always thinks its open!

[Guest jer1691]

Hey, im new to post on modaco, but ive actually browsed the forums for years now because of the great info! thanks everyone.

My problem is that I accidently dropped my mpx200 the other day on the carpet (nothing major that ive havent ever done before) which sat their till the night then before i went to bed i picked it up and went to make a call and i realized the battery was completely dead. (im thinking dropping it was the problem? but im not positive when the problem started)

So anyways after fiddling with it for a while i realized the problem was that the screen was on 24/7 even with closed which caused my battery to die within 3 hours or so.

After messing with it for a while and trying to figure out what happened i realized that the phone now ALWAYS THINKS ITS OPEN! So the outside backlight never lights up (as it wouldnt when the phones open), the phone wont answer when you open it automatically, the ringtone is very quiet (as it is if someone called you when the hinge is open)

So it all seems like the hinge isnt working anymore to tell whether its opened or closed.

Could there be some damage to the magnet in the hinge telling it whether or not its open or closed? and if so is it fixable.

The phones only 3 weeks old, but i got it off ebay so no possible refund as of now. The phone still works great its just its almost frustrating to use as its really quiet, outside lcd doesnt light up, open phone answer doesnt work, and i have to have the backlight time out after 5 seconds so when i do close it and put it in my pocket it saves the battery life. So for sure it always thinks its open.

I hope someone can help or has ideas! thanks in advanced.

-Jeremy

[Guest m1.carson]

Gee Whizz,

Yes there is a connector at the hinge which somewhere on this forum will tell you how to take the phone apart and re-connect it.

Or, try >start>settings>phone>call options>any key answer on/off. [done]

then start>settings>more>power management>backlight and display. [done]

THEN start>settings>more>phone settings>flip answer and ext LCD settings.

[done]

That should keep you occupied for a while.

Good luck.

P.S. if you've had the IR port on, that kills the battery in 2-3 hours, you have to turn it off manually.

[Guest jer1691]

yep ive already actually done all that carson, thats the only way to save enough battery life to even use the phone for the day.

thanks for the info though, but id like to find someone that may know for sure if this is fixable at all!

[Guest awarner [MVP]]

There is a magnet in the top half of the phone that operates a switch on the mainboard.

The magnet is covered by a yellow piece of film as shown in this picture here.

There are no connectors related to the actual on\off operation of the backlight.

[Guest jer1691]

so is there a way that that magnet could have gotten jolted when i dropped it, causing it not to work? And if i took the phone apart do you beleive there is a good chance of fixing it.

Im looking at the magnet in the picture you posted, but i cant quite make out how the magnet actually works (telling the phone whether or not its open)

ps- i really dont think its just the backlight. The phone always thinks that its OPEN, and acts like its open all the time, which gets me to beleive that the magnet is somehow damaged? or not working properly to tell it when the phone is actually closed.

Awarner do you have anything to add to help me out alil?

Edited December 9, 2005 by jer1691

[Guest awarner [MVP]]

It's unlikely that the magnet is actually the fault but rather the control switch it operates on the main board.

Without testing you can never be 100% but unless you are good with soldering surface mount components and obtaining the parts I would say it's not a normal user type repair.