I hoped that trading in my cyan for white would resolve this, among many other issues. The rattle is the only problem that wasn't resolved. Matter of fact, my white Lumia is waaay worse on the rattle than the old cyan phone.

I'm considering opening up my phone, using the instructions from CNET, to see what I can learn. If it is something loose, a dab of super glue should fix it. If it is interference in tolerance between a non-critical component and the vibration wheel, a little Dremel or X-acto action may fix it.

We'll see.

So interestingly......

I have always noted the Vibrate module sounded a bit "flimsy" or perhaps cheap. Because of that I always assumed I had one of the vibration modules that eveyrone is complaining about.

Last night I played a game on the phone that I hadnt in a while. "Max and the Magic Marker"

When you touch the screen to "Draw" with the magic marker in an illegal area it turns on the vibrate motor. What it seems to do though is toggle on and off VERY quickly while holding in one of those spots. The vibrate module sounded like it was flinging itself apart. It was far and away the worse thing I have heard coming out of my phone.

I decided to bite the bullet and go to the store and see about an exchange. I tried two demos and 3 of the employees phones and they all sounded exactly like mine with the diag test. I had also tried my wifes 900 and it sounded like mine in diag vibra test mode as well. They didnt have the game so I couldnt test that.

In the end I decided not to because I wanted to reconfigure a new phone so soon after buying this one about as much as I wanted to put a hole in my head and it seemed that there would be no difference.

So now I am wondering if mine is actually "normal" and there are worse sounding vibra modules because I find it hard to believe that mine is a "bad one" when others have taken their phones in and have found better units but I tried 6 that sound the same as mine.

As to what the problem is... My money is that part of the module is in contact with something that is transferring the vibration directly to the unibody thus causing teh resonance we are hearing.

Try this: shake your phone in hand close to your ear. Mine, I can hear a rattle. I am almost certain it is not the motor, but something else causing the buzz in these phones when they vibrate.

Originally Posted by kenikh

Try this: shake your phone in hand close to your ear. Mine, I can hear a rattle. I am almost certain it is not the motor, but something else causing the buzz in these phones when they vibrate.

Yeah its there when I shake it. I have also observed additional "noise" when I tap the screen more than just lightly.

It's near the camera, that's for sure.

As mentioned in some other threads, the rattle comes from the auto-focus component of the camera. The best way to test it is to go to the camera app, and switch between picture and video. If you have auto-focus enabled (which by default you should), you can hear the auto-focus clearly go on and off when you switch between modes.

As for my phone, if I shaked it in my hand, I couldn't hear the rattling, but it's there when you start the vibration test with the diag tool. I ended up exchanging my phone due to this, and the "purple" tint others have said about the screen at the lowest brightness.

Originally Posted by deealf

As mentioned in some other threads, the rattle comes from the auto-focus component of the camera. The best way to test it is to go to the camera app, and switch between picture and video. If you have auto-focus enabled (which by default you should), you can hear the auto-focus clearly go on and off when you switch between modes.

We have a winner! Interesting.

I have the rattle as well, very annoying. I wish I could turn off vibrate all together, but that is not an option.

I went into the ATT store and all the demos and the employee phone had the rattle, so I did not want to go through the exchange process.

Here's a long overdue follow up.

I finally cracked open my Lumia 900 after breaking the screen and needing to replace it. I had nothing to lose since AT&T wouldn't cover the phone's screen and insurance deductible was the same price as the part...anyhow...

The rattle is 100%, unequivocally, without a doubt and with 6sigma certainty coming from the vibrator mechanism soldered to the main board. This mechanism sits directly to the side of the camera mechanism.

With the phone 100% disassembled, I was able to manipulate the parts in my fingers and test each and every parts the culprit. It is the vibrator motor and it cannot be fixed without extreme measures, like desoldering it from the board for inspection.

The cause is as simple as a crappy part Nokia OEMed from someone else.

BTW...totally different mechanism from the 800. After having been inside both, its pretty clear to me the 800 is a MUCH higher overall quality device than the 900. If the 800 had LTE and FF cam, it would kill the 900.

Anyway...bottom line: if your phone rattles, it is not user serviceable. Take it back.

If anyone wants pics, lemme know and I'll post them.

Got a white one in Asia this week with a manufacture data of 6/20/2012. It is perfect, not a hint of the rattling I experienced on an AT&T white one right when they came out.
So, whatever it was, it's been addressed in later manufacturing runs.

Sent from my Lumia 900 using XDA Windows Phone 7 App