Permanently Fix SGS2 Echo and Digital Noise Reduction/Cancellation Problems

Hi All

I spent the last 2 days trying to find a simple solution to this problem. Even though my phone is still under manufacturers warranty and Service Providers warranty I decided to just do this as working carefully there will be no indication that the phone has been opened or the "fix" has been applied

I for one couldn't take my phone to a service centre as they would have booked in my phone and gave me some Nokia 3100 knock-off budget phone for one and the repair would have taken 21 days and having business requirements that my phone needs to meet I decided to just do it myself.

So I decided to open it up myself and fix it and here is the guide on how to permanently fix the echo that people get when phoning you.

Problem:
When you receive or make a call people on the other end of the line hear a echo of themselves and this might be intermittent but seem to be worse when having any type of cover on the phone.

Reason:
The reason this occurs is because the speaker depicted in the 3rd photo labelled as "B" has a rubber seal at the bottom of it that has gone loose from the casing by either a drop or some vibration that is making the speaker's sound go into the phone and picked up by the NC (Noise cancellation) microphone shown in the same photo as "A" rather than be isolated and out the speaker hole on the front of the phone.

Fix:
This fix is fairly simple and permanent. You only need a 5mm x 12mm piece of cardboard or think paper that is around 0.5mm thick that can be used as a buffer.

Procedure:

Step 1:
Picture 1 Shows the phone screws that should be removed 1st depicted by round red circles. Keep the screws in the same order as you remove them as only 4 of the 7 screws have locktite on them and be sure when you replace them you put them back in the same position.

Step 2:
Picture 1 As depicted from 1 to 6 is the easiest way to follow to unclip your back and front cover from one another to not break any of the clips. The back cover is very rugged so don't be afraid to unclip it as it is unlikely to break.

See Below Picture no1


Step 3:
Picture 2 is how it should look like when the back cover has been removed. We will only be focused on the area in the red block called ZZ

See Below Picture no2

Step 4:
Picture 3 shows the 2 components that's interfering with one another. "A" is the NC microphone sensor. Be sure to check that the sensor is properly inserted into the rubber sleeve covering it. "B" is the speaker and is glued with some ridiculously little amount of glue into the housing of "B" and can be lifted with a tweezers or some small object to be able to lift it out of the housing in "B"

See Below Picture no3


Step 5:
Picture 4 Loosen the speaker by just moving it in this aspect north and south a bit until it can be lifted up. Please note the arrow as it flips the way the arrow is pointing to expose the casing it is housed in. Clean out the housing of any dirt and wipe the speaker off as well of any dirt or substance that might elevate the speaker a little bit in its housing.

Step 6:
Picture 4 Flip the speaker back into its housing and firmly press it down so that it seats itself well in the housing. The rubber that the speaker is surrounded with should press firmly in the housing to seal it of any noise coming into the phone.

See Below Picture no4


Step 7:
This is where you use the piece of cardboard or thick paper of 5mm x 12mm by 0.5mm thick and place it over the speaker. I recommend cutting up a business card as they are the correct thickness. When looking at Picture 4 the cardboard should be covering the whole red block as depicted by "C" and should look like Picture 5 when placed

See Below Picture no5


Step 8:
Close up the phone and screw everything back together. The piece of cardboard or thick paper will ensure that the casing press the speaker tightly in place and keep it there without letting it leak into the phone to cause the echo effect for people calling you.

Step 9:
Enjoy calls without any echo effect.

This is all very simple to do and my echo has gone away completely. The replacement part they are referencing to in other topics is not really the problem and has nothing to do with it. In the process of replacing that part the speaker gets loosened and removed out of the housing and upon putting the phone back together they securely glue the speaker back in place and thats why they get the same results.

If this guide helped please post and say so. The problem has no relation to software or anything other than the speaker leaking sound into the phone being picked up by the NC.

Hope this helps. My phone is working 100% without any issues.

manmad said:

nice find!!! Ill wait for some more feedback untill i test this myself

So its samsung's fault that we have problems!

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Ye to some extent. They should have used more glue to be honest but then it would have made it impossible to replace the part if it should break.

I fixed mine this morning this way that's why I made this post because I couldn't find anything to really help me to get this resolved and this is definitely the fix for it.

EQUANT said:

I tested 3 different brand new phones and all had the issue. Does this mean that Samsung fails to correctly assemble all of it's phones?!

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Think about it this way. Anything comes loose with vibration. Maybe the delivery company man handled the boxes a bit on delivery or the vibration on the phone itself while being shipped could have loosened it as well.

Remember the Speaker needs to be completely sealed off from the internals of the phone and that's why you need the buffer so that the casing can keep it firmly pressed in place and sealed off from the internals.

Been on the phone a lot today and every person I ask tells me there is absolutely no echo.

And that coming from a 100% guaranteed echo for the last month

manmad said:

so, anyone else tested this?

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I would seem that ppl will probably do it and then not come back to post it worked because my "Thank You" count went up yet no replies

If your phone does this why not just do it? You have nothing to lose

gasss12 said:

hi toxic dust Thanks for your guide,i didn't apply the fix yet...i'm italian so it's alittle bit difficult for me to follow and understand every step.
Is it ok to use insulating tape (like black tape)??
And did i understand properly ...you have to cover with the tape the whole "C" area highlighted in red?
Thank you very much

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I prefer not to use anything with glue on it. You could probably use insulating tape (black tape) but you have to remember there are heat distribution on the inside of your phone and it might stick now but with heat applied any glue a specially on tape like that becomes soft and might short your phone as glue becomes conductive when in a liquid form.

Thick paper wont conduct at all and heat has no effect on it hence the preferance to a solid piece of thick paper or cardboard.

I used a Business card and cut that to the size I needed. I'm sure you could find a Business card of some sorts lying around

Yes. You have cover the complete section marked as "C". You will see that the marked section is the complete speaker. Just make sure that the paper is properly sized and is on it directly because you need it to securely press the speaker in place.

Definatley no echo with no case though.

On a side note and not a whinge, probably worth mentioning in your guide which way the buttons go around when they fall out when you take the back off

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Mine was echoing without a case so for me its a 100% fix

The buttons can actually go in any way round. It will just make your button a bit more stiff to press. If you want the button smooth it has little hinges. Those hinges have a little dent in them on the 1 side. Ensure that those dents show to the screen side.

dutchiek said:

Thx toxicdust. Your solution worked perfectly!!!
I had this echo problem since I started using the Samsung Galaxy S2 with a Melkco case and was frustrated about it. Then I decided to buy a larger accupack (Samsung 2000 mAh type EB-K1A2E). This came with a separate backcover so I needed another case. The new flipcase (Samsung EF-C1A2B) is compatible with this larger accu. I hoped with this new (Samsung!) case the echo would have disappeared, but no, it was not! After reading about this echo problem in a different forums I stumbled on your solution. This was the first one that was likely to be a good solution and not some quirky workaround. So I started following your instructions and can now say the echo is completely gone! Wow man, thank you for this. Some extra details: It was easy to take the 7 screws out, but a little uncomfortable to open the back after that. Most easy is to simply use your fingernail in between the front and back of the housing on the side and go around. In my case the speaker seemed not as loose as in your case, so I didn't bother to try further to take it out. Only thing I did was checking the fixing of the two mics (seemed okay), pushed the speaker unit carefully in its housing (but did not seem to move though) and put a small piece of a business card on the speaker as you indicated. See the white piece in the picture below. I think I made it al little bit bigger then your 12 x 5 mm. The acoustical feedback loop has broken this way, so it is a perfect solution which only takes 10 minutes to do.

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Ye I had the same thing. No matter where I googled there was absolutely no solution and decided to trouble shoot myself as I wont be waiting 21 days to get my phone back with "No fault Found" response from them in any ways. I also have the extended battery and that made me also use they Silicone case that makes it even worse

After seeing how rugged the SGS2 is in the drop test on SmartphoneEnvy.com I decided to not use a case anymore as a 5 foot drop directly on the screen barely scratched the casing and the screen got no damage at all.

I am glad the solution actually works for more people and thank you for the picture. If you don't mind I will put it in my guide at the top for better illustration

Cool. Even though you used rubber its cool. At least it fix the problem

Regardless of what is used it needs to be about 0.5mm think. Also remember that you might have had something underneath the speaker keeping it lifted regardless of the amount of pressure you put on it that's why its recommended to clean the speaker and the housing