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Help Proximity sensor while making calls

I believe that the problem is in the sensor hardware itself or there is dust in front of it, not in the drivers.

Informale, have you tried to light the sensor with flashlight? My sensor returns to 0 when the sensor is in very bright light.
 
Surprisingly, it does reset under bright light, but not just any light. I tried mega powerful LED torch - did not work. I tried a regular light bulb - it reset. Weird...

I would not say mine has dust over the sensor - seems free of any particles.
 
@informale:
try to hit top of yours Galaxy. I suggest coach or something soft. I tried some time ago and it works (dust inside mobile???) :]
 
crow6 said:
@informale:
try to hit top of yours Galaxy. I suggest coach or something soft. I tried some time ago and it works (dust inside mobile???) :]
Click to expand...

I do hope you meant couch ;) I'm afraid my Galaxy would not survive coach in any one of its meanings :D
 
Guys! Solved. Just get a can of compressed air and spray it into the speaker, using angle of approx. 45 degrees. 3 or 4 sprays fixed the sensor for me. It really was dust :(

See attached image for spraying instruction ;) Aim exactly where the arrow ends, not at the sensor but exactly there - this way it hits the sensor too.

Apparently it indeed has nothing to do with the firmware version. Shall we add that to the FAQ?
 

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That's the fix. I did it while I was calling my voicemail. Didn't work at the start of the call, a little compressed air and then it started working.
Thanks informale.
 
informale said:
Surprisingly, it does reset under bright light, but not just any light. I tried mega powerful LED torch - did not work. I tried a regular light bulb - it reset. Weird...
Click to expand...

I thing it's OK - as far as i know proximity sensor is just IR receiver and LEDs doesn't emits (almost) any IR radiation...

@informale:
Yes - couch. I'm not native english speaker - sorrry :] And I'm happy You did the trick ;)

About soft - I tried trick with changing driver and it helped me. So it can be also a fix for someone...
 
About soft - I tried trick with changing driver and it helped me. So it can be also a fix for someone...
Click to expand...

Well, maybe in some fw versions the driver is calibrated to react at lower thresholds - the trick with the light worked for me - which means that the sensor is somewhat functional even when covered with dust. But really, I now think the dust is the primary cause.
 
informale said:
Guys! Solved. Just get a can of compressed air and spray it into the speaker, using angle of approx. 45 degrees. 3 or 4 sprays fixed the sensor for me. It really was dust :(

See attached image for spraying instruction ;) Aim exactly where the arrow ends, not at the sensor but exactly there - this way it hits the sensor too.

Apparently it indeed has nothing to do with the firmware version. Shall we add that to the FAQ?
Click to expand...

Works for me, used a hoover to gently suck around the speaker, usb, headphone and odd hole in the top (???).

I also had a screen protector fitted, after trimming this down a bit so you clearly expose the 3 sensor dots on the right of the speaker, this also seemed to help.


Something to add, the Sensor test never changed unless the dialer was active, (IH4 FW) but having now (finally) updated to the official UK O2 IK4 version this now works well all the time.


Thanks to all as this problem was really really annoying.
 
oh, didn't notice that with my usb flap open (charging atm) - guess it's for some sensor?
 
I thought about it too, but I suppose Samsung engineers didn't )

And (though I'm not a sound engineer) I guess the position is not the best for noise cancellation mic - it should be on the back of the phone, rather than on the top.
 
trin said:
that's the mic for video recording.. it has a separate mic.
Click to expand...
I just tested this, and it seems to be incorrect.
I recorded a video in a quiet room and supplied some "noise" (known to some as "80's music" :p) through a set of earplugs. The video only contained audio when I held an earplug near the bottom phone mic; I heard no difference when I held an earplug near both holes, so I don't think that (in the Galaxy, at least) there's any active noise cancellation.

I could be wrong, though!
 
KlaymenDK said:
I just tested this, and it seems to be incorrect.
I recorded a video in a quiet room and supplied some "noise" (known to some as "80's music" :p) through a set of earplugs. The video only contained audio when I held an earplug near the bottom phone mic; I heard no difference when I held an earplug near both holes, so I don't think that (in the Galaxy, at least) there's any active noise cancellation.

I could be wrong, though!
Click to expand...
could be for phone calls only
 
Nope, performed another test, replacing the video recording with a phone call.

I don't know what the top hole is for; but it seems to have nothing to do with audio input.

Anyway, I think I'm done hijacking this thread (wasn't really about that top hole).
 
reading through the different posts here is what i did.
i am new to the galaxy so didnt want to mess with K4/II5.
i did manage to figure the problem has to do with the proimity sensor that detects that i am geting near the phone but doesnt change when i get away again.
setting the galaxy next to a strong light when the sensor recognizes you as near to it, will change the sensor back to it normal stage. you can then use the dialped when in call.
 
informale said:
Guys! Solved. Just get a can of compressed air and spray it into the speaker, using angle of approx. 45 degrees. 3 or 4 sprays fixed the sensor for me. It really was dust :(

See attached image for spraying instruction ;) Aim exactly where the arrow ends, not at the sensor but exactly there - this way it hits the sensor too.

Apparently it indeed has nothing to do with the firmware version. Shall we add that to the FAQ?
Click to expand...

I've that keypad lockup problem during a call, and i want through 6 Samsung dealer stores but nobody could solve the problem. Searching the net and found your solution, I tried it which fixed my problem right the way, you're such a genius.
 
I'm a new Galaxy user, about a week. I too could not use the dialpad on phone calls.

10 seconds with the vacuum cleaner, alternating between the USB port and the earpiece. Now it's working perfectly.


In regard to diagnostics, I could not get the "sensor test" app to detect the proximity detector, but the built-in *#*0*#*#* test does work. I get detection at about 1cm from the earpiece.

Thanks Informale
 
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