How To Check A Ringer (Loud Speaker) In Cell Phones

A ringer, also called a loud speaker is a speaker through which you hear ringtone and music. During a call, when you activate the loud speaker, the louder voice which you start hearing also comes from the ringer. It is also called a buzzer in basic low-end mobile phones. Its work is to convert electrical signal into sound.

If the ringer becomes faulty, you will not be able to below 3 sounds:

• Ringtone
• Music
• Loud speaker’s voice during a call

To avoid missing calls, you can switch on the vibration as a temporary solution! The method to check it will be the same for any brand or model of a mobile phone or a tablet be it an iPhone, a Samsung Galaxy, a Sony Xperia or a Nokia.

Steps to check ringer of a cell phone

1. Turn off your cell phone and dismantle it carefully. If you do not know how to dismantle your handset, you can watch videos of its disassembly procedure on Youtube!
2. Now remove the ringer carefully. It can be located anywhere inside the casing. The best way to locate it is – it will be below the opening (hole) in the casing from where you hear music! Do not misunderstand and remove the speaker by mistake. The speaker is meant to hear the calling person’s voice during a call and is a different spare part.
3. Now keep the multimeter on continuity setting. On this setting when you touch the tip of the red and black probes to each other, you will be able to hear a beep sound.
4. Now touch the tip of the 2 probes of the multimeter (the red and the black wires) to the 2 terminals (pins) of the ringer. Now if you hear a beep sound, then your ringer is good and working. And if you do not hear any beep sound, then your ringer is faulty.

Read How to use multimeter in cell phone repairs

Second method to check loud speaker

The other option to check or test a loud speaker of a mobile phone or a tablet is to put it in any other same working model (or a handset with the same size speaker) and check if its working properly in it. If its not working, its faulty. It’s as simple as that! In some models, the ringer comes as an entire unit. In such cases, you will have to replace the entire unit.

Note: If your ringer is ok and still you are unable to hear ringtone during a call and music as well, then check if it is connecting properly with the PCB. Clean its contact points on the PCB (Printed Circuit Board) with an eraser. If the ringer is soldered, you will have to check if its soldered properly. If its not, resolder it properly. Also try replacing with a new one. Still if the fault doesn’t go, there may be a complicated hardware problem in the PCB. It will either be due to a broken track supplying voltage to the ringer or a faulty IC. You will have to repair it by following schematic diagrams. Always check the ringer settings whether its not kept on mute before opening your handset.