Ringtone volume locked at 0

[p_vestjens]

Somehow the volume of my Z3C got locked at 0. When I press the volume up button on the side, the slider is displayed but the volume is not increased. When I press the button to show all volume sliders, the Ringtone slider is grayed out, the other two not. Also the slider for Ringtone volume in Setting->Sound and notification is grayed out. So now I need to regularly check if messages have come in and phone calls are probably missed. How to resolve this?

The phone was updated to Android 5.1.1 over the weekend. May be that has something to do with it?

Best regards,

Patrick.

[Thommo]

Try performing a system repair using PC Companion as this will often fix issues - This will factory reset your phone and erase all data so best to backup before you begin

Switch off your phone and unplug from Pc (Hold volume up and power for around 10 seconds)
Start PC Companion and select Support zone then Update my phone/tablet then in Blue Repair my phone/tablet and follow the on screen instructions - When prompted connect your phone still switched off holding volume down or back button - This should start the repair or reformat process

If you are using Windows 8/8.1 or a 64bit operating system then adjust the settings for PC Companion and run in compatibility mode and chose Windows 7 or XP

[Qatrium]

Try go to Settings -> Apps -> All -> Audio settings -> Clear data and restart your phone.

[p_vestjens]

Thommo:

Thank you for your reaction but I'm not going to do that, for now. After a factory reset I will have to reconfigure my entire phone which will cost me a lot of time and I was hoping to avoid that. Furthermore, I've been reading several posts on this forum first and it seems that this is a standard answer to any problem so I'm not sure that this will actually do any good. I'll wait and see if any less intrusive solutions come by first.

[p_vestjens]

Quester:

Thank you for your suggestion. Unfortunately it did not make any difference.

I already tried wiping the entire cache partition but that did not help either.

Some more information: the slider behavior suggests that the sound policy None is selected. However, I cannot select sound policies anywhere. According to screenshots on the internet, there should be buttons underneath the sliders to select one of three sound policies but these are not there. Nor is the appropriate symbol shown in the status bar. See the screenshot below for my Audio settings screen (in Dutch but you'll recognize the symbols):

[maurice282828]

This has also happened with my device since updating to 5.1.1. I find that when I have headphones plugged in ringer volume works correctly, but when the headphones are unplugged it often reverts back to zero and is locked there.

I tried a couple of things, that seem to work to varying levels, which might help:

1) Reboot the phone in safe mode - I did this and the ringer worked as it should in safe mode. It then worked correctly for a while in normal mode but reverted back, so it might not fix the issue.

2) I've found that when I come to unplug my headphones from the phone, if I press the volume key so the level of the ringer is displayed, and pull the headphones out when the volume level is on screen, it works correctly from then on. Not sure why, but if you use headphones with your device perhaps this might work?

[Uliwooly]

@maurice282828

It's a third party app creating this problem, since it works fine on safe mode, you have 3 options

* do nothing about it

* repair the phone with PCC 

* uninstall apps by app until you find the culprit.

[p_vestjens]

Thank you all for your input.

Somehow the problem resolved itself. While demonstrating the problem to my wife when I got home on Monday, suddenly the volume slider was no longer grayed out and I was able to change the volume as usual. Unfortunately, I have no clue what made the change. I was going to try your suggestions in the evening but that was no longer necessary.

To some degree I can reproduce the problem by pressing the Volume Down once more after it has reached Vibration. Then the ringtone volume slider grays out again. The difference with before is that I now do see the Sound Profile icons. And when I press the Volume Up button again, it switches to vibration as it should. Also, I'm able to select different Sound Profiles.

So, thanks again and let's hope that the problem doesn't comeback by itself as well ...

Best regards,

Patrick.

PS: I'm glad I didn't do a system repair yet.

[MisterMeeseeks]

Hey, same problem here. No idea as what could have made your volume bottons work again?

[p_vestjens]

Do you get to see the Sound Profile icons when you press the buttons?