Fixing the volume up key on a nokia N95
volume buttons
I recently got my hands on a nokia N95. Great.
However, I soon realised that the volume up key doesn’t work, only down works. This was a little unfortunate since it is the only key capable of turning the volume up of music when played with the music player software installed on the device. Something I definitely needed to do once I had managed to turn the volume down to zero percent.
My first idea was to look for some other software I could install that would allow me to alter the volume with another key but I had no luck on that front (let me know if you have).
I then googled around and realised I was not alone and that other people had found success in taking the back off and re-soldering it, so I thought I’d have a bash.
I ended up fixing mine with no tools, just a bit of paper.
Here’s how to take the back off:
- Turn it off.
- Take the battery out
- Slide phone open and bend one side off
- Bend the rest off. I was quite rough with mine and I’ve done it a few times now and it has been fine.
You should see the two microswitches, the volume up microswitch on mine was bent upwards. Not only does this mean it doesn’t connect the circuit, but it also won’t be pressed by the outer button.
I simply jammed a bit of paper in there to make the microswitch touch the contacts again.
paper jam
November 26th, 2008 at 8:19 pm
Great stuff. got my volume working again.
many thanks
December 6th, 2008 at 10:53 am
wicked m8 i just love ppl like you propa nhs repair………it worked fantastic cheeeeeers
December 7th, 2008 at 6:38 pm
That’s brilliant mate. I don’t think it voids your warranty either. So long as you don’t solder it.
December 7th, 2008 at 6:45 pm
Cheers mate! Happened to my Nokia last month and I’ve been trying to get it fixed. Your method was simple and worked first time.
December 12th, 2008 at 10:13 am
thanks for the info mate
much appreciated
December 17th, 2008 at 4:43 am
Thank you , my button is working again… mil gracias
December 21st, 2008 at 4:14 am
you are absolutely awesome (:
thanks so much, it works now!
December 21st, 2008 at 5:04 pm
I love you
My phone works again!!! I am very thankful for your genius!
January 5th, 2009 at 12:46 am
Awesome work - I went for the soldering approach, but saved me a repair fee, so thanks for the post
January 11th, 2009 at 10:06 pm
Cheers mate.
Thanks a million!
January 12th, 2009 at 2:04 pm
THANK YOU SO MUCH
I WENT SO LONG EITHOUT MY MUSIC
N DIS IDEA RELI WORKED
UR A GENIUS MAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!1
January 12th, 2009 at 8:51 pm
thank u very much, so simple. I was wondering why i didnt think of that and i was stuck with this problem for months. You are a life saver cheers mate.
January 14th, 2009 at 10:21 am
For remapping volume keys check :
http://voiceofteenagers.blogspot.com/2008/06/magickey-10-n95-able-to-use-all-4.html
Get the app signed as per this link:
http://thesymbiancore.com/2008/03/29/open-signed-killer-sign-any-app-online/
Works magickey fine just did it to my N95 as I broke the switch that was so poorly soldered when I opened the case by using superglue to fix it - lol
February 2nd, 2009 at 9:30 am
All good here now, cheers
February 6th, 2009 at 4:25 pm
Impressive it actually works.
2 minute fix to Huge problem.
Cheers mate!
February 6th, 2009 at 5:32 pm
life saver!!
February 9th, 2009 at 3:59 pm
Excellent - thanks for the fix - works perfectly!
February 26th, 2009 at 4:50 pm
tnx , now is working!!!!
March 22nd, 2009 at 11:54 pm
I was ok without the increase volume button until I upgrade the OS…then it took me down to medium volume and desperate to find a solution. So surprised to find this affected so many people - but then looking at the button, not a surprise…looks very flimsy.
Your solution didn’t work at first, because it wasn’t tight enough to keep it pressed down, so had to pack some more in there really tightly.
March 23rd, 2009 at 9:48 pm
I fucking love, I thought I would have to pay alot of money to get it fixed but it worked with a little piece of paper, I think Nokia should redesign that little part in the phone
Thanks,
Krystian
March 24th, 2009 at 1:20 am
thanks lad, owe ya one
March 26th, 2009 at 8:47 pm
thanks mate.
I used wood instead of paper, because mine was bendth tomuch already
but it works!
Iloveyou.
April 7th, 2009 at 7:53 pm
thanks mate had no sound for 6 months now works fine
April 16th, 2009 at 4:10 pm
well done mate fixed my phone aswell ! so keep up the great work man ten points for you for this im well happy now that i can listen music again
April 22nd, 2009 at 2:34 pm
Thanks mate your guide got my phone apart and I found the switch had snapped off. Got music back up by shorting the points so will have to resolder.
May 10th, 2009 at 10:50 pm
You are a genius….just downloaded music to phone and volume control broke just in time for my hols abroad tomorrow….thanks heaps!!
May 24th, 2009 at 1:58 am
wow these are the worst instructions ever
WHAT THE FUCK DOES
# Slide phone open and bend one side off
# Bend the rest off. I was quite rough with mine and I’ve done it a few times now and it has been fine.
MEAN???
CAN YOU FUCKING EXPLAIN U FAGGGOT THANKS
May 24th, 2009 at 11:06 am
Thanks mate, that worked a charm. I thought i was going to have to use my 300 pound phone as a paperweight after my 1 year old daughter got a bit violent with it and broke the button. It works now and only a couple of minuites to fix, cheers.
May 25th, 2009 at 5:46 pm
Ahh, don’t you just love the internet.
I’m struggling to decide how to respond to Sam. I’m certainly not going to censor his comment, free speech and all that…
Part of me wants to engage in a pointless rant, but, like I said, it would be pointless.
I don’t know if I can make the instructions any clearer, those four points are just instructions to take the back off. I didn’t get any specialist training, I just took it off.
If anyone else is struggling to do this step I could make a video I suppose, please comment here if that is something you’d like.
I’d also like to thank everyone else for their positive comments, it feels good I was able to help so many people. I’m also quite glad that if these comments are representative of my fellow man, then less than 4% of them are idiots. I can live with that.
May 25th, 2009 at 8:07 pm
“I’m certainly not going to censor his comment”
Of course you should censor his comment. You should set an appropriate standard, not lower yourself to the lowest common denominator.
Be the change that you want to see…
May 28th, 2009 at 9:54 am
Cheers Matt your the man done it in 2 mins. Sam you fucking mug are you thick or sumthink??? Thinking about it you must be cos you spelt faggot with 3 g’s you prick!!!!
Danny lead fist’s
May 30th, 2009 at 4:49 pm
Thanks, this was helpful. I didn’t get it to work because the contacts actually weren’t there! I compared it to my other n95 (!). Now I see them in your photo - they are actually little buttons.
Anyway, I never would have imagined it was so easy to get the cover off - you saved me a lot of worry. Thanks!
June 8th, 2009 at 5:04 am
Awesome. Just awesome. Simple, elegant, effective. I was traveling at the time mine broke, and was able to fix it with a pen and a couple bits of paper… truly a matt burns inspired McGuyver moment.
If only all of life’s problems could be solved with such ease.
June 8th, 2009 at 9:56 am
Hehe thanks, simple and effective it may be, but I’m not sure I’d describe it as “elegant”
July 2nd, 2009 at 5:19 am
cheers matt, thought id be sendin the phone away to get fixed…
a 4 yr old could do this! SAM=NOB
July 4th, 2009 at 5:38 pm
What can i say, pure genius
July 8th, 2009 at 10:35 am
You are a hero, alas didn;t fix my problem as the microswitch is actually broken, but did at least allow me to diagnose that.
July 14th, 2009 at 6:42 pm
Man you amaizing i go abroad tommorow and it’s just broke, it works straight after i did thanks alot you made my day!
July 27th, 2009 at 5:11 pm
so simple yet so effective…badman tingz..
August 2nd, 2009 at 8:49 pm
Cheers matey. Solved.
August 4th, 2009 at 8:36 pm
Hello guys.
Well my button is broken aswell, so i searched for an music player with integrated volume control, and i found!
Im using this one right now: http://gallery.mobile9.com/f/819761/?view=download
Just download and install. Add the music, and you can turn up and lower the music with the 4-pad. ( up/right/down/left button ).
Good luck!!
August 9th, 2009 at 12:29 am
Thank you so much for your help! I had this problem for 6mnths and was at my wits end to send it back to nokia for repairs!
August 14th, 2009 at 9:08 pm
Thanks a million!!
August 22nd, 2009 at 5:47 pm
This is WONDERFUL!
I have just given this phone to my girlfriend forgetting about the problem, the switch had come off completely and I have until today just pumped up the volume. Tiny bit of glue and the paper to hold down. Now working as new!
September 2nd, 2009 at 1:29 pm
Wow, great!!! Works like a charm. I was already looking for a new Nokia (like the N86 :-)) but I can postpone my intended buy until the N900 will be a bit less expensive
Thanks man!!!!
September 21st, 2009 at 6:09 pm
This advise is most definately the best thing i have ever found on the internet… i typed in my problem in plain english in google… landed here…and fixed it in 2 mins, LOVE IT!
September 30th, 2009 at 6:32 pm
i have bigger problem(( my chip is missing((( where i can get ?!? maybe someone has this info? i was thinking to find someone with tottaly broken itam so i can buy chip….is that possible!?!
October 4th, 2009 at 9:33 pm
Thanks man just broke it today went on Google in a matter of minutes, redirected to here and was thinking this might be hard since mine was completely detached but after 10-20 minutes of resizing paper and adding paper using tweezers finally got it fixed! Thanks a lot man.
October 9th, 2009 at 10:15 pm
great instructions thanks, mine gave up over a year ago and i was thinking of changing it tried googling a fix. Worked first time after i found the little thing it had come clean of, on the blink again now but at least the sound is up.
big thanks
PS simple 5 min job my dog could do
October 21st, 2009 at 12:34 pm
Hero! Thanks so much! So easy! And the little volume up piece had actually completely fallen out, but managed to jam in with paper and double sided tape. Works perfectly now! Thank you!
October 27th, 2009 at 2:26 pm
what a legend! Thanks mate! I didnt know how i would live without listening to music on my phone. Once again . . Thanks! What a legend!
November 4th, 2009 at 5:06 pm
how do you take the case off ??
November 21st, 2009 at 9:38 pm
i had the same problem with my volume keys. I fixed it with a soldering iron. It was easy stuff for amateurs. The contacts were loose of the main board
November 27th, 2009 at 9:06 pm
Geart stuff man, i had exacly same thing. Worked great from first try. Many thanx.
November 29th, 2009 at 12:17 am
super job mate worked a treat
December 9th, 2009 at 6:09 pm
Thanks for taking the time to write this up. Saved a bunch!
December 18th, 2009 at 12:17 am
ahh damn, my switch is not there anymore, I think its gone..and the unsigned link is not working.. I have latest firmware to …
ahhh what a hassle
December 22nd, 2009 at 1:35 am
Hey thanks man, your a real life saver
January 2nd, 2010 at 7:17 pm
Thanks a million, although it took me a while to get the button in place with my large fingers.
January 12th, 2010 at 10:57 pm
You life saver… it worked like a charm.
February 26th, 2010 at 12:55 pm
hey my things were snapped off so mine isnt workin
March 4th, 2010 at 12:51 pm
Nice one fella. The little blighter had actually snapped off. Stuck it back on and used your paper jam. Result! Cheers
March 28th, 2010 at 3:56 am
Thanks Matt.. Great site!!
I’ll try your trick soon but for now:
Mark’s Reply on:
“August 4th, 2009 at 8:36 pm”
Did the trick perfect (in 2 mins including download) with the software allowing you to use other keys:
** POWER MP3 **
So thanks Mark heaps for that - it will fix the issue the users with the missing key have too
April 17th, 2010 at 12:06 am
I Have done it but i dont see what i have done wrong its all working fine now but now its jammed on up and wont go down how do i sort that out :S ?
May 31st, 2010 at 9:30 pm
N95 covers off -close study - wiggling right microswitch -fell off -soldered by just replacing switch -holding in position with screwdriver and pressing 2 sec each connector with soldering iron.
June 24th, 2010 at 2:52 am
My button had completely fallen off the main phone board but using a key I connected the two terminals and wahey my volume turned up
cheers dude 
July 24th, 2010 at 1:34 pm
I ‘ve done the same and it work for me!