Droid won't ring when called?

[TezaColzan]

I read on some blog, that the problem stems from a bug relating to the "Smart Sensor Settings" (i.e. Double-Tap to silence and Smart Profile: Face Down to Vibrate). If you enable these settings, it for some reason silences your ringing for good. The only way to get your ringtones back, is to reset phone back to manufacturer settings, and setup your phone againg, by loging into google account. So once you have your ringer back, make sure you don't enable the "Smart Sensor Settings" which are under your "Sound & Display Settings".

[SSHollywood]

From the looks of the thread starter, the problem is the "Smart Sensor Setting" in Sound & display. I'll admit I have had the same problem, only mine began when I was testing the "vibrate when face down". The phone not only vibrated but it also rang when it was face down. After that the phone simply stayed in vibrate for any call, even when it was upright.

After scouring numerous Droid forums (relating to the DroidX) I found out this is actually a Motorola firmware issue. Although the so called representatives from Motorola adamantly claim they are working on fixing the issue, there are a bunch of different methods to temporary fix the the ringer. Once you fix the ringer we'll just have to wait and see if Motorola pushes some patch to fix this huge oversight.

Please note that this issue is only for the ringer and does not involve the notification or alarm tone. If you are having issues hearing either one of those on top of the ringer, you might have bigger problems ahead.

The first and most guaranteed way to fix this problem is the factory reset. The benefit is it will fix the ringer. The trade off is you'll have to go back and redo your customizations. I personally didn't want to do this because it took me a good ten hours to customize and get use to a nearly full touch pad phone (my last phone was a Verizon XV6800).

The other technique is far more frustrating and you're not guaranteed success on the first try. The plus side is you won't have to go through the hassle of customizing your phone again and from what I have read on the other forums there are multiple ways to go about this technique. The best way to put it from an engineer perspective is you have to "trick" the phone into thinking it is back in its face down position. I'll list the steps I took to fix the problem, but there are MANY variations.

1. First make sure your "Smart Sensor Setting" is checked. This is one of the two things that MUST be correct otherwise the trick won't work.
2. The other thing you must have is another phone to call your $600 vibrator. I would suggest a land line such as your work, home, etc.
3. Have your DroidX in your hand facing screen up.
4. Call your DroidX and wait for it to vibrate.
5. Once it vibrates, turn it to flat-face down and then back up. And I didn't do it that fast, imagine turning the page of book.
6. If you successfully reset the smart sensor, the DroidX will perform a little "hiccup" while it is vibrating. You'll know because the standard vibrating ring will be cut short or you will feel it in the pause.
7. Once you feel the hiccup you can hang up (either end) and try calling your DroidX again to test. If it rings....
8. My suggestion from there is to hang up and IMMEDIATELY go into the settings and disable the smart sensor.

Now there are many variations to how you go about turning/moving your DroidX while you are calling it. I tried three other techniques with no success. But what I want to emphasize is the trick will ONLY work if:

1. You have the smart sensor setting checked.
2. You are attempting the technique while you are calling into your DroidX from another phone.

The other variations involve taking the call (on the DroidX) and toggling the proximity sensor while setting it down, taking the call and violently shaking it like a Wii remote, and setting the vibrating DroidX on an flat surface and twisting it around.

The more I look at the other successful techniques the more I realize you only have to reset the sensor while it is vibrating. And like all programmers know; nothing works right the first time. I'm sure there will be plenty of DroidX newbs trying my technique and wanting to pull their AND my hair out. Only thing I can say is keep trying even if it isn't my technique.

Perseverance is the key. Good luck.

[wnrussell]

Did Master Reset, problem was restoring settings from prior backup. Fixed.

[homerfromhawley]

I also have a Droid X and I too have the ringing problem.
I do not want to reset the unit. I have ~100 apps and customized icons/widgets.

None of the fixes mentioned have worked for me.

So what I did, while waiting for a fix, is go into settings-Call settings and set the "Caller ID Readout" to Caller ID Repeat. So it keeps speaking the Caller ID. It's better than just vibrating and will hold me over until a fix arrives.

[montague]

I had the same problem. All sounds were turned up to maximum and the phone would not ring. All I had to do to fix the problem is take the battery out for three seconds.

[grozniy_99]

My phone stopped ringing. I completely forgot that I turned on smart profile option on. If your phone is in your pocket or on the belt clip, it gets confused as to which position it should follow face up or down so then the ringing stops and it just continues to vibrate (assuming you have it set to vibrate).
Solution: with the smart profile still enabled, have your phone face up on a flat surface. Call it from another phone. When it starts vibrating (or notifying you there is a call) flip it upside down. Then flip it back up, and hang up. Call again and it should ring.

Flipping it upside down and back up resets the sensor.

[jbl79705]

The only way that i have found to get the phone ringing again is to restart it.
what will the factory reset do to the phone? will i have to redownload all apps and all contacts? not worth the trouble if so... just saying...

[ljsipe]

I had the same problem. When callers tried to call me it went right to voice mail and did not ring on my phone. I called Verizon and they said my phone was erroneously set to automatically go to voice mail. They said to dial *73 and it immediately took care of the problem. Works like a charm now.