Earpiece and mic have stopped working [2G]

[videoflyer]

Suddenly this morning, I can't make or receive phone calls unless I'm using a headset or speakerphone mode. My 2G iphone will ring normally and I slide to answer but I don't hear anything at all although the call timer has started counting up normally. The person at the other end can't hear me either. If I go into speakerphone mode, it appears we can speak normally and if I plug in a headset I'm okay.

Weird thing is that while the mic appears to work for speakerphone mode it doesn't work in normal phone mode and I've tried playing with other apps (iQualizer, for example) that utilize mic input and they're not registering any sound either.

I've tried re-booting and re-syncing the phone a number of times; deleted a couple of apps I'd installed last night when everything was still functioning normally. So far, I haven't been able to restore normal phone operation.

Has anyone else experienced this? I'm wondering if it could really be a hardware issue but the fact that the mic works sometimes and not others is just strange. If it IS a hardware issue - well, I got the phone when it first came out so I'm probably SOL in terms of getting Apple to fix it, right?

I'd love to hear from anyone with any ideas...

Thanks!

[cpjr]

It may just be "stuck" in headphone mode. Try plugging and unplugging the headphones several several times, then reboot.

It could also be the headphone flex cable.

[videoflyer]

Thanks - you're right on the money! I ended up taking it to the Genius Bar and he diagnosed exactly what you said. Had to use a couple shots of compressed air and a special headphone plug-shaped....uh, straw to funnel the air way down deep in there but, yeah, that fixed it.

Cheers.