Can someone help me with my Android Phone

Apart from the fact that Your Phone has ceased again to connect my Android 9 with my PC, several weeks ago. I have now got a major problem with a basic feature of the phone itself and have been struggling and failing to get help elsewhere. When receiving a call the ringer does not ring and the vibrator does not vibrate, so I am missing calls. It is more than likely something is not right with the numerous settings, but I have tried everything I can think of, repeatedly. Settings, sounds, volume, ring tones, permissions etc. I am now very confused and fear my efforts are making things worse. I 'phone myself' constantly to see what effect changes have. The phone is receiving the calls, I have got it flashing again (for the moment) and displaying a tiny notification (not seen before), but there is no ringing or vibration. I have tried other forums.

Make and model of phone would help not in flight mode?

if you can save any photos or files you want that on your phone to a your computer you could just factory reset it.

If you want, you could check to make sure Do-Not-Disturb is turned off. If Do-Not-Disturb is on, switch it off and try calling yourself again. How to Use Do Not Disturb Mode in Android (All Versions)

It sounds like Do-Not-Disturb is on because neither ringer or vibration works, but you can still receive calls (if I understood correctly). I'm sorry if this is an obvious setting you already tried.

Another troubleshooting step if everything else fails is to restart your phone into safe mode, which disables all the unnecessary apps. You usually can do that by holding the power button to bring up the menu. Tap and hold the Shut down button to restart in Safe Mode.

How To Boot Your Android Phone or Tablet Into Safe Mode

Then in safe mode, try calling and see if it rings. If ringtones work in safe mode, then we can look for the unnecessary app that is blocking the ringtone. I noticed on my phone that somebody called me, and the AT&T Call Protect app popped up and ended my call automatically.

Thanks a lot. I will try some of your suggestions tomorrow. Factory reset might be my last option, I have a lot of apps which I have spent many hours installing ---- probably too many but I like to give them a try before deciding what to keep.

My phone is XIAOMI MI Note 7, with Android 9. my first Android smartphone which replaced a Windows Lumia about a year ago. There is a lot I have to learn about it.

DND is turned off ---- I think, because I seem to have a lot of unexpected trouble with the switches which to me seem to have what I call a 'double negative' issue. Actions which I expect to do something keep doing the opposite eg. clicking a switch which appears to turn something 'off' turns it 'on'. I will find a couple of examples to illustrate what I mean. I have not seen anything to suggest other users have the same issue.

Sorry to be so long replying. I have checked DND is off several times. I have entered Safe Mode and found that the problem persists, ie. the ringer still does not ring, so I understand this is not a problem with apps. All other sound functions appear to be OK, I have turned volume to max to make sure I am not missing the ringer (not that I am going deaf). I have selected a number of ringtones all of which work fine when clicked. I feel it is a Settings issue. I am finding this confusing in Android which seem to be a jumble of Settings, Permissions, Allow, Display over other apps issues, etc. Get one wrong and something does not work due to a hard to trace Setting. I have read that the ringer failing to ring is not uncommon for this reason. I have also noticed briefly the list of ringtone reported as silenced, though I have been able to find may way back to this.

An example of the double negative issue (probably not as many as I thought) is the Setting Silent / DND> Turn off> It is not clear to me if this means 'turn off the sound, or turn off the Setting which turns sound off, hence turning sound on. What is displayed thereafter seems clear enough so I have it set to 'Regular: All sounds will work normally' but in the light of my experience that the ringer does NOT 'work normally' I have tried selecting Silent, and DND but not surprisingly that does not help! Next I have 'Schedule turn on time' set as 'Off' but does that mean sound is not scheduled to turn on hence no sound, or that the rules (times) for on / off are turned off, resulting in what? As you can see, I find it a tad confusing, so I keep trying every possibility I can identify --- but without success.

clayto said:

Sorry to be so long replying. I have checked DND is off several times. I have entered Safe Mode and found that the problem persists, ie. the ringer still does not ring, so I understand this is not a problem with apps. All other sound functions appear to be OK, I have turned volume to max to make sure I am not missing the ringer (not that I am going deaf). I have selected a number of ringtones all of which work fine when clicked. I feel it is a Settings issue. I am finding this confusing in Android which seem to be a jumble of Settings, Permissions, Allow, Display over other apps issues, etc. Get one wrong and something does not work due to a hard to trace Setting. I have read that the ringer failing to ring is not uncommon for this reason. I have also noticed briefly the list of ringtone reported as silenced, though I have been able to find may way back to this.

An example of the double negative issue (probably not as many as I thought) is the Setting Silent / DND> Turn off> It is not clear to me if this means 'turn off the sound, or turn off the Setting which turns sound off, hence turning sound on. What is displayed thereafter seems clear enough so I have it set to 'Regular: All sounds will work normally' but in the light of my experience that the ringer does NOT 'work normally' I have tried selecting Silent, and DND but not surprisingly that does not help! Next I have 'Schedule turn on time' set as 'Off' but does that mean sound is not scheduled to turn on hence no sound, or that the rules (times) for on / off are turned off, resulting in what? As you can see, I find it a tad confusing, so I keep trying every possibility I can identify --- but without success.

I'm sorry you couldn't find a solution with those steps.

It's a lot to get used to, but I'm sure you'll get the hang of Android after a bit. Apps ask for permission to make your phone safer. For example, apps must ask for access to your camera or phone calls. (after you say Yes, then they don't need to ask again)

Some permissions aren't as important, like Internet access. Apps that need Internet access don't need to ask for your permission. That's why some apps don't need to ask for any permissions.

If an app needed permissions, it will ask you when you first open the app. Then you can tap Allow or Deny. The system apps like Phone dialer should come with the right permissions already. My thought is that it is not a problem of permissions.

It would be rare, but it's possible for a permission to be denied on a system app which would cause problems. I am not sure which system app handles phone calls. It may be the Contacts app. We can check if you want.

To do that, you would open your Settings app. Then look at your list of installed apps to find Contacts in there.
How to Manage Your Android Apps on MIUI - All About Xiaomi

Tap its name, and then tap Permissions. You can see all the permissions it has, like access to SMS, etc.
If any are off, toggle them on and hopefully it would fix the issue.

I can see how DND would be confusing. You can think of DND like a "Silent mode", and if you turn off Silent mode, the phone is no longer silent. (i.e. turning DND on silences ringtone; turning it off will turn on ringtone). I hope that helps clear it up.
The 'Schedule turn on time' setting enables DND automatically, at bedtime for example. That way you would not be disturbed by a ringtone as you sleep. It also disables DND after the period is over, so you can hear ringtones again after you wake up. It would be better to leave the 'Schedule turn on time' setting off, which means DND will not be changed automatically. (it will only change when you adjust it)

This article might help you in addition to everybody's good suggestions.
Phone Not Ringing so You're Missing Incoming Calls?

Incoming phone calls not ringing - Other Devices - Mi Community - Xiaomi

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It may be a software bug according to this forum post: Ringer Silenced - Redmi Note 7 - Mi Community - Xiaomi
Some users said a factory-reset fixed it.

I also saw a YT video of your same problem. The solution was to restart the phone, and ringtones began to work again. However, you've already tried that it seems.

Thank you very much, for your explanation and the links to articles, which I will start on tomorrow.

As a (hopefully) temporary measure I have installed two apps which are better at notifying me about incoming calls, one is called Shouter. Plus they include more ringtones. There was a chance they might work, but alas no. Maybe their developers will have some suggestions. A somewhat imperious lady has been nagging me all evening about things downloading, etc. so there are more settings to deal with. I should not complain, I now live on my own so there is some benefit in having someone talking to me!