miércoles, 3 de septiembre de 2008

How to really fix that iphone headset jack problem.

For about four weeks now, I had the very same problem everyone around is describing: no sound on speaker, and the phone thought it had the headset still attached to it, so I coudn´t talk on the phone other way that through out the headset. I went through all the web searching for an answer, but still, couldn´t fix it. I did plugged and unplugged the headset a thousand times, and got seven thousand q-tips into the jack, but still without resolving my problem. I even reset my phone like 10 times, and I even got to make up my nerve and change the firmware (for my good luck, I went from 1.1.3 to 2.0.2 without any problem with the winpwn guide from BigBoss -it worked like a charm-).

So, finally, I decided to get the answer on my own hands, and to publish it if I had succeeded -which is the case- so, sorry if my english is not that good or it is not well written (I speak spanish as my first language). I´m just trying to make a little contribution.

So, I got to investigate a little more on the phone. I got to this very helpful site: http://www.ifixit.com/Guide/iPhone/ (thank you guys for that guide - awesome work-). There I figured out how to where the real problem is: the headset jack connector. And, more specific, and how I get to know later on: the moving parts on the headset. (there are 2 moving cooper contacts inside; the first one is in the very first part of the jack, it´s the first cooper contact that you see from the outside, and it´s located to the side of the volume buttons -that cooper contact is in fact, a button that tells the phone to play or stop playing the ipod-. The other contact, which is our interest now, is at the end of the jack, and is the one that tells the phone that there is a headset plugged).

I imagined it had to be a contact inside, because when I blew with my mouth inside, sometimes it recovered its original state. But in a couple of minutes, the problem came back. So, I noticed that it was the moist in the air from my mouth that was making contact inside, and when it got dry again, it would get problematic once more.

Well, to the solution: I wont be showing here how to open the phone, I believe there are hundreds of tuts and videos and sites telling you how to do that. What I´m going to describe and show here is how to get resolved the real contact that makes this problem to happen and how to fix it. It is pretty simple after all. It is a little time consuming, but after all, the phone is worth the try. You won´t break anything or loose anything at all. It´s just a matter of cleaning inside your phone in a very specific place.

It´s also important to notice that I have a 4GB first generation phone, which I have almost have for a year now, in Chile, with no warranty or Genius bar at apple stores, or even something close to that. I have my phone under ENTEL PCS network and running 2.0.2 now, jailbreaked and unlocked with winpwn and itunes as I already told you.

Well, so let´s get to the point; after you have opened your iphone, you´ll notice that the headset jack is attached to the rear cover. In many guides they´ll tell you to disconnect it, but in this case, we won´t. That´s because you need the jack to be working and displaying on screen if the headset is plugged or not. So, just keep it open, but attached.

As you may notice, there´s a little, very tiny piece of transparent plastic covering the very end of the jack. That piece of plastic, is the moisture "sensor", which will get red if it gets wet. (mine was red from under -inside the phone- but still white on the side to the jack -the color yu´ll see if you look through the jack itself, on the bottom of it-). The color of it at this point don´t mean anything since you are the one opening it and knowing if it´s ok or not for you. Well, that piece of plastic has to be removed, it´s just a cover, it has no cables or contacts attached to it, it has no electronic function at all... it´s just there for you to look at it from the outside.

So, after you have removed the plastic cover, you´ll see the real contacts, and of course: dust, losts of it... fuzz and dust, and even something else, which I´m pretty sure you´ll find, because you haven´t solved your problem yet at this point and I´m pretty sure you´ll find something solid between the contacts.

So, you can see from very close, that the end of the jack has a squared cooper contact all around it. And, on the right side, there´s another cooper contact. If you get your ear-set plugged, you´ll notice how the second one moves away from the square one. and, between them, sure there must be fuzz, dirt, dust, hair, could be anything, but it is blocking the second contact to return and touch the square frame... that is the very reason why you can´t get it to work like it should. So, find yourself a nice tiny brush (like the ones for makeup), and clean that spot. But to do so, you´ll have to get your headset plugged in, so the two contacts are separated from each other and the spot gets free to be cleaned. (it is very reliving to do so by having music playing, because, when you release it, music will be coming out from the speaker as it should have).

And, well, that´s pretty much it. You have solved your problem. I eve
n get to the point where I was wondering if I had to replace the headset jack with a new one (because they´re very cheap: http://www.ifixit.com/iPhone-Parts ), but that was just if I had had any big problem with the operation.

Well, as you all are grown ups (but maybe there are some that don´t feel much like that), I suppose I don´t have to repeat that this procedure and any other that involves the opening of your phone, could damage it for ever. So do it under your own risk. (but in my opinion... is not that risky, and not that difficult to do it... just be careful and think of it as your own son)...






This is my phone, finally in good shape again !!!
I hope this helps you out.
Any comments would be appreciated.





22 comentarios:

Anónimo dijo...

Hey!! thanks, you saved my life!!

ludo dijo...

Hi,

Thanks for your post because it helps many people I'm sure.

I was sure that my probleme was the same of your but actually it is not the case. I have cleaned the all thing but didn't find any dust or dirt so I'm gessing my problem deeper... I was thinking that it's possible my speaker (to ear and speak with the person who called you) are broken. Do you have an idea to fix the speaker ?

Thanks men ;)

Anónimo dijo...

Well, actually no, The only thing I would be looking for in your case, would be new components to buy and replace. You can visit this guys, I hope it helps you:
http://cnn.cn/shop/apple-iphone-c-256_374.html
Best Regards...

ludo dijo...

Thank you for the link.

I'm trying to have some helps on this board : http://hackint0sh.org/forum/showthread.php?p=352321#post352321

Thay have the same problem than me, hope they will reply now :D

regards

Anónimo dijo...

Hi,

Nice tutorial... but unfortunately it did not fix my problem.

I have ordered TWO new headphone-jack parts for iFixit. Here are my observations :

If i disconnect the hole set of buttons, i hear the sound from the keypad for example. When I connect it, no more sound.

Then I put in my headphone : sound comes back on the iphone (but not the headphones!). Conclusion : when the headphone are in, the Iphone thinks he is in normal mode (so sound comes out normally) but when the headset are removed, the iphone might think headset are in, so disactivates the sound of the iphone ! Bottom line : it works great, but in reverse order !!!!

Any ideas ?

Anónimo dijo...

But you haven´t opened yours yet?
I mean: It seems like there might be some component wet, so when you stick the jack in, you cut the contact, and when you get it off, the moisture makes the contact again.

satan himself! dijo...

Wow, that was an awesome tutorial.. Thanks!

I too am unable to hear anything thru the receiver. Can only hear thru the speakers or headphones.

But before opening up the phone, just wanted to confirm something.

My problem might be slightly different. When I change the volume, I don't see the (headphones) written under ringer.

So, any thoughts on how to solve this?!

Thanks again!

Anónimo dijo...

Thanks for the post. I was able to use a safety pin to dig out a bit of fuz from the headphone jack and that got things working again.

DARKoo7 dijo...

man thx for every thing but i just can not do it .... i am so afraid to do ...

but thx any way

Anónimo dijo...

hey there does it work on the iphone 3g????

because the iphone 3g might be different from the inside????

please let me know as soon as possible, thanks

dc dijo...

Good job...you saved me having to buy a new iPhone. Thanks!

Wayne dijo...

Thanks heaps..I thought it was a JB app I downloaded

Anónimo dijo...

Thank you for this, really helpful. I found that a toothpick worked to clear out the headphone jack before having to take the whole thing apart. I'd try that again – it's made of wood so can't really scratch or damage the jack.

Cahit dijo...

I have fixed the problem in a very similar way, opened it!
Here is the similar story with the final photo that includes the bullet removed from the audio jack after the surgery: http://cahit.hayalet.net/blog/886/surgery-broken-iphone-headphone-jack/

Anónimo dijo...

Hola,el iphone se queda trabado en modo auriculares sin tenerlos conectados,he cambiado el conector que lleva el cable flex y sigo teniendo el mismo problema.Cuando accedo ajustes-sonidos-tono de llamada ,puedo escuchar el tono perfectamente,incluso si subo el volumen en lado superior izquierdo en la ventana aparece solamente "Timbre",cuando antes sin los auriculares conectados en la ventana ponia "timbre (auriculares) ",lo cierto es que cuando accedo a cualquier aplicacion se vuelve a poner "timbre (auriculares)",alguna sugerencia,gracias

Unknown dijo...

Nice tutorial... but unfortunately it did not fix my problem. :(


RJ11 To RJ 9 Adapter

Anónimo dijo...

Excellent guide!

iphone 5 dijo...

It is so nice of you to share this. It is a good thing that iphones do exist and this site is helping people about the needs of their iphones. It's even cool that iphones are now upgrading and the latest will be out this year.

Patrick dijo...

headphones should be durable, because most of the time i buy headphones then their either of the ear stops working or they start producing noise which is very irritating. <iphone headphones are those which should tackle these problems for long time.

Anónimo dijo...

Thanks for sharing information on , iPhone Headset Jack REAL Fix ,i have visited your blog its a great post.....
iPhone Screen

Anónimo dijo...

Was always shocked, how much "stuff" live inside phone... Sometimes just using canned air helps, however like in your case, it's hard to do anything without opening it.
Headset Adapter

Unknown dijo...

The iPhone 5 Parts much like its predecessors are worthy of getting complements as far as design and built is concerned...
Thanks for sharing...!!!