hey so my dell mp3 player's headphone jack is realllly screwy. after three years, yes i should get a new one, but i need to make this one last til christmas.
what happens is:
basically i have to manually put pressure on the headphones where it connects to the mp3 player or sound will only come out of one headphone. lame!
is there ANYTHING i can do for my sad little music box?

10/18/2006 2:38:55 PM

stop the sound from bleeding, put a pressure bandage on it!

... ouch. yea, that was bad

10/18/2006 2:42:26 PM

are you SURE its the jack and not the headphone's jack? try another set of headphones to be sure.

The solder connections on the jack probably cracked and could probably be easily touched up w/ a soldering iron

10/18/2006 3:46:33 PM

nope, tried 4 pair of headphones to make EXTRA sure. who makes soldering iron that teeny!?

10/18/2006 3:54:22 PM

figure out how to crack the case open

10/18/2006 6:23:25 PM

2. ?
3. PROFIT?

wtf do i do after cracking open the case, which i know how to do.

10/18/2006 7:12:13 PM

look for a crack in the solder connection on the headphone jack

go to radioshack and pick up a soldering iron

carefully mend the connection

put the case back together?

10/18/2006 7:15:32 PM

My hunch is that its the jack on the mp3 player. It no longer is providing a snug fit for the plug of your headphones.

If you look at your headphone plug, you will see two bands, for each channel of audio (left or right). When the jack doesn't make a tight connection with the headphone plug, one of the bands (probably the one closer to the cord) can't make a good connection so you can't hear from that earphone, and when you apply pressure you are fixing this loose connection.

10/18/2006 8:17:24 PM

excellent diagnosis...anything i can do about it?

10/18/2006 8:29:28 PM

open the case, unslolder/desolder the headphone jack, buy a new jack ar radio hack, or jsut buy a extension cord for headphones and solder the cord section in so you have a perm cable dongle to plug the headphones into. Not beutiful, but very functional, esp as you plan to replace this one within 6 months.

10/21/2006 9:56:44 AM

rubber band it. I guess that only works if you have a right angled mini jack... and the rubber band doesnt hit any buttons or anything. but hey its free.

10/23/2006 11:15:00 AM