bolt stuck in headphone jack

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Level 1

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bolt stuck in headphone jack

Good day everybody,

I have a whole story about how all this happened, but will tell in short that after Fabregas scored against Milan in Champions League, I missed the table and hit my MBP. There was a huge bent, so i unscrewed some of the bolts from the left side and fixed it. When i was putting the screws back, one of them fell into the headphone jack 😀

Now, i cant listen to music trough speakers, because the sound control has a "Not Allowed" sign on it, and i cant put it headphone because there is not quite enough space for them together with the screw.

I tried everything to take it out, but is seems as though the magnetic plug of MBP also attracts the bolt, so its hard to take it out. What can i do, where can i take it and how much will it cost me 😀

Thank you for reading my post, hope I get some answers, otherwise I cant listen to music 😀 :P

Thank you again. 🙂

MacBookPro, Mac OS X (10.5), 15 inch MBP

Posted on Mar 30, 2008 8:13 AM

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Answer 1

Mar 30, 2008 8:45 AM in response to hasanhasanly

You might try to remove it using a very strong magnet. The auto parts store has them for recapturing bolts that fall into the engine compartment of the car.

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Answer 2

hasanhasanly Author

Level 1

0 points

Mar 30, 2008 8:49 AM in response to Craig Brady

yes, but the hole is too small, and where can a find such a small & strong magnet? :P can I just get the whole headphone jack changed?

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Answer 3

Mar 30, 2008 11:10 AM in response to hasanhasanly

I would suggest inserting a rod of wood in there with some glue on the end. Let it harden a bit and see how it goes.

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Answer 4

Courcoul

Level 6

18,558 points

Mar 30, 2008 11:14 AM in response to Gnarlodious

Heh, this is new... It is usually the screw stuck in the DVI hole on the other side of the Mac. Did you wait for the game to end before unscrewing the Mac apart? 😀 😀 😀

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Answer 5

Mar 30, 2008 1:16 PM in response to hasanhasanly

if you can see it maybe a hemostat, long thin nosed tweezers or very thin micro type pliers.

im not sure if i would want to use a magnet to try and get it out seeing as the HD sits on the front left side of the machine and its a little close for my comfort

hmmm a vacuum may work

-matt

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Answer 6

Mar 30, 2008 2:49 PM in response to mattathayde

At work we tested a hard drive by putting 50 lb load magnets all over the hard drive. We did not lose one bit 🙂 of data.

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Answer 7

Mar 30, 2008 3:21 PM in response to Craig Brady

hmmm that is rather surprising to me because a music teacher i had would just an old speaker magnet to wipe his HD when he had an issue instead of using software to wipe it.

i guess there are a lot of other factors to it and newer drives amy be less prone to it

-matt

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Answer 8

S.U.

Level 6

9,595 points

Mar 30, 2008 3:31 PM in response to hasanhasanly

By "bolts" you mean those tiny screws? They are likely stainless steel and not very magnetic. So it may just be physically stuck rather than held in magnetically. Most stainless hardware is Type 304 which is only very slightly magnetic. It would be difficult to use even a very powerful magnet to get it out.

You might try something like a piece of two-sided sticky tape stuck firmly to something long and cylindrical about the same diameter--or very slightly smaller--than the screw head. You might be able to stick the screw head and then very carefully manipulate it and draw it out of the hole.

Good luck!

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Answer 9

Mar 30, 2008 3:35 PM in response to S.U.

but the issue with that is you have to push before you can pull, i would be rather afraid of pushing it in to far, then again i guess it shouldnt really be doing much damage casue anything in there that is important is metal contact wise.

-matt

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Answer 10

S.U.

Level 6

9,595 points

Mar 30, 2008 4:05 PM in response to mattathayde

Very true. It looked to me like the hole is stepped, and that the screw head is larger than the smallest step and is limited on just how far in it could go. I'm not sure how far in it is, or what might be holding it other than friction. And it also looks like the end of the hole is closed, so the screw can't be pushed all the way into the computer.

So maybe the better approach might be the vacuum cleaner. In the interests of researching this, I took apart my mechanical pencil, and the tube just fits into the hole. Maybe with some duck tape, a tiny end can be put on the vacuum cleaner and could have enough suction to draw the screw out. I don't know--sealing on the screw head might be a problem. Maybe a thin layer of something sticky on the end of the tube that could form a seal with the screw head?

Am being summoned for supper--will think on this and get back later.

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Answer 11

Mar 30, 2008 4:16 PM in response to S.U.

CALL MACGYVER

-matt

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Answer 12

Courcoul

Level 6

18,558 points

Mar 30, 2008 7:47 PM in response to mattathayde

CALL MACGYVER

Yeah, cause Agent Gordon ([Wild Wild West|http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0120891>) is probably dead by now... 😉

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