silica gel beads jammed in macbook ports

Question

Level 1

0 points

silica gel beads jammed in macbook ports

The silica gel packet in my laptop bag exploded (it's a new bag, and I had no idea the packet was in there) and now I've got a bead jammed in both the line in and headphone ports. (The one in the headphone port is pretty deep; I tried to plug in my earbuds before I realized what had happened.)

When you have finished laughing, I would appreciate any suggestions on how to get them out. Unfortunately my handheld vacuum cleaner wasn't strong enough.

Thanks!

MacBook Pro Mac OS X (10.4.7)

Posted on Aug 1, 2006 6:14 AM

Reply

Answer 1

Alex6

Level 2

395 points

Aug 1, 2006 6:29 AM in response to lennyandotis

Pics please?

Sounds like you should contact the bag manufacturer to complain, as well as Apple for repairs possibly.

Reply

Answer 2

Aug 1, 2006 6:53 AM in response to lennyandotis

A bead of superglue on the head of a plastic tooth pick....need a steady hand though.

Reply

Answer 3

Aug 1, 2006 6:56 AM in response to lennyandotis

use a small coffee stirrer straw and syphon em out. just dont inhale em

Reply

Answer 4

lennyandotis Author

Level 1

0 points

Aug 1, 2006 8:10 AM in response to lennyandotis

Thanks so far. No pics yet, sorry - I don't think they'd turn out well anyway. It's hard to see the bead in each port without good light. The glue sounds like a good idea. (I briefly considered plugging the port with hot glue from a craft glue gun and then pulling it out when it dried - that stuff doesn't stick well to non-porous surfaces - but it's likely a foolhardy idea.)

I've noticed that my headphone port is now glowing red - is this normal? I haven't had this MacBook for very long (it's a company laptop) so I don't know if it always did that.

Reply

Answer 5

Aug 1, 2006 8:12 AM in response to lennyandotis

glowing headphone port is cuz its trying to be an optical audio port. if someone ran windows then its gonna do that. to shut it off you gota run windows and uninstall windows completely but make sure to turn off optical audio support in audio tab

MacBook Pro 15" Mac OS X (10.4.7) i am a genius!

Reply

Answer 6

Alex6

Level 2

395 points

Aug 1, 2006 8:16 AM in response to lennyandotis

Is it glowing red in windows only or mac too? if its windows only turn off digital optical out in the SigmaTel Audio control panel. If its mac too then idk.

Reply

Answer 7

Centurion1

Level 4

1,301 points

Aug 1, 2006 8:59 AM in response to lennyandotis

If i were you i wouldn't mess around with glue in case it gets in contact with a part then dries up.. However a stronger vacuum cleaner might do the trick much better.

Reply