Working around a broken headphone jack

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Working around a broken headphone jack

Dear all

I was wondering whether you could help me. The internal sound on my iMac (lat 2009) stopped working. After some searching around the different forums and reading people's answers, I concluded that the most likely reason is a 'faulty' headphone jack. At random times the sound simply stops working and I often get a flashing red light in the jack. NOT always however. Sometimes there is no flashing light. Often putting a toothpick inside the jack helps. The problem is that it might help only for a few minutes and it's simply not a long run solution. It's really getting frustrating...

I suppose one option is to get it repaired. But, if I'm not mistaken, this could mean a replacement of the whole motherboard. Wouldn't this cost almost like a half of a new iMac?

So I was wondering whether there is another option. Can I switch off the jack perhaps? Or is there a way to use an external speaker without actually using the jack?

Thank you very much!

Tom

Posted on Jul 11, 2014 10:00 AM

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Answer 1

Gwaihir86 Author

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Jul 12, 2014 7:02 AM in response to Gwaihir86

I Was just looking around and would this perhaps be a good option?

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Answer 2

den.thed

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Jul 12, 2014 7:31 AM in response to Gwaihir86

A USB audio adapter is generally the best work around, because the Audio preferences will allow you to select the USB output instead of the internal headphone output.

I'm not sure if that USB adapter is compatible or not, but I do know that a Griffin-iMic is. Heck' I see no harm in trying the less expensive adapter first, you can always take or send it back and go for the more expensive Griffin.

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Answer 3

Rudegar

Level 10

170,940 points

Jul 12, 2014 8:00 AM in response to den.thed

usb ones are always usb audio cards use a bit more cpu power then the internal audio card but not too bad

and they always require a driver to work so it has to support osx in the version one use

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Answer 4

den.thed

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Jul 12, 2014 8:25 AM in response to Rudegar

Good follow up, thanks for the info.. 😉

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Answer 5

Gwaihir86 Author

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Jul 12, 2014 10:54 AM in response to den.thed

Thank you very much for your answers. I was wondering...would I be able to set the USB adapter as default without actually plugging in anything into it (so that the broken main one would essentially be ignored) or would I still need to plug in external speakers? Thanks!

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Answer 6

den.thed

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Jul 12, 2014 11:18 AM in response to Gwaihir86

As mentioned, with a compatible USB sound device the OS X Audio preference will allow you to select either the USB or the Headphone jack for output.

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Answer 7

Gwaihir86 Author

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Sep 2, 2014 2:46 PM in response to Gwaihir86

Hello again!

So I finally managed to get the SYBA SD-CM-UAUD adapter. So I'm wondering, what do I do next?

I tried to go to Preferences → Sounds → Output but by selecting the adapter I have to unselect my Internal Speakers, which means no sound comes out of them.

As I explained above, the problem is that the headphone jack seems to be broken and so the sound keeps periodically switching off, apparently because the computer thinks that there are headphones still plugged into the jack. I thought that by buying the adapted I will be able to get around the problem and that I will still be able to use the internal speakers.

Please help!

Thank you

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