Infamous Headphone Jack Probl

I bought a USED zen micro 5 gb the other day (what a mistake!), only to find the headphone jack problems start appearing fairly soon after buying it. I e-mailed Creative, and they told me the unit was out of warranty b/c I'm not the original owner. Thinking I could fix it myself, I tried to try to solder the contacts on. Unfortunately, in the process I got solder on the two black rectangle things closest to the headphone jack. In trying to remove the solder, the black pieces broke off. Now, the audio doesn't work at all (I'm assuming it is because I pulled off those black things). First, how the heck do you solder that contact in the upper right? How do you get a soldering iron in that tight space? Second, is there any way to replace those black things? Can I just buy a new circuit board for the headphone jack? Where would I buy something like that? What do you recommend I do?
If I am not being specifc as to what the "black rectangle things" are, I can e-mail you a picture.
Thanks!!!
-David

alexandryan wrote:
I'm on my second micro, the hard dri've on the first one was damaged, they replaced it for me and about a month after I got the replacement the sound went. As you said the jack is damaged and I have to constantly fiddle and push the earphones to hear from both ears, as I'm sure you both know it is the most ANNOYING thing ever! I'm not even bothering sending it in because last time it took ages. I'm going to buy a microphoto and just move all my music over. I'm probably mad though because I still have 2 months left on my year warranty.
[size="2" face="Comic Sans MS">I have the exact same problem!! I have to constantly fiddle with my earphones to hear from both ears!! Otherwise, I hear no music at all, music only at one ear, or intrumental music only (with the vocals sounding a mile away) this is seriously frustrating!! I know its got nothing to do with my earphones, because I've tried about 5 and eventually, it goes back to sounding faulty. This REALLY SUCKS and I really want to do something about it. Any ideas ?
[size="2" face="Comic Sans MS">
[size="2" face="Comic Sans MS">The thing is, I'm not sure if I have warranty or not. I bought my Zen Micro back in Feb.05 and I foolishy threw away my receipt. I've been told that I need a new RMA. But I have no idea how I get this process started with CREATIVE. Do i need my reciept? *eeeek* so confused!! Any help would be greatly appreciated! Thank you
[size="2" face="Comic Sans MS">I really would like to listen to my Zen micro again but the faulty audio system is preventing this from happening!
[size="2" face="Comic Sans MS">--------------------------

Similar Messages

POSSIBLE SIMPLE SOLUTION TO HEADPHONE JACK PROBL

It may have been suggested before but, purchase the wired remote cos its
very useful particularly when you are walking about or in the car,and you can
leave it permanantly plugged in the jack thereby considerably reducing wear
and tear on the socket. Then you can plug any other various phones/speakers/
aux/etc. to the remote
GOOD IDEA EH ? all donations to British Heart Foundation thanks lol :smileyvery-happy:

I think this is the 2nd time I read a post very similar to yours. Sorry to put you down but I really don't believe this will help at all. If you think about it, you pretty much have the wires in your pocket, in your backpack, or purse. Anyway, you have to keep that wire secure and free from movement or else there will be stress on the headphone jack.
If you don't believe me, try it out. I bought a headphone extension cord from radio shack that is about 5-6 inches long. I need it for my headphones to work, anyway, I noticed that whenever I'm walking with the extension cord plugged in and not with my earphones, the wire keeps falling down and starts going under the micro. Then everytime I walk, the wire starts moving in my pocket which starts putting some stress on my headphone jack.
My advice is to not leave anything in the headphone jack when not in use.
The important thing is to wonder is why are we doing this in the first place. Why are we so worried about our headphone jack from breaking? Is this really our fault? Is it creative's? Since when did we start thinking about headphone jack failing? Straight jack? Right angle jack?
I'm getting sick of this, Creative should really do something about this. Investigate!

Headphone jack probl

sometimes lately on my zen micro, there is sometimes an issue with the headphone jack, if the cord gets pushed or pulled even a tiny bit the sound will only then go to one ear. then i have to adjust a tiny bit to make it work again. its pretty pretty rock solid for over two years but i have noticed this lately.

I have this same problem with my Zen Micro. Got it this past Christmas of 2005. I can't really use the original headphones that came with it becuase the wires ripped up a week after I started using it, and for no reason too. I use a different set of headphones now and get that same problem you have every now and then.

Zen Micro headphone jack probl

I seem to have run into the headphone jack problem many other people have posted about. Any slight movement of the headphone jack will distort the sound to the point where I can no longer walk with the player.
I purchased the player through Amazon.com on January 27, 2005, so the three month parts warranty is void, but I still have the one year warranty. I never got an actual receipt from Amazon. All I have is the confirmation email with my order number. I do however have the box and all the accessories that came with the player. My question is will I be charged to get the player fixed/replaced and about how much would it be? Is it worth it's Does the problem come back? What is the best way to contact customer support?
Thank you for any help.

Creative will not "fix" the headphone jack problem, only send you a new ZM with a reinforced headphone jack. But the more you sit on this problem, the worse it'll get. Get it into Creative right away. I don't know how much it'll cost since you are outside of your 90 day warrantee, but if you look thru some of the other threads, I know it's been discussed. I bought mine from Amazon too and had the same problem. I've had my ZM back from Creative for two months and no re-occuring headphone jack problem... I think it's worth it, the ZM is a great little device! Enjoy your ZM!Message Edited by microjess on 0-20-2005 02:32 AM

Zen Micro Photo 8gb have headphone jack probl

I am going to purchase a zen micro photo, but only if the headphone jack problem is fixed from the previous zen micro's. Anyone know anything about this? Thanks

I doubt that you'll get an *official* response to this as CL does not *officialy* have any problems with the headphone jacks on their units other than from *mishandling* or from a normal and small failure rate. As of now the official stance is that there's no problem to fix. Just keep checking back here. Looks like with the Micro the thread started jumping after about 3 months for the folks that purchased last January.
Mine's about a month old now with no problems.

Does the new zen vision m have the same headphone jack probl

I would like to know because my zen micro had the headphone problem after about 8-9 months
and I want a new Mp3 player by creative because I don't like going mainstream when it comes to Ipods.

I havent heard of it having any headphone jack issues like the micro had. I believe it was corrected on all of thier new players.

How long did you have the micro for without headphones jack proble

Well i just wanna see the numbers. Perhaps the issue is inflated since people who do not have the problem stay silent and are out-voiced by the (understandably) angry mob of those who do. This would also give me an idea of how likely i am to have to go September without an mp3 player (Based on the three month product-life estimate)

I got my Zen Micro at the end of January.
First of all I am NOT suggesting that people haven't had valid problems with their ZM's but for what it's worth..................
I haven't had any problems with the headphone jack, however that may be because i take the headphone out of the socket after each use so it doesn't get bent etc. when put in a bag or pocket etc.
I use it a lot on planes trains and in the Gym.
Some people have said "really you take the headphone out after listening - oh thats such a big deal"
but it isn't - unless you're 2 years old and it's the only thing on your mind.

Headphone Jack Problem X's

Just thought I'd put my two cents in. I have just started experiencing the infamous headphone jack problems on a Zen Micro I bought less than 6 months ago where it cuts in and out, etc., etc. Funny thing? is that I had the same thing happen with a Zen Muvo I purchaed before that. I thought it was a fluke. Apparently not. Wish I would have visited the discussion groups earlier... Think I can still get it replaced?

It's very rare for a MuVo to have this, so it sounds like you've been doubly unlucky unfortunately.

Zen Micro(Original/Color) Headphone Jacks: Finally Solved or N

I haven't been to these forums in a very, very long time. The last time I was here was when Creative barely released the Zen Micro Photo onto the market. I have the original zen micro without color screen and I was wondering if the infamous headphone jack issue has been fixed permenently on either of them. Have they?

rvfon wrote:
2 months ago i sent in my Zen Micro 6GB player for that particular problem. I bought it in November '05. Nope, they still don't know how to make a working headphone jack.
Wow no kidding eh? Has anyone bought a Zen Micro during 06 that has this problem?

Creative Zen Micro 4GB - Headphone jack & transferring probl

I haven't updated my firmware since I got the player in May (out of the box firmware update? Go away).
My headphone jack is loose. I'll often only have music in one ear, especially if I'm walking or sitting down and have the player in my pocket or bag. I've started carrying my discman because I don't like pulling out my $300 mp3 player every couple of minutes. Is that the infamous solder problem?
Also, my computer no longer recognizes the player. My sister had the problem a little while ago (same player, newer firmware because she got hers a month ago), and we reinstalled the drivers and everything is cool. Mine still doesn't work.

samaxnthah wrote:Is that the infamous solder problem?
Sounds like it.
Also, my computer no longer recognizes the player. My sister had the problem a little while ago (same player, newer firmware because she got hers a month ago), and we reinstalled the drivers and everything is cool. Mine still doesn't work.
What firmware do you have on your player?
Have you run a disk cleanup from rescue mode?
When you connect the player is it listed in Device Manager?

Want to buy NX Xtra but is the headphone jack going to be a probl

Hi,
I have being doing research on the various HDD players currently available and I am leaning towards getting a 60GB Zen NX Xtra but the only thing holding me back is all this stuff I keep reading about the defecti've headphone jacks.
Does anyone know if Creative has solved this problem yet? If so is there anyway to tell (e.g. serial number etc.) whether it is a good one or a bad one? How about the Zen Touch, does it also suffer from this defect?
thanks,
Aidan

If reliability was not an issue my decision would be so easy - I'd purchase the Xtra without a doubt. Now I am really going back and forth. The Xtra has everything I need for the right price but I still don't trust it. I've looked at many ofl the review sites and some of the reviews are just plain scary and very off-putting! There are some really dis-satisfied customers out there. Even if I got the yr. extended warranty it still would be a huge hassel if I had to return it, probably not worth it to me. I really want to buy it but the only thing holding me back is my impression of the poor reliability. I've also looked into other players apart from the iPod. The iRi'ver looks good but I read that it is very slow once the hard dri've starts getting filled up. This is not acceptable to me as I know I will have a filled up dri've. I was scared off the Rio Karma and RCA Lyra by reports that I read of reliability. My requirements are very simple but it's not easy to find a product that meets them. My basic requirements in order of importance are:
. Reliability and longevity. I think this is something that should work perfectly for many many years, NOT months. I am not an early adopter of technology, I have my laptop for 5 years already and it should do me for another 5. My desktop is even older.
2. 60GB so I can store my entire music collection and have room to keep adding more or at a bare minimum 40GB. I proabobaly will have close to 40GB after I finish ripping all my CDs so that's why I'd prefer 60GB. It should work just as effecti'vely with the dri've maxed out as with hardly anything on it.
3. Decent sound quality - doesn't have to be audiophile quality, just decent
4. Reasonable ease of use.
5. Painless connectivity with my old Windows laptop and desktop machines
6. Something that doesn't break the bank. Around $300 seems fair, but I could be convinced to part with $400 especially if it aced all the other requirements.
These are pretty simple requirements but I'm having trouble finding a player that meets them. I'd love it to be the Xtra, but as you can see it's my number priority that is holding me back here. I'd like to hear someone say something reasuring to me about this but a player that has worked perfectly for 2 whole months does not quite seem reassuring enough.

ITunes no longer keeps speakers running on headphone jack

iTunes no longer keeps my external speakers running when connected by audio cable to the headphones jack. After 1:45 min:sec, my Logitech Pure-Fi Anywhere 2 speakers power down when connected to my computer playing iTunes.
The speakers do not power down for audio generated from other sources on my computer. When I play a video or audio file through Safari or another browser, the speakers work fine. When I listen to an audio file by selecting it in the Finder using Apple-Y ("quick-view"), the speakers run continuously until the end of the track without powering down. When I use the speakers configured the same way with other software (such as Skype), they work fine.
The speakers do not power down for audio generated from other DEVICES. When I plug the speaker cable into the headphone jack of either my iPhone 3Gs or my partner's mp3 player and play audio, the speakers work continuously.
I've looked at trouble-shooting for iTunes and found nothing on the Apple site or the web or in the iTunes preferences to keeping wire external speakers live during iTunes playback. I've tried having the speakers connected to a power source or running on batteries but the problem is the same. I've reset the speaker device with no change. I've reinstalled iTunes, no change. The Apple Store genius bar cleared all caches and restarted, no change. They reinstalled the computer system, but found no change.

Hi Dexterdawg
Can you direct me to the thread as I can not sort out the same problem on my iMac
Thanks

Headphone Jack No Longer Works

Does anyone know of headphones that may plug into the bottom outlet of the iPod, where it connects usually to stereo equipment. My iPod still works with this connection, to charge it, to listen on my computer, on my stereo but the headphone jack no longer works so I can't use it in my car or at other times.

Ok I just talked to headroom and with this adapter you can go directly to a set of headphones or to one of their amps. Additionally the pin connector provides improved sound quality over the cheap headphone jack that comes stock on the ipod.
http://tinyurl.com/272myv

IPhone 4 headphone jack not working right.

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I would test the headset in another device such as a computer
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How do i use the headphone jack as an input on a macbook pro 9,2.... the option just isn't in the sound app.

how do i use the headphone jack as an input on a macbook pro 9,2.... the option just isn't in the sound app.
all i have is the internal mic option, can anyone help?
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You should also ask this in the MacBook Pro forum. This is the forum for the white and black plastic MacBooks that were discontinued in 2010. You should also post this question there to increase your chances of getting an answer.
https://discussions.apple.com/community/notebooks/macbook_pro

Infamous Headphone Jack Probl

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