Chosen Solution
Hi, I have a MacBook Core 2 Duo A1181, 2.1 Ghz. Unfortunately, my son took the headset out too fast and it seems that the connector doesn’t work anymore. I can see the red light in the hole but when I connect another headset, no sound and the Mac only recognizes the numerical output now as well. Also, no sound coming from the built in speakers as well. Any info or help will be more than appreciated! :-)
There’s little switch inside the sound port that is probably stuck on the numerical position. Try to reinsert the headphone jack in and out many times it could unstuck the switch. You can also use a toothpick and try to trigger the switch.
Or you hold ALT while clicking on the sound menubar icon to select your soundcard ;)
Put the earphone into the jack, and restart the machine. Works for me.
First you need an old broken logic board for parts because no one sells the audio jack. They run $30-45 bucks on ebay. Unsolder the headphone jack from the broken logic board first for practice, Remove your logic board (instructions here on iFixit) then CAREFULLY unsolder the headphone jack using a precision tip and install the replacement being very careful not to burn any of the surrounding components.
,just spray compressed air into socket first,if no good,plug a headphone cable in and out to free the dust and dirt or to free the jammed sterio pin in the switch connector socket back into place,happened twice on mine(and countless other audio equipment with sterio headphone jack problems that, ive been unlucky enough to encounter),if all fails then the operationnot very easy to de solder cleanly, maybe neccesary!!! mac parts are quite robust.
I used https://www.nigrin.de/de/produkte/nach/p… Its basically sewing machine oil, MSDS: http://www.sdbpool.de/eshop?t=7458dd9841… then inserted and removed the normal headphone jack about 150 times (maybe 12 times is enough and more realistic) WITH DEVICE TURNED OFF, BATTERY REMOVED… works really good now, so far at least. Hope that helps.
Hi! I just looked this up also, I have a great idea. What you will want to do is trick the system, It’s the audiojack and the Mac OS X sometimes, it was for me. Put in the Audio Jack and remove it fast do it a couple times then you will want to keep it plugged in, click the volume icon and while messing with the volume on that and then quickly unplug the audio jack and keep doing this until it finally stays, It worked for me. If anything changes with this Idea I will let you know, Hopefully this helps you! :) - Chris
I used a little usb adaptor for headphones, until I can afford to get the headphone port fixed. I will deffo try the headphones in and out 100 times though, up to about 40 no joy…thanks guys at least i can edit things on my earphones which was the most important. Appreciate your help and any other ideas people have as it’ll be about £130 to fix this little tiny blighter. Red light was shining and shaded grey volume sign before I found the usb adaptor and changed system preferences to recognise it.
The AkoaDa USB to Audio Jack Adapter supports listening + speaking. It is plug and play so it will be recognized by 99% of all operating systems. It can be used for virtual meetings! Note : Does NOT work with the USB port of TV, amplifier, CD player, car or truck.
