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Model A1181: 1.83, 2, 2.1, 2.13, 2.16, 2.2, or 2.4 GHz Core 2 Duo processor

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Headphone Jack Stuck on Digital Out

Has anyone else had this issue where the headphone jack gets stuck in digital out mode?

My speakers are disabled (except for the chime sound when booting), the sound pref panel only allows me to select 'Digital Out' for sound output, and a red light shines out of the jack. Headphones work when I plug 'em in.

I've found other discussions out there about this (such as: http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa...), but so far I haven't had much luck with suggestions found there.

Any ideas?

Thanks!

Jeff

Answered! View the answer I have this problem too

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I had this issue after buying a blackbook a1181 with a broken optical jack stuck in the port,

After removing it I found the port was pretty much ruined (headphones kind of worked but sketchy) and also had the optical audio light on and system speakers was not an option .

I tried the following

-Toothpick to unstick the switch

-Alcohol to remove corrosion/dust

-Custom Midi option as an output

-Blowing with all my might

-Seeing if there was a software workaround (heads up: there wasn’t)

-Repeatedly inserting and removing a jack.

What I finally found to work was twisting up some strong tissue paper and inserting as much as physically possible until it was rock hard when the internal speakers option finally came back

The problem came back with the tissue removed so I just further pushed it in with a screwdriver, cut off the excess and sharpied over it,

Yeah I lost the aux port now but my internal speakers are working now and who uses an aux port these days anyway as I still have Bluetooth and USB.

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I've had success on several laptops taking the cotton off the end of a q-tip, and sticking the bare q-tip end in the jack, applying slight pressure and twisting it around a few times.

Make sure to do this kind of thing while the power is off, especially if you're putting metal objects in there.

Many laptops have long lives after this issue has been fixed, and with no recurrence of the issue, so I don't agree with the assessment above that the motherboard needs to be replaced.

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This technique has worked for me. I used a toothpick. I think dust and dirt can trick the sensor.

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I used a napkin that was all twisted up. I pushed as much of it inside the port as I could while twisting it, and it seems to have worked!

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These techniques seem to offer the best chance of success. I've tried the q-tip / toothpick / pen techniques, and none work reliably for me. Sometimes sound comes back for a bit, but it's not reliable. That little sensor/switch in there is pretty sensitive, I guess!

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My thinking on this issue has evolved somewhat as I get more and more of these laptops. I now use a small torx screwdriver, and I twist it in the audio port when the laptop is on. The switch seems to be on the right side of the port, or about the 3 o'clock position. You'll notice the audio icon turn black instead of greyed out, but when you take out the screwdriver, it goes grey again. You just have to repeat this process until eventually it stays black. Sometimes it takes 2 minutes, and sometimes it never happens. I give it about 10 minutes worth of attempts, and if it takes any longer than that I just replace the board. Also, once it's working you'll want to reboot a few times and make sure it doesn't revert. If it does, it's most likely going to continue to be flaky, and so I replace the board rather than risk a return.

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Yay finally. I have been without sound for days trying other methods and this worked first time!

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This is not a fix, but if it comes down to logic board or bust, i'd get something like a griffin imic, it's small enough that it shouldnt be a huge burden and will you give you in and out via usb.

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This is a good workaround. It might be a little better suited to desktops, but I could still see using it on a laptop.

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Well, it's not really logic board or bust. In my case, the headphone out still works, so I can plug in headphones or external powered speakers. But if some macs with this problem can't do headphones, either, then this is a great idea. There are lots of USB audio devices, and they work pretty well. I got a headset that came with a usb audio adapter, and you can use it either with the adapter or straight into the audio in and out jacks.

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I had this happen with my MacBook Pro.

My electronic technician neighbor squirted a little alcohol into the red eyed headphone jack and inserted a headphone jack a few times. Instant fix.

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I'll usually cut a Q-Tip and on the non-cotton end I'll cut a few grooves and soak in alcohol a bit and scrub the jack. & if that don't work it needs to be replaced.

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Squirting any liquid into a system can be harmful! In most cases the alcohol or other liquid you might use won't get to the area you need it as the switch contacts not the barrel contact side is what needs cleaning or re-aligning (the back side here is the switch).

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You are a life saver!

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It worked for me too! Thanks!

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just pulled the fuzz off of a q tip, dipped in alcohol, rotated it in and it worked

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this actually worked, it is a silly simple fix, but worked :)

https://josephhall.org/nqb2/index.php/st...

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this was the fourteenth thing I tried tonight, and it FINALLY worked after an hour and a half of messing with my macbook. Thank you SO MUCH!!!!!

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I’m glad others have had success sticking things in their jacks to fix this issue—that’s worked for me a couple times but the jack still gets stuck eventually even though I never insert a headphone plug. Finally I came across a real solution at this thread. It’s a very iFixit-style fix, as you should definitely do it with at least a boardview for your computer and only if you’re confident you know what you’re doing, but if done right it’s actually the perfect solution.

Since what I propose below is a permanent, hardware-level fix, also look earlier in the thread I linked to find dondavanzo’s software solution. It didn’t work for me, but if it works for you it’s easier, more elegant, and reversible, so worth a shot before going further. The VoodooHDA kext for hackintoshes can force the audio codec to ignore the presence of an optical plug and give you normal behavior switching only between headphones and speakers.

By removing a resistor (or inductor, depending on your exact model - my comment over on the macrumors thread specifies) from the circuit that detects as SPDIF optical plug, you completely disable the digital output. So, you can still use the headphone jack without worrying about the switch getting stuck, and unplugging headphones will seamlessly switch back to internal speakers. I triple and quadruple-checked to make sure I had found the proper resistor (R6805 on A1286 models with board 820-3330-B; my educated guess without having an A1502 model in front of me is either L6607 or L6608), then it took less than a minute to scrape off the tiny SMD resistor with an exacto knife. Obviously, if you ever need to use SPDIF, this won’t work; but, if you use SPDIF, you probably know what you’re doing and can figure something else out.

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Wow I'm surprised to see new answers to this question 10 years after it was asked, but this is a great addition. Thanks for posting this :)

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Awesome solution - good work Richard!!

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As much as I would like for there to be an easy fix, there isn't. The same thing happened to my MacBookPro. The toggle switch inside of the port is defective. The only true fix is to replace the Logic Board which Apple will do for free, it's a known issue. If that is not an option for you, the "toothpick fix" listed in the forums at apple may work.

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Ok so I used a tiny metal screw driver. The switch at 3 o’clock toggles between headphone on/off. Switch at 9 o’clock toggles between digital out on/off. So you need to determine in preferences which switch is stuck, then put your toothpick massaging at that switch.

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I fixed it using a digital optical cable. A couple of times inserting and removing did the trick :)

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Hi, Is a digital optical cabled different from an 1/8" headphone or audio cable?

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If it's any consolation, I, too, have this problem and am going to attempt the solutions offered above. My "workaround" right now is some Logitech USB speakers which clip on to the top of my screen.

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As a last resort before a whole logic board replacement it looks as though you can remove the metal housing as shown in this blurry low res video

http://youtu.be/yIVYacOKzOs

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The bent paperclip trick does work--but only as long as I hold the paperclip in place. Help!

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Sorry for you Jessica. I had that also. For a while doing the paperclip worked, then it stopped.

I took my MBP apart, and with lots of guts, small tools, and the youtube-tutorial (which shows a slightly different socket!) I squeezed and bent the contacts a bit. Just a little extra pressure on the spring is what it needs.

But this operation is defenitly not for the weak-of-heart.

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Why not just replace the jack?

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To replace the jack, I would have to have one sent to UlaanBaatar Mongolia, and lots of soldering involved.

Not my thing.

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I can replace the jack. I'm in San Diego. Simple.

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Should be easy solution & fix the problem.

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Hello Tony Tone,

Same problem here with a MacBook Pro 13 (2010) mini jack is stuck on digital out. The jack was totally damaged by a stupid guy, so I had to remove the jack. I'm searching for replacement, but could not find anything.

So my question is, Can you help me which pins need to be connected so that the internal speakers will work again?

I couldn't find the information anywhere any help or pictures to solve this problem. I'm from Germany so no way to come by.

Thanks very much.

Adrian

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I'm not sure if there is a work-around. I'm under the impression if it is removed your speakers should work again. Maybe another issue, I'm not certain. Have you tried putting on a new one?

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Well, after removing the mini jack socket which doesn't work. The replacement part seems to be impossible to get :-(

The only way is to buy it is with a complete logic board and they are expensive! Even broken.

Thank you very much for your answer, I'll have to wait till I find a replacement part.

Adrian

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You can buy them online. I've seen that section sawed off with jack for sell. Or on dead boards you can get for $30.

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I know this is a little late, but I've only just become frustrated enough with this issue on mine to try fixing it—user Ryan over on this thread was able to track down the contacts to connect if you just want internal speakers and no headphone jack: Audio jack problem, no speaker sound, red light

I haven't tried this solder job yet, but I've seen a couple other sources mention something similar.

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Nothing works and the red light disappeared but its still stuck in digital out mode. I have a 2013 MacBook Pro

Isn't there some sort of a software loophole? I've searched and searched came up with no results. This Sucks!

As far as paper clips and tooth picks and Q-Tip tricks, None of that $@$* worked, if anything it made the red light disappear and god knows what the f that means. lol

I'm new to Mac's, excuse my french!

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Switch off your Mac, unplug the power adapter. With pressure blow into the mac head phones port(mouth to port). Plug in any working head phones jack into the port and move the jack in different directions(gently)

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A few days ago my digital output stopped working altogether. I had no problem switching from built in output to digital, i just had no audio at all via digital. I ended up fixing it by using the cotton bud fix given in this page (above).

I removed the cotton from one side of the cotton bud, leaving just the plastic bit remaining, and very gently put it into the headphone jack, then twisted it around slowly. I also blew into the headphone jack which might have dislodged a tiny bit of dust.

I'm assuming that the optical red light in my macbook jack port, had been partially blocked by dust.

Thankfully its now working fine now, no problem with audio either digital or built-in.

Thanks for the useful advice!

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Tried wiggling the headphone jack, and then ear bud (without cotton). I was able to toggle to 'Internal Speaker', but still didn't behave consistently when I inserted/removed jack. I then used a can of Air Brush (compressed gas) which seemed to do the trick.

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For me I had forgotten that I had connected to a Bluetooth Airplay speaker from my MacBook Pro.

When I turned it on next, the Digital Out interface was active, plugging in headphones would allow sound through the headphones but once unplugged would return to Digital Out.

The solution to this case was to simply turn off bluetooth. and the Internal Speakers showed up immediately.

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Thnx, but it did not work for me. :-((( I'll keep trying, and if you come up with something else, please holla!!!

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Very helpful!!! Just some qtip of the cotton buds and patience!!!

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I tried most of these things but it worked when I didn’t fully insert the headphones in (very loose) and it picked up on the comp that headphones were there and I pulled it out. The it reset itself to internal speakers. (I did this a few times for it to work.)

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Been without sound for months and I tried almost everything on the internet!!! I tried this with a toothpick with no success, but I cut a Q-Tip and put a little bit of alcohol on the tip and ran it through the port several times and finally success!! Thanks a million!!

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i done this my light is out in the head phone jack but still know sound coming through the speakers

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what could be my promblem

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we're gonna need to know more in order to help you out! exactly what steps have you tried so far? what model & year of macbook do you have? what audio output device is selected when you open System Preferences>Sound>Output?

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As for me, i found out that my hardware part is broken. every time i sock in the headphone jack, it will have sound in and out intermittently… that’s how i know my jack phone socket have problem.

Azry Al-Yahya

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Now I plug my headphone port with the tapered end of a wooden chopstick. Just enough to be snug. Blocking the port from all light seems to work (it is not necessary to scrape around inside). Simple and effective. No more fiddling around with bent paper clips.

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jeff664 will be eternally grateful.
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