If it’s a front panel audio connector, and the speakers are plugged in to the back, can’t he just unplug the front panel connector from the mobo, rendering it useless and thus no longer interfering with the rest of the system?
Alcoholica if you give us the model # of your desktop, I can try to find out the front panel power configuration and tell you how you can unplug this jack.
If I’ve got this right then you’ve got a busted headphone jack on the front of the machine, and a set of jacks on the back that produce tinny sound because the headphone jack is stealing half the signal (over simplification but you get the idea).
The socket on the front panel will be connected to the motherboard inside the computer somehow. Either by one wire that deals with all the sockets or by a wire per socket.
If you can open up the computer so you can see the circuit board then find that wire and unplug it from the motherboard end and that should solve your problem. Newer computers have little labels on the wires saying what they are, older ones have them printed on the socket at the end (useful when connecting up, less so when disconnecting). Basically find wires going from the front panel to the circuit boards in the computer, one of them’ll be the one you need to yank.
Depending how tidy your computer builder was the wires may just hang in mid-air or they may be tied to the sides.
Or am I missing something.
Some computers have a CMOS option to disable front panel audio (hit DEL at the very start when the computers booting up, poke around in the settings, don’t change anything else – the option’ll be obvious if it’s there).
SD
I might be completely wrong about this, but I was under the impression that the outputs to the rear socket and the motherboard header into which the front socket is plugged were not just simply split off the same feed.
Instead of epoxy, how about a small application of super-glue to the one thing that should mate perfectly…the old headphone jack. put a tiny bit of super-glue on there, only enough to leave a small film on the very tip of the broken end, and then place it into the hole. Give it a bit to set up, then remove it.
I see ZipperJJ beat me to it.
Sometimes. Depending on the layout on the back panel and the inside of the box the sockets to both front and back and connected by wires (I think HP might be this way as I recall seeing some odd layouts in HP boxes).
However most of the computers I’ve seen have the back connectors are directly on the board (motherboard or sound card) and there’s a seperate set of front connectors that have a wire running between then and a plug on the board. This is fairly standard nowadays so that different boards fit in different case.
Of course even if they’re wired to the same place the wires split at some point. If all else fails you could snip the wires to the front panel. I wouldn’t recommend doing that unless you’re 100% sure you know what wire to cut, you’ve no other choice and you’re prepared for it to go very wrong (pretend you’re defusing a bomb!)
SD
So as not to scare you about defusing a bomb … just give us the model of your HP Pavillion and we can take a look-see for the mobo configuration and tell you exactly what wires to disconnect. There probably will not be any snipping involved.
I managed to get the piece out of the socket, but thanks for all of suggestions and support. And sorry for the confusion. :smack:
I had to dismantle most of the machine so I could gain access to the problem. I partially uncapped the plastic guard protecting the socket, then threaded a needle between the narrow opening and managed to push the useless nub out in just under four hours. So the speakers are fine now.
All I have left is to remove the, uh, tar pits of spilt epoxy from inside the socket and then I should be able to use the headphones.
If someone can assemble something I can take it apart barring welds, and such.
It’s usually best to dissassemble an article to make proper repairs if at all possible.
Old chinese proverb says, "What one fool can do another can (do/undo)!