Headphone Jack wasn't working...My fix

arparaspolo · May 8, 2012

Here is what was wrong. I would plug in my aux cable and it just didn't seem to click. It didn't sit in there right. And it wouldn't connect to my radio. Nor would it connect to headphones. I use my phone as an MP3 and a hands free device also through my radio. I also have speaker issues. Rattling when on high volume. So, I called VW and they are sending me out a phone. I looked into the hole with a flashlight and saw something that didn't look right in there. I straightened out a thin paper clip and swiped at it. Out flies a lint ball. My headphone jack now works as intended. My new(used) phone is on the way and will be here today. I am still going to take the replacement due to the speakers on my old one rattling.

I just wanted to post this find so that anyone who is having the same issue can resolve it themselves if they do not wish to exchange phones. If mine worked properly I would send back the replacement.

urdaddi · May 8, 2012

I think sticking anything inside that hole is asking for some problem to happen.

Instead of actually poking something inside there where you may harm the phone, use a can of compressed air directed inside the hole. Works great.

It does not tak much lint to block the connection in the hole with the jack.

RudyP · Aug 27, 2012

Thank you so much!

I was convinced my head phones stopped working after upgrading to Ice Cream Sandwich. I stumbled across your post and after reading it looked inside my head phone jack with a bright light and saw something that didn't look quite right. With some careful work with a dental pick I managed to get out several tinny pieces of yellow paper. (Candy wrapper maybe?) Probably would have been safer to use something nonconductive like a tooth pick and maybe turned the phone off but I figured head phone jacks should be impedance limited any way. Anyway my head phones work great now!

Thanks!
Rudy

MasterGadgets · Aug 30, 2012

urdaddi said:
I think sticking anything inside that hole is asking for some problem to happen.

Instead of actually poking something inside there where you may harm the phone, use a can of compressed air directed inside the hole. Works great.

It does not tak much lint to block the connection in the hole with the jack.

I would not use compressed air. Yes it would dislodge the lint [or whatever] from the jack, but it could just move the obstruction around inside the phone and where will it end up and what problems could it cause????

Padron26 · Sep 6, 2012

urdaddi said:
I think sticking anything inside that hole is asking for some problem to happen.

Sorry i couldn't resist,

arparaspolo · Sep 6, 2012

Compressed air(which I have used in the past) pushes dust into places you don't want. Like the inside of the screen behind the glass. No bueno. As for the paper clip, make sure the phone is off, get a thin one and bend it just right and you won't damage anything in the hole. Just make sure you are gentle. haha :star:

ritualdevice · Sep 12, 2012

LINTGATE! Motorola, admit what you know!

For the last thirty years of my life I've been carrying devices with 3mm headphone jacks and nary a problem with "pocket" dust. Now suddenly I have a pocket dust issue, and lo and behold I find that there are dozens of other folks complaining about the same problem with the same phone? My we all have such dusty pockets, us RAZR owners.

My Motorola Droid RAZR MAXX is practically virgin. It's been either on my desk or my nightstand since I got it. The very first time I tried the headphones jack in an attempt to connect to my car audio system, it didn't work. So I know the jack wasn't abused.

After coming here, I decided to give it a shot and wouldn't you know it a rather sizable lint wad was mashed down in the jack. I took a long seamstress pin and carefully picked the lint ball out with the evening sun over my shoulder providing a guide light. It took a few minutes to get all the lint out, it was really wedged in there. This has to be remnant of the manufacturing process.

I demand satisfaction! At the very least a free "Another One Bites The Dust" ringtone.

One quick addition: canned air was not successful in dislodging this lint. I tried that before attempting the pin. No change. I was ready to assume that this meant that there was no lint in the hole, don't make that assumption. Mechanical removal seems to be necessary in some cases.

Meshmonkey · Nov 8, 2012

Thanks for all who posted on this. I went to Verison 4 times to see if someone knew about a switch or something that kept the earphones from working.
I looked down the hole and saw the white thing. I took a pin and bent a hook in the end. I pulled the battery and removed the white thing.
I have saved it for future reference. If it is pocket lint, then why is it so concentrated a bundled at the bottom of the hole. There are no signs of general lint in the phone. Is there some kind of electrostatic issue at the bottom of the hole? Is it something from a step in the manufacturing process? Is it a small vengeance of a disgruntled employee?
I will try to find someone at Motorola to look at the sample and see if anything turns up. I also made it very clear to the Verison folks that they need to add this problem to their set of fixit tricks. They were suggesting trading in the phone on earlier visits.

kingnut · Nov 9, 2012

You pulled the battery huh

arparaspolo · Nov 9, 2012

kingnut said:
You pulled the battery huh

Lol. :smokingsomb:

Der Juicen · Nov 13, 2012

i was having intermittent issues with my headphone jack and finally took a look inside and sure enough there was lint at the bottom of the jack, got it out and problems solved. so weird.

vicente1 · Nov 29, 2012

arparaspolo said:
Here is what was wrong. I would plug in my aux cable and it just didn't seem to click. It didn't sit in there right. And it wouldn't connect to my radio. Nor would it connect to headphones. I use my phone as an MP3 and a hands free device also through my radio. I also have speaker issues. Rattling when on high volume. So, I called VW and they are sending me out a phone. I looked into the hole with a flashlight and saw something that didn't look right in there. I straightened out a thin paper clip and swiped at it. Out flies a lint ball. My headphone jack now works as intended. My new(used) phone is on the way and will be here today. I am still going to take the replacement due to the speakers on my old one rattling.

I just wanted to post this find so that anyone who is having the same issue can resolve it themselves if they do not wish to exchange phones. If mine worked properly I would send back the replacement.

i am so thankful.thanks to you now my headphone jack works.

what i did i grabbed a piece of those wrappers that people wrap wires with like rca and the like stripped it off and went around with that for my surprise 3 balls came out. i also turned off the phone so no damage was caused.

thanks also for your comment about not using the air can or can air because it pushes air behind the touch screen thank you very much again a have great day and pretty happy now.:smokingsomb:

vicente1 · Nov 29, 2012

ritualdevice said:
LINTGATE! Motorola, admit what you know!

For the last thirty years of my life I've been carrying devices with 3mm headphone jacks and nary a problem with "pocket" dust. Now suddenly I have a pocket dust issue, and lo and behold I find that there are dozens of other folks complaining about the same problem with the same phone? My we all have such dusty pockets, us RAZR owners.

My Motorola Droid RAZR MAXX is practically virgin. It's been either on my desk or my nightstand since I got it. The very first time I tried the headphones jack in an attempt to connect to my car audio system, it didn't work. So I know the jack wasn't abused.

After coming here, I decided to give it a shot and wouldn't you know it a rather sizable lint wad was mashed down in the jack. I took a long seamstress pin and carefully picked the lint ball out with the evening sun over my shoulder providing a guide light. It took a few minutes to get all the lint out, it was really wedged in there. This has to be remnant of the manufacturing process.

I demand satisfaction! At the very least a free "Another One Bites The Dust" ringtone.

One quick addition: canned air was not successful in dislodging this lint. I tried that before attempting the pin. No change. I was ready to assume that this meant that there was no lint in the hole, don't make that assumption. Mechanical removal seems to be necessary in some cases.

funny joke about another one bites the dust and thanks i used your idea about using the sun light as a guide and it works just fine didn't use the can air because i read it was no good for this but trust me i was very close to using it.

vicente1 · Nov 29, 2012

Is it a small vengeance of a disgruntled employee?

it's a good theory also your comment is full of real facts about people on the stores not giving any help either they don't know most likely or they manufacteres tell them not to say anything that way they can fix it and charged for it or maybe they don't wanna deal with this anyway.

best place to come is always the forums. :rolleyes:

lmo2000 · Jan 3, 2013

Had the same problem. I tried a pin to clean the headphone jack out but wasn't very successful. Next I took a pair of very narrow tweezers I found in my wife's make up drawer and used them to pull out a small ball of fuzz. The small tweezers worked great and so did the headphones.

fosterj · Jan 4, 2013

Actually, this isn't a Razr/Maxx issue. Same thing with my D3, and others have reported the same with theirs. Never had an issue with the OG, however. Canned air did absolutely nothing though -- had to go with the paper clip

Bugly · Jan 5, 2013

Had a similar problem on my DX once, it was just the opposite, though. I wasn't able to get any sound out of the speaker, and after a little searching, I found a wad of lint was in the headphone jack and was keeping the contacts open as if it had a plug in it. Cleaning it made the problem go away.
My suggestion to those who are worried about this issue is to get a small piece of rubber or silicone (just large enough to fit in the hole, but not small enough to fall in) and cover the hole until needed. this keeps crud and small children from entering the jack.
A friend of mine uses a small square of blue "painter's tape" to cover his.

kingnut · Jan 10, 2013

Btw i used a toothpick and this worked great for me. Little ball of lint came out and my headphones now work.

Lori Smith · Jan 20, 2015

My jack works fine until I try to make a call- then it goes silent. At first I thought it was my headphones. What can I do besides replace the jack?

Headphone Jack wasn't working...My fix

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