In article <p-lefebvre-C1F05D.18521403082003[at]reader1.news.rcn.net>,
Phil Lefebvre <p-lefebvre[at]GOnorthwestern.edu> wrote:
> I put a PC microphone in the speaker port of a 7500 running OS 9.1, to
> silence the startup chime. Now the 7500 won't stop thinking it has
> headphones plugged in (as indicated in the Sound CP), which means no
> sound from the front speakers. If I plug headphones or speakers in the
> sound comes out just fine, but I can't get the machine to forget about
> the headphones.
>
> I've tried a clean install, even all the way to OS 9.2.2. I've tried
> swapping in a new hard drive with a clean OS 9 system. I zapped the PRAM
> several times, replaced the PRAM battery (it died in the meantime
> anyway), pressed the CUDA switch, nothing seems to work.
>
> Anyone else have any ideas?
It's probably not a software problem. Almost certainly hardware.
Most likely, you've got some crud in the jack, although it's possible
you have one or more bent contacts.
When you plug into the jack, you break two (sometimes three, depending
on the exact configuration of the jack) connections, and make two (or
three) new ones as part of the process. If, when you remove the plug,
the contacts that do the make/break thing don't go back to their proper
"nothing in the jack" configuration, you'll get what you're describing.
Scrunge in the jack can do it, as can metal fatigue. Whatever the cause,
the idea is to get the "nothing here" contacts back together.
Get yerself a Q-tip (*NOT* one of the off-brand clones! It *MUST* be a
*PROPER* "Q-tip" or what you're about to do will just leave a gob of
cotton in the jack that you'll have a devil of a time getting out.
*TRUST* the voice of experience on this one...) and dunk it in rubbing
alcohol. Gently but firmly squish out most of the alcohol, and in the
process, squeeze/roll the cotton part down to a rather skinny shape,
about the diameter of the plug that you'd normally put in the jack. Slip
it into the jack. Rotate once or twice, then pull it out. For good
measure, either get yourself some canned air, or the nozzle from your
air compressor (Make sure you've got a water trap on the line - spraying
water into your jack and onto your motherboard isn't the world's
greatest idea) and run a good blast directly into the jack.
Betcha things work properly again, since that's exactly the treatment
that cured my 7500's close-enough-to-identical sound woes when I removed
the external speakers after a long time with the plug stuck in there.
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