There's a jack stuck in my computer

May 31, 2009 12:37 PM

I just unplugged my headphones from my PC to find that the top of the jack has broken off and is stuck inside the socket. Does anyone know how I could get it out?
posted by Andy Harwood to Computers & Internet (8 answers total)

Common problem with no perfect solution. Since the jack is holding the piece of headphone in place, you might try a tiny tab of some very strong glue on the end of the broken headphone connector, and letting it sit while pushed up against the part stuck inside the jack. These jacks have a design that allows them to hold the connector in place so as to not let them be pulled out too easily. Here's a crude diagram that may help visualize the problem: http://www.music.columbia.edu/~douglas/pc1600mod/jack.plug.TRS.jpg
posted by dinx2582 at 12:50 PM on May 31, 2009

Can you open the PC and see the socket? Sometimes you can push/tease the stump out.
posted by A189Nut at 12:51 PM on May 31, 2009

Previously.
posted by telegraph at 1:01 PM on May 31, 2009

The first two responses have it. Try superglue, and it takes longer to really set than they claim on the package. If that fails you might be able to push it out from the inside but many if not most of these jacks are in their own sealed cases.
posted by caddis at 2:26 PM on May 31, 2009

Response by poster: Thanks guys. I tried opening it but, like caddis said, it has its own sealed case. I'll try the superglue thing tomorrow.
posted by Andy Harwood at 2:37 PM on May 31, 2009

Try screwing the plug into the jack. This happened to me before and it turned out the piece hadn't broken off; it'd come unscrewed. I was able to screw the other bit into it and pull it out easily. (then I threw that crappy cable the hell away!)
posted by bink at 8:23 PM on May 31, 2009

Small diameter straw coffee stir stick, drop of epoxy inside straw, work straw over broken bit, wait for cure,
hopefully extract piece.
posted by hortense at 11:44 PM on May 31, 2009

A magnet?
posted by yawper at 1:48 PM on June 1, 2009