XDA Atom thinks earhones are plugged in

[Peter Bruderlin]

My Atom thinks the earphones are plugged in when they aren't.
If I answer the phone, no sound, presumably because it thinks the earphones are plugged in and is trying to use those.
Activating the start menu or media player has no sound.
The FM Radio starts (which will only happen if it thinks the earphones are plugged in).
But they are not plugged in.
I am currently on ROM 20060426B1WWE.
The same thing happened on ROM 20060105B1WWE, the first ROM I upgraded to.
I know what you're going to say, that there is a hardware fault, either with the earphone connector or the speakers simply don't work.
Firstly, the speakers do still work. If I start the FM radio and set the little button at bottom left to use the speakers as well, they work.
As for the earphone connector, when I had the problem on the 0105B1 ROM, I could fix the problem by performing a hard reset. Sadly this doesn't fix the problem with the latest ROM, but I'm pretty sure that a hard reset doesn't fully reset the device's configuration.

So I'm pretty sure this is not a hardware issue. I think the OS keeps track of whether the earphones are plugged in, and this has got out of sync somehow.

The last time it happened, I did the following:
While I was playing an mp3 and listening with the earphones, I pulled out the connector and the speakers did not start to play as I think they should have. Now, as I said above, it thinks the earphones are connected all of the time.

Anyone seen anything similar, or have an idea of what I can do? I rang O2 and while they admit it is probably a s/w problem, they want me to send the Atom to them. I don't want to be without it for a week or so because it is my phone and I rely on it. So I thought I'd try here.

Thanks,

[bulletproof_78]

Hey Peter

I've got the exact same issue once...
But the problem i found for mine was that SOMEHOW when I plug out the headset jack, the slightly retarded Atom thinks I have not..
Just plug in the headset again and pull it out slowly... Then try out the phone if its back to normal...
It seems that the Atom is slow in picking up the disconnected headset...
Hope it works for you as it did for me...

Good Luck

[Peter Bruderlin]

Hi bulletproof_78,

Thanks a lot for the reply.

I have just tried it and no luck. I pulled the earphones out very slowly.

I think this is one of the biggest problems with any style of MS Windows. They want to cache everything for the sake of performance, and the cache gets out of sync with the thing it's caching. In this case I bet it tries to keep track of the earphone state internally. But if it misses an event like unplugging them, the internal state is different from the thing it is trying to cache.

Anyway, down off the soapbox.

I'll keep in mind what you said, and try it a few times over the next few days.

I might end up having to send it to O2 (all the way up to @#$%^! Queensland) so they can lose it, or replace it with some questionable one that they haven't fixed properly, or god knows what else.

Anyway, thanks again.

[Peter Bruderlin]

For anyone listening out there, the problem has gone away.
I don't really know why.
The only thing I did out of the usual was to turn Bluetooth on. The timing was perfect for me to think that this is what must have fixed the problem.

Do you think that might have fixed it? No I don't either.

And I'm reluctant to try to get it back into that state to see if this fixes it because I'm not that confident that this has fixed it. :-)

I sure hope someone else has this problem and O2 or Microsoft hear about it.

[Novice Gadget Boy]

I had the exact same problem you did. I fixed mine by very gently running a paperclip around the inside of the audio jack. Problem Solved!!!

[Novice Gadget Boy]

I had the exact same problem you did. I fixed mine by very gently running a paperclip around the inside of the audio jack. Problem Solved!!!

[kejas]

hi guys i faced the same problem last week and i had to get it reparied from the repair shop and they informed me that the jack it not working properly and they will replace it with other jack which is used in sonyerricson cell phones as it is the same. I have got it done and now i have no problem.

Please try this method at the last.

[mtresillian]

Thanks Novice Boy

i tried the paper clip idea and it worked.

About 5mm inside the earphone jack, on the side closest to the USB port, you can feel a small 'bump' (lets call it the g-spot!) as you run over it with the paper clip. Do this with an MP3 playing or something and voila.....the music comes out of the speaker again and the phone rings, i can talk to people again. Seems there is a fault in recognising whether the earpiece is plugged in or out as many have suggested.

MT

[victoradjei]

Thanks Novice Boy

i tried the paper clip idea and it worked.

About 5mm inside the earphone jack, on the side closest to the USB port, you can feel a small 'bump' (lets call it the g-spot!) as you run over it with the paper clip. Do this with an MP3 playing or something and voila.....the music comes out of the speaker again and the phone rings, i can talk to people again. Seems there is a fault in recognising whether the earpiece is plugged in or out as many have suggested.

MT

Even a tooth pick would do :shock: Have not been using my FM radio but decided to try and got this problem! Was carful not to "short" anything inside so used a toothpick and it worked :lol:

[netready]

Hi, mine is doing exactly the same thing and did intermittently for a while. Now I cannot get phone audio at all! I have even tried flashing the ROM and still nothing. Works perfectly with portable hands free. Do you think the audio plug is shot? Thanks.:(

[epoch]

awesome!!!

the paper clip trick really work!!! thanks Novice boy !!

I had this problem too, thanks to you guys and now its fixed.

[OptiAtom]

Ok...This toothpic thing really works..

But I cant believe that after paying so much...I am encountering problems like these..

Anyone has any idea if the problem is solved for good or now we need to carry a toothpic too with a stylus...

[ahdeshpande]

Even mine problem got resolved automatically. I faced it 2 weeks back.

I tried re inserting the Headphone slowly and removingit and everything came back to normal

[strazzella7]

hey ive also had this problem...the only thing is that my phone doesnt think it has the headset plugged in because when i open the FM radio it says insert headset...it works when the headset is in and when its on speaker phone but other than that i cannot hear the person...i dropped my phone and this happened....i tried all the methods mentioned but its not fixing the problem...im guessing it could be hardware but the speaker and everything still works except for when your in a call...any ideas?

[adomila]

i have the same problem. it's like the earphone jack is stuck because the fm radio works even without the earphones. sometimes this registry setting works sometimes it does not :( let me know if it works for you/anybody...

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\State\Hardware]
"Headset"=dword:00000000

[t.stratus]

even i had this problem in my atom exec a few weeks back sorry i saw this now :( and for a pemanent solution for it is dont put anything inside just apply very little coconut oil on the handsfree connecter and then connect it to ur phone and keep removing and reinserting it for a couple of times and it will work for sure this happens due to dust or some particles getting stuck between those connectors not allowing the mechanism to work correctly hope it helps beacuse toothpick trick works fine but its temp and reoccur

[rorijam]

even i had this problem in my atom exec a few weeks back sorry i saw this now :( and for a pemanent solution for it is dont put anything inside just apply very little coconut oil on the handsfree connecter and then connect it to ur phone and keep removing and reinserting it for a couple of times and it will work for sure this happens due to dust or some particles getting stuck between those connectors not allowing the mechanism to work correctly hope it helps beacuse toothpick trick works fine but its temp and reoccur

I have the same problem and was very sad until trying the toothpic trick, even thought If I hit my pocket the problem returns, so I will try your recomendation, thanks!

Is there a hardware repair procedure, so maybe this part can be removed and replaced?

[archat68]

Yes it is a hardware problem. The headphone socket is faulty.
I've a HP 6828 - which is identical to Atom. I had this problem also.
Pls check this thread how to solve it yourself:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=421982

[Laskar Cinta]

same problem goes to me to.. at first i'm quite shocked..there might be something damaged..then i insert a tooth pick (scared if i use paperclip could short the electrical terminal inside..) into the earphone jack.hoping a miracle to happen, then few moments, my atom back to normal..