If you've owned your Nexus for a while, you'll start to notice that your headphone jack may become spotty, finicky, or no longer work. This is caused by the lack of a proper connector on the motherboard for the headphone jack module. The pins of the headphone jack end up rubbing up against the PCB pads and wearing it away, resulting in a faulty connection. (See attachments for reference).
Symptoms of a worn connection:
- No sound through headphones
- Wiggling the headphone connector causes something to happen
- Google assistant or search activating randomly
- Songs randomly skipping or stopping when using aux or headphones
You can make a semi-permanent repair by tinning the connection pads with solder, which both improves the connection and repairs any wear. This may need to be repeated in the future as solder is a soft material. (not any time soon though, maybe a few months).
Tools:
- Soldering Iron
- Solder with rosin core (or solder + flux)
- About an hour
Step 1 - Follow any tear down guide to remove the main motherboard from the phone.
I prefer the iFixit guide which can be found here:
https://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/Nexus+5+Teardown/19016
You don't need to remove the battery, just the back cover, the protective shield, and unplug a few connectors.
Step 2 - Tin the connectors.
See attachments for the headphone connector, and reference images. (The images are taken with the motherboard flipped over)
If you've never touched a soldering iron before, make sure it's hot, and make sure to add a little flux to your target area. Flux removes oxidation, and makes the solder flow much much easier than without. Avoid hitting anything other than the soldering pads.
You don't need a lot, in fact, if you add too much, try to use the soldering iron tip to pull away the extra solder from the pads. I've attached a photo of a finished repair.
Step 3 - Reassembly.
Just put it back together the way you took it apart.
Symptoms of a worn connection:
- No sound through headphones
- Wiggling the headphone connector causes something to happen
- Google assistant or search activating randomly
- Songs randomly skipping or stopping when using aux or headphones
You can make a semi-permanent repair by tinning the connection pads with solder, which both improves the connection and repairs any wear. This may need to be repeated in the future as solder is a soft material. (not any time soon though, maybe a few months).
Tools:
- Soldering Iron
- Solder with rosin core (or solder + flux)
- About an hour
Step 1 - Follow any tear down guide to remove the main motherboard from the phone.
I prefer the iFixit guide which can be found here:
https://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/Nexus+5+Teardown/19016
You don't need to remove the battery, just the back cover, the protective shield, and unplug a few connectors.
Step 2 - Tin the connectors.
See attachments for the headphone connector, and reference images. (The images are taken with the motherboard flipped over)
If you've never touched a soldering iron before, make sure it's hot, and make sure to add a little flux to your target area. Flux removes oxidation, and makes the solder flow much much easier than without. Avoid hitting anything other than the soldering pads.
You don't need a lot, in fact, if you add too much, try to use the soldering iron tip to pull away the extra solder from the pads. I've attached a photo of a finished repair.
Step 3 - Reassembly.
Just put it back together the way you took it apart.
