Headphone Jack pinout or repair manual

[Snowman]

I have a dell inspiron 9300 that I just do not want to part with even though the battery is cooked the ac adapter has seen better days and I have no sound. It is still a great laptop really and being that I used it as a desktop replacement for a good year and a half it has served me very well and it doesn't really bother me that its tethered to an outlet, being that is all it was ever meant for. The problem is that the head phone jacks on these laptops were put in a very bad place and put much stress on the headphone jack. It is a foxconn 5 pin 3.5 mm headphone jack but I can not source the part anywhere and it is likely that it is either proprietary or at least the part number is. What I need is either a pinout of the headphone connector so I can bypass the head phones and feed the speakers directly or find a new headphone jack and simply replace it.

[Luke122]

It would likely be easier to just go with a USB sound solution..

[Snowman]

Not if I want the speakers to work. The headphone jack acts as a mechanical switch so that if the headphones are plugged I get no sound. That is the purpose of bypassing or replacing this switch. I apologizefor crudeness and shortness of reply I am on my iPod.

[Jarod997]

So you're plugging speakers directly into the headphone jack? Jacks sometimes have a built in switch, such as here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Jack-plug--socket-switch.jpg -- from the article http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TRS_connector

Hope that helps.

[Snowman]

No I just want the onboard speakers to work. Ideally I would like to replace the jack all together. It would settle for getting the inboard 2.1 working again.

[Luke122]

No I just want the onboard speakers to work. Ideally I would like to replace the jack all together. It would settle for getting the inboard 2.1 working again.

Ok, that makes more sense. I just assumed you were using external speakers plugged into the headphone jack, since it's essentially tethered to a desk anyways.

An external USB sound device would bypass the onboard sound/speakers completely, and let you plug speakers into it, which would eliminate your need to repair anything internally.

If this laptop is really in this bad of condition, why spend time/money repairing it? Plug in something external for now, and then you can transfer that device to a new laptop/computer in the future.

Just my 2 cents. :)

Is the headphone jack directly attached to the mobo in the laptop, or is it on a separate pcb, connected by a cable? If the latter, try just disconnecting the cable to the separate PCB and see if that allows sound out the internal speakers.

[Snowman]

The reason being is two fold one that it gets transported back and forth nearly everyday to work with me so that I have a flavor of every windows os as well as Linux for troubleshooting as well as some personal use. The other reason is that it would be nice to have the inboards working as an external device will not feed he speakers unless it first does not see that their are no headphones plugged in. The main issue is that one of the pins in the connector is bent so it always thinks that there are headphones plugged.

[FuzzyPlushroom]

The other reason to repair it is that these are awesome laptops (aside from the headphone jack, apparently). Good thing I don't use mine much... though I believe my 9400 just shares a chassis, I don't know how different the design of the motherboard is.

Mine still works, so if there's something I can do for you regarding it, let me know. Mine's the newer version (9400 has a Core Duo), though, so I dunno how much I'd be able to help.

[Outlaw]

Looks like the audio jacks are part of the main board.
http://i44.tinypic.com/6jnbt5.jpg
Picture above is from link below. It is NOT mine.
http://cgi.ebay.com/Dell-Inspiron-9300-XPS-Laptop-Motherboard-Y4694-TESTED_W0QQitemZ250407079892QQcmdZViewItemQQimsxZ2 0090415?IMSfp=TL090415157003r34972

But the picture on this site doesn't appear to have any audio jacks visible.
http://laptops-motherboard.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=137

This one when doing a search for just Dell Inspiron 9300 motherboard shows it in a different location, but still on the mainboard
http://laptops-motherboard.com/images/YD612-DELL-laptop-motherboard-OYD612-6400.jpg

[Snowman]

Yes it is on the main board, on your second link it is underneath the black pad on the right. And yes this is an awesome laptop the only thing it doesnt have that the xps version did is the geforce cideo card and about .2 ghz on the processor. It runs all my steam games and C&C RA 3 with no issues as well as any heavy processing like rar cracking that I am running in linux right now.

[Outlaw]

If it is just the pin inside the jack thats bent, what about a piece of plastic in there to break the connection? I can't think of what their called, but they look just like a headphone jack but are plastic.

[Snowman]

Tried that with dental tools and no dice this connection is completely encased except for the contacts that go into the mobo. If I had a pinout I could simply jump this and not have to worry about it anymore. If I could source the connector I would replace it all together.

[Snowman]

Anybody else got any ideas on this on what two pins to jump to get my speakers working?

[Jarod997]

Wait a sec, if as you say there's a pin touching something inside then you don't want to jump the contacts, you want to break it. You could try de-soldering the whole connector mount from your board. Just be sure not to leave excess solder on any connectors (bridging).

[Snowman]

If I bypass the switch by jumping it, it would allow the signal to still go to the speakers even if I had head phones plugged in. That is not an ideal situation for most people however for me this is the perfect solution. By jumping the connectors it defeats the switch.

[Jarod997]

Is there mechanical switch there too, or are you talking about the piece touching the pin?

[Snowman]

The inside of the jack has a mechanical switch in which when you push the male end of the headphone connector in, it trips the switch which routes the signal through the headphones instead of out to the speakers.

[Jarod997]

Ah ha, I think I get it now. Hmmm, I've taken one of these off before but I can't seem to find it in my junk pile... I mean spare parts collection. Have you tried using an ohm meter or continuity detector on a few pads under the rectangle?

[Snowman]

You would be a savior and a saint if you had one of these connectors, it is a through hole solder 5 post with two posts on each side and one on the back aide which I have not been able to fond anywhere it's also a alimline piece unlike most connectors or all connectors with this type of pin config.

[Eclecticos]

May want to try the Data-Sheet (http://www.data-sheet.net/) search engine. Or PDF Searcher (http://www.pdf-searcher.com/).
I can usually find what i am looking for this way instead of paying for them elsewhere.

[Jarod997]

I got a not-found error on the Data-Sheet page, did I type something in wrong? I do however really like the PDF Searcher engine. :)

[Jarod997]

Haven't found the connector yet. Can you PM or email me some photos of your piece? Zoom in to the audio connector area and include both sides of the main board please. Include at least 1/2" inch around the audio connector module.

[Snowman]

Yeah I'll tear it down tonight and take pictures

[dannyscauser]

I have the same problem except I have the inspiron 9400, also when i put a male jack into the mic hole and apply some pressure towards the screen the sound kicks in through the laptop speakers. does this mean it is something to do with a bent pin inside the jack?

[Jarod997]

I haven't found any jacks in my electronic parts collection, sorry can't help yet.