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chem

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jun 9, 2007
184
0
My girlfriend's sister (who is not especially mechanically inclined) has a relatively new MacBook. Someone broke off a headphone plug in the MB's headphone plug, and the piece is jammed in there pretty well. She took it to an Apple store (it's still under Applecare), but they say that problem is not covered by Applecare and want to charge $700 to replace the whole logic board (wtf?).

In the meantime, she has no audio because the MB thinks speakers are plugged in (so the internal speakers aren't playing), but obviously nothing is actually plugged in. I would inspect this myself, but she lives hundreds of miles away.

Anyway, a few questions:

1. Does anyone know of a terminal command to tell OS X to output audio via the internal speakers even though something is plugged into the jack? The machine is running Tiger, I think.

2. Has anyone successfully removed a broken plug from a socket with any sort of mechanical tricks (differential heating, WD 40, anything)?

3. Has anyone had this sort of problem fixed via Applecare for free or at a reduced charge? A $700 fee for the whole logic board is kinda nuts. C'mon, Apple, service! They're just gonna remove the plug themselves and sell the board in a refurb.

thanks...
 

taylorwilsdon

macrumors 68000
Nov 16, 2006
1,868
12
New York City
Find an authorized repair place that will take the machine apart and replace just the audio jack. Screw replacing the whole logic board, thats just lazy. If you are very, very technically inclined you could give it a shot. You're probably not going to be able to get it out without cracking the thing open if its in as good as I'm visualizing.
 

ivan1234

macrumors regular
Nov 8, 2007
161
0
Like the above poster said, you should take it in to a laptop repair shop and have them remove it.

This problem happened due to misuse, I don't think Apple or any company should ever cover damages inflicted by the user.
 

chem

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jun 9, 2007
184
0
okay, in the meantime does anyone have an idea about a terminal command so she can get internal speaker audio?
 
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