iPod touch 1st Gen Ipod Touch broken headphone jack?

[notaznguy]

I've had my 1st Gen iPod Touch for 2.5 years now and it's been working perfectly fine until this morning. Out of the blue, the headphone jack decided to stop working. I've tried on multiple headphones and have made sure I plugged it in all the way through, but the sound is still not working. What happens is the sound does not play fully until I push or twist the headphone jack to the left really hard.

This problem is not unheard of in iPods and it appears to be an issue with the soldering. I have already tried methods such as using a q-tip with alcohol, and I have gotten no results. Dust and rust is not the problem here.

2 main questions:

1) Is there anything else I can do, or is my iPod touch just pretty paperweight?

2) If I take this item into an Apple Store, what is the likelihood an Apple employee will offer me a discount on a brand new iPod Touch or iPod Nano? If he does, how much of a discount do you think I will receive. If anyone has any experience with this particular experience, please answer with details.

Thank you.

 

[patp]

same thing happened to my 1rst gen touch. I actually found that some lint got stuck in the jack. I took the end of a "D" guitar string and fished it out.

I thought the jack itself was bad, I though the headphones plug was bad.

Getting the jack under a lamp with enough light helped me see inside.

Worth a shot. Your jack may be dead, but could be something as simple as lint not allowing the plug to contact the jacks lugs.

 

[TheyCallMeSaint]

Yeah, it happened to me too. I restored my iPod, and it worked again (not sure what went wrong). I doubt that Apple will offer you a discount on a new iPod, as your iPod is way out of warranty. You can try selling it to a parts supplier (or ebay/craigslist) and use that money towards a new one.

 

[notaznguy]

Yeah, it happened to me too. I restored my iPod, and it worked again (not sure what went wrong). I doubt that Apple will offer you a discount on a new iPod, as your iPod is way out of warranty. You can try selling it to a parts supplier (or ebay/craigslist) and use that money towards a new one.

How much do you think I can realistically get if I were to sell it on ebay? The iPod is in decent condition, I mean, for 2.5 year old used 1G iPod. The back is scratched, but there are no dead pixels, only 1 tiny little scratch on the screen that is only noticeable if you shine it in the light when the screen is dark, etc. Everything else worked fine until the headphone jack decided to stop functioning.

 

[notaznguy]

same thing happened to my 1rst gen touch. I actually found that some lint got stuck in the jack. I took the end of a "D" guitar string and fished it out.

I thought the jack itself was bad, I though the headphones plug was bad.

Getting the jack under a lamp with enough light helped me see inside.

Worth a shot. Your jack may be dead, but could be something as simple as lint not allowing the plug to contact the jacks lugs.

HOLY FREAK! I JUST FIXED MY IPOD! I thought there wasn't any lint or anything in there cause i did the alcohol thing and stuck a q tip in there!!

Then I read your "sticking a guitar string" and I got an idea. I don't have guitar strings, but I do have paper clips! So I got a flash light ( a really bright one) and I looked inside and found a huge, thick layer of lint in there. I picked at it (took me around 10 minutes, that's how much lint was in there) and now it finally works. LOL thank you so much for posting that

 

[patp]

HOLY FREAK! I JUST FIXED MY IPOD! I thought there wasn't any lint or anything in there cause i did the alcohol thing and stuck a q tip in there!!

Then I read your "sticking a guitar string" and I got an idea. I don't have guitar strings, but I do have paper clips! So I got a flash light ( a really bright one) and I looked inside and found a huge, thick layer of lint in there. I picked at it (took me around 10 minutes, that's how much lint was in there) and now it finally works. LOL thank you so much for posting that

amazing how much lint gets stuck in there. My ipod the lint built up so much that I couldn't push the plug into the jack, it would stick out about 20%.

paper clips and flashlights ftw!!

glad to hear it all worked out.

 

[patp]

i have my first gen on Craigslist for $125. No buyers yet.
I think $100 or little under is the going rate for the first gen. The newer touches are somuch faster, not much use for the 1rst gen hardware performance.

 

[Ivan P]

2) If I take this item into an Apple Store, what is the likelihood an Apple employee will offer me a discount on a brand new iPod Touch or iPod Nano? If he does, how much of a discount do you think I will receive. If anyone has any experience with this particular experience, please answer with details.

Thank you.

Apple has an iPod "trade in" program, where you take in your old iPod (excluding the shuffle) to an Apple Store, and they will give you 10% off the purchase of a new iPod.

 

[patp]

Apple has an iPod "trade in" program, where you take in your old iPod (excluding the shuffle) to an Apple Store, and they will give you 10% off the purchase of a new iPod.

if they gave 20% off that would be a compelling deal. but 10% isn't all that great. Best Buy gave me basically 10% off - got a $30 gift card bringing the price down to $199. i purchased Black Friday morning.