Headphones not recognised, iMac Intel Processor

[Kintyre]

Hi all,
I've done as about as much research as I can but haven't found a solution.
Suddenly the headphone socket on my iMac G5 has stopped working. It is not recognised in system pref's / sound as it just says 'built in speakers'. I have tried the following to no avail:

Trying 3 different headphones,
Wiggling the 3 different headphones in the socket,
Restarting,
Cold restarting,
Resetting the PRAM by Opt + Cmd + P + R for two chimes
for three chimes, three times,
Reinstalling Leopard.
Installing software updates.

I'm on an intel based iMac and it's not under warranty any more.
8 hours a day without music is going to make my life frankly miserable.

Any more advice from anyone wishing to make my week / year?

Thanks all.

 

[miles01110]

If you go to "About this Mac" and "Audio"- does anything say "Headphone" ?

 

[Kintyre]

About this mac / audio

It does, yes.

Available Devices:
Headphone:
Connection: Combo

This indicates it's hardware rather than faulty socket right?

Forgot to mention also that there's no red light in the socket.

Thanks.

 

[Consultant]

Not sure, but

Griffin iMic
or other external sound card can be bought cheaply if you can't fix the problem you are having.

is it an intel iMac or iMac g5?

 

[Kintyre]

imic?

Thanks.

If indeed it's a soundcard issue.

Unfortunately it's my work mac so I can't modify it. IT know nothing about macs and there's no way they'd bother about a seemingly trivial problem.

 

[Consultant]

Is the system volume muted? Is the application volume muted?

iMic or sound card are external, plugs into USB or firewire port. Does not modify the computer.

 

[Kintyre]

All volumes buttons are up

Nothing is muted, the sound plays through the speakers when my headphones are plugged in.

I'm not sure it's a sound card issue. I've read that intel macs can get 'misaligned' with the headphone socket. I just can't work out how to 'align' it.

Cheers.

 

[miles01110]

If you go to Utilities -> Audio Midi setup you can test speakers and headphones if they are plugged in. If you don't hear anything from there, I'd say it's a dead jack.

 

[ChrisA]

Nothing is muted, the sound plays through the speakers when my headphones are plugged in..

It's a broken jack. It's common for then to fail.

The quick fix is a USB audio interface. Prices start at about $35.

You can also buy USB headphones but I've not seen any that would even begin to pas as "audiophile quality". But with a USB audio interface you can get very good sound


Apple will charge big $$$ to fix it because they don't actually fix it, they replace the entire logic board. The jack is a generic $1 part but it requires soldering to replace.

 

[Kintyre]

If you go to Utilities -> Audio Midi setup you can test speakers and headphones if they are plugged in. If you don't hear anything from there, I'd say it's a dead jack.

But it's not reading the headphones to be able to test them.