Logic board issue - can it spread?

[CrzyCanuck72]

(late 2006 white MacBook C2D, 10.6.2)

I have the issue where the internal speakers are disabled because the computer thinks that an external audio device is plugged in (red light in the headphone jack). This happened a year ago, and it was fixed by jiggling headphones in and out of the jack, but this time it does not appear to be fixable through such methods.

I've been advised that it is a logic board issue, which is a very costly repair (I'm out of warranty). I have no idea how logic boards work - is it possible that this problem with the logic board could spread and affect other aspects of the computer (this is the only issue with it right now), or is the problem localized and unlikely to affect anything else? Is this a symptom of an impending massive failure, or will I be able to continue using the computer just without internal speakers.

TIA

 

[pvmacguy]

You should be fine, your speakers just won't work. Also, read a couple posts down from some users they wiggled smaller objects in the headphone hole and have fixed their ports. There is some kind of little switch inside that catches and needs to be put back into normal position.

https://forums.macrumors.com/archive/index.php/t-237405.html

Hope that helps.

 

[CrzyCanuck72]

You should be fine, your speakers just won't work. Also, read a couple posts down from some users they wiggled smaller objects in the headphone hole and have fixed their ports. There is some kind of little switch inside that catches and needs to be put back into normal position.

https://forums.macrumors.com/archive/index.php/t-237405.html

Hope that helps.

I've tried everything, headphones, qtips with rubbing alcohol, matchsticks, pen cartridges... I think it's permanently stuck. My main concern is that the problem stays isolated to the speakers.

 

[XboxMySocks]

You should be fine - motherboards don't require quarantine, they are completely unable to spread any sort of infection

 

[cubeeggs]

About two years ago, my late-2006 MacBook was suffering from this problem, and I just dealt with it until my computer stopped booting (not related!), when Apple fixed my computer under warranty, supposedly with only an OS reinstall, but I think the tech just forgot to log the part, as it seemed like the logic board was replaced.

A little over a month ago, my warranty was about to expire so I took my computer in to an Apple Store and said told a Genius that the jack was starting to do that, but that I probably couldn’t reproduce it because it was only an intermittent problem. He just tried a pair of headphones and noticed that the jack was much looser than normal and sent it to the repair depot for a logic board replacement. It was such a minor problem, I definitely would not have sent it in if I had to pay for it. You can probably still make the speakers turn on if you need to by wiggling something around in the jack, but once the problem gets worse, you have to use something smaller than a headphone connector and it takes longer to find the switch.

 

[fluffyx]

The problem won't spread.

Apple's flat rate to fix MacBooks that aren't physically damaged is $280—not too outrageous.