My poor mic jack

Of course, obligatory sad smiley

Laptop is an MSI 16F3 barebones as seen in my sig. Headset is a SteelSeries 4H.

While getting up to get something, my legs caught on the headset wires and yanked pretty hard. The laptop shifted a bit and the microphone jack plugin was yanked out of the laptop jack. When trying to do some VoIP people were telling me I was much fainter and crackly than usual. After some poking around, I noticed that plugging/unplugging into the mic jack didn't give the "you just plugged/unplugged a device from the audio jack" Realtek message. The headphone jack gives the same messages and still works perfectly fine. It seems during the VoIP I was using the built-in laptop mic.

I've tested two other headset mics in the jack. They do not give the plugged/unplugged Realtek message nor do they record sound. I have tested all three mics on a different laptop and they capture sound just fine.

I'm making the assumption that the mic input is broken.

So, asking some things:
Is there something I missed that might point to a software issue rather than a hardware issue?
If this is indeed a hardware issue, is there a relatively easy way to fix it? Or is replacement/RMA my only option?
Am I missing anything else?

 

Some laptops have separated PCBs for audio jacks and some have them directly mounted to the main motherboard, you can probably take a look around eBay for a replacement board and see if the jacks are on it, or located elsewhere. If its a separated PCB, you won't be spending more than maybe 30 dollars?

 

I'll look into that. I have a feeling that it's all one piece, though.

But it's pretty much confirmed that it's a hardware issue, right?

 

It's your lucky day. I took apart my 16F2 completely and remembered reading your thread earlier.



I didn't get a part number though, I didn't think to do that. It could be different for the 16F3 as well (you have gold jacks right?).

 

Hmm. I'll go talk to my reseller about that.

The contacts inside seem to be gold, but I'm not sure. Never really paid attention. Thanks, by the way.