[Smitty13]

Greetings my fellow Crackberrians,

I was wondering if anyone could shed some light on this one or if I am SOL on this:

I have had my Z10 for about a month now and it has worked flawlessly and I have been very gentle with it. I encountered my first issue with the phone tonight; the headphone jack. I finally plugged the included headphones into the headphones port on the phone and simply, it just would not work.

After much fiddling around, I found that to get sound out of both head phones, I had to wiggle the plug up and twist it around a bit. When I had tried to fully plug it in, it would not sit flush with the phone. Is this normal for those who have a working aux port? I was never able to get the headphone plug to sit flush with the phone, and found the only way for them to work was to leave it sticking out somewhat.

While this is a temporary fix, I find this to be a real hassle as sometimes, for whatever reason, it triggers the voice controls and I have to close that before I can wiggle the plug to the right spot.

To go over some points I am sure I will hear as fixes/potential issues:

1.) Upon physical inspection, no, there is no dust/obstructions in the headphone port.
2.) The headphone port appears to not be damaged in any way (I have no excessively pushed down on any headphone set into this port)
3.) I have tried multiple headphone sets and speaker plug ins and they all end up with the same result.
4.) I have tried rebooting with a battery pull.
5.) I have enabled/disabled TTY and voice controls to no avail.
6.) I have removed the memory card and booted without it, trying media stored locally on my Z10.
7.) I am using only the native BB10 media player when playing any media.

I get the distinct feeling this is a hardware issue. I thought this would be an uncommon problem, but after searching around, this isn't as uncommon as I thought. Others have had the exact same problem as me. Anyone else experience this? Any fixes?

I am past my 14 day return period with my carrier. If this is a hardware problem, is there any way to RMA this to Blackberry directly? If so, how?

Thanks a bunch ahead of time!

[AnimalPak200]

I know this might be a silly question but, do you have it in a case/bumper? I find some cases don't let certain 3.5mm jacks fully insert.

[BadGoliath42]

I don't have this problem but can confirm that your headphones are supposed to be plugged in until you see only about 1 mm of the metal connector, which is the larger diameter base ring next to the rubber part. So the rubber part does not touch the phone.

Posted via CB10

[Smitty13]

I know this might be a silly question but, do you have it in a case/bumper? I find some cases don't let certain 3.5mm jacks fully insert.

Not a silly question at all! I do not have a bumper/case on my phone.

[Smitty13]

I don't have this problem but can confirm that your headphones are supposed to be plugged in until you see only about 1 mm of the metal connector, which is the larger diameter base ring next to the rubber part. So the rubber part does not touch the phone.

Posted via CB10

Thanks for the reply! If what you are saying is correct, and the the larger diameter base ring is only supposed to be visible when plugged in, then I can say that my port does not allow for my headphones to be fully plugged in. I would estimate there is approximately 3mm of space in total metal showing when the headphones actually do work properly. When I push down, I would say there is still about 2mm of metal showing, with more than the base metal ring showing.

I think this implies a hardware problem?

[Eustis99]

Did you try a restart? Ive had this issue with other phones and a restart fixed it

Posted via CB10

[matthew.pesonen]

My phone would launch voice control half the time, and not work the other half. You just have to kind of break it in. Just plug it in and out a bunch of times for it to fit properly.

Posted via CB10

[BadGoliath42]

Some devices use impedance measurement to check if there are headphones or cable connected to itself, others simply use a contact/switch. By what I see and tried, and the fact that the jack connector is stereo and microphone compatible, we could suppose that this switch is at the bottom to be sure the connector is plugged correctly, and that it is somewhat faulty on your BlackBerry because you can't push it completely. Therefore, any headphone will fail.

You could confirm this by plugging completely your jack cable (which you said didn't work) and increase or decrease volume with the side buttons. If the pop up is mentioning the headphone, they are detected and the problem is something else. If not, then you got the culprit. Repeat with your 3mm-working-gap.

Posted via CB10

[Chanlion]

I've had this happen with my friend's aux cord. Mine works and my headphones work. I'm guessing there's a micro sized size difference. I don't want to force it either.

[Smitty13]

Some devices use impedance measurement to check if there are headphones or cable connected to itself, others simply use a contact/switch. By what I see and tried, and the fact that the jack connector is stereo and microphone compatible, we could suppose that this switch is at the bottom to be sure the connector is plugged correctly, and that it is somewhat faulty on your BlackBerry because you can't push it completely. Therefore, any headphone will fail.

You could confirm this by plugging completely your jack cable (which you said didn't work) and increase or decrease volume with the side buttons. If the pop up is mentioning the headphone, they are detected and the problem is something else. If not, then you got the culprit. Repeat with your 3mm-working-gap.

Posted via CB10

Thank you very much for the very detailed response.

I have just tested what you recommended, and a rather curious thing happened. When fully inserted and I hit the volume control, it switches between media and headset volume control. It does not stay stationary on one thing. However, when I do not insert it fully, and get it to the point the headset works, the volume control solely works on the headset.

I am thinking you are correct in guessing my BB is faulty, as I feel as though the headphone jack has been inserted as far as it can go without damaging anything.

If this is the case, do you happen to know the RMA process with Blackberry and how to get it started? Thanks again!

[BadGoliath42]

I can reproduce the switching volume problem when I insert the headphones jack and don't click it at the bottom, leaving a gap between the connector and the phone. So if it happens when fully plugged for you, it seems a faulty connector.

I sympathise with you, but it seems you will have to send your mighty Z10 to BB! In fact, they handle RMA via their distributor, so you need to contact your phone company for repair. With a bit of luck, maybe they will exchange it.

Patience is the key, my friend!

Posted via CB10

[sklotz2000]

Wait, headphones came with your phone? All I got in my Verizon box was the use cable and charger. Jealous! Lol

Posted via CB10

Verizon is having problems testing the headsets (they don't like to rush things). Although they haven't commented as to when they will be available, I suspect it should be sometime in 2014.

[Smitty13]

I can reproduce the switching volume problem when I insert the headphones jack and don't click it at the bottom, leaving a gap between the connector and the phone. So if it happens when fully plugged for you, it seems a faulty connector.

I sympathise with you, but it seems you will have to send your mighty Z10 to BB! In fact, they handle RMA via their distributor, so you need to contact your phone company for repair. With a bit of luck, maybe they will exchange it.

Patience is the key, my friend!

Posted via CB10

I would just like to thank you for all of your help! It looks as though I will be contacting my provider here this week. Alas, it is not the end of the world but just a hassle to have this happen to otherwise flawless phone!

I am just glad this problem was able to be reproduced, otherwise I would have been clueless.

Thanks again to everyone for the suggestions!

[calirevolt]

I am in my 3rd Z10 due to faulty head phone jacks. I think the aux cable I was using ended up damaging the jack someone so I replaced the cable and now it works fine again. Both times my z10stopped recognizing head phones.

Posted via CB10

[fbloise]

im having the same issue with my Q10

[bgregory902]

I had this issue with my Torch. I found some headphones to be worse than others. Have you tried another pair to see if that helps?

Posted via CB10

[Jake_fowler12]

I have this problem!

Posted via CB10

[Duffman19]

It's a software problem. sometimes the volume and play keys on side of phone stop working on mine (reset music player to fix)

Sometimes the damn voice control opens up every 20 seconds when listening to music

It's gotten better in Z10STL100-3/10.1.0.4633 for me

Posted via CB10

[Mister-E]

I have this problem from time to time using an aux cable. Just happened ten minutes ago.

Posted via CB10

[jjs6w]

My headphone jack failed as well. I plugged it in and then doesn't send sound to the headphone. I did a security swipe and still happening, so definitely a hardware issue. I just sent it in to get it fixed.

[JPushkarH]

Same problem here have LE-Z10 from 1.5 month .. working fine since 2 hrs headphone detection is not happening ... Is there any way to explicitly on the headphone detection ?

[Mister-E]

Same problem here have LE-Z10 from 1.5 month .. working fine since 2 hrs headphone detection is not happening ... Is there any way to explicitly on the headphone detection ?

Are you using the same earphones that came with the Z10?

Posted via CB10

[dejisanusi]

Same issue, just sent back my second Z10. I hope it gets fixed. It is a hardware problem