[Creative Zen] Headphone connection acting up

zefer

Hi all,

The headphones connection in my ZEN is acting up.
Everytime I move at all, the sound cuts off and I have to jiggle with headphones to get the sound back.

Anyone ever get this fixed? And if so, where and how much?

Thanks,

Dave

Bard

Unfortunately, this is a common fault with Creative Zen's. Which Zen have you got? Is it still under warranty? Did you go back to the shop you got it from?

zefer

Bard wrote:

Unfortunately, this is a common fault with Creative Zen's. Which Zen have you got? Is it still under warranty? Did you go back to the shop you got it from?

It is a ZEN Micro. It wont be under warranty as I have it about 1 1/2 yr now.
Hadnt thought about going back to the shop I got it as I assume they will just tell me that it has nothing to do with them? NO?

Hmm_Messiah

sent mine back for this reason same day i opened it !!

think ur buggered though outside of warranty

ergo

I have the same problem

can't complain too much though cos my Zen is nearly 3 years old (it's an old 20GB one) and doesn't really owe me anything.

but apart from that the battery seems OK, it's got all my music on it and I can't really afford to replace it with a decent mp3 player at this point in time

so, is there any way of fixing this headphone problem? (the old masking tape/sellotape solution was not working!)

DemonOfTheFall

I couldn't find any way to fix mine... Ended up sending it back, luckily mine was still under warranty when this developed.

bushy...

I fixed mine & a mates ( 40gb zen) ,what happened in one case was the solder joint between the board and the socket cracked , it the other the track/pad on the pcb lifted and broke.Its a bit tricky cos its near the cable for the lcd but not that bad.

ergo

so would someone in , for example, Peat's of Parnell st be agreeable to attempt to fix it.....? or anywhere?

TheMonster

ergo wrote:

so would someone in , for example, Peat's of Parnell st be agreeable to attempt to fix it.....? or anywhere?

you will get better advice on www.nomadness.net forums - there is a guy on there that will do it for you.

Brerrabbit

Yeah creative have been using crappy headphone jacks for years, the problem is quite widespread.

Hard luck mate , I know how you feel; I threw a right wobbler when it happened to me.
My next player is not going to be a creative :mad: probably a cowon

If it's out of warranty creative charge a hefty fee for the repair, or you could try that guy on the nomadness forums (mentioned below
)

If you have nimble fingers and a small, low watt soldering iron (Around 15-20 euro at a hardware shop I'd say) you could try it yourself...

http://www.pcpages.com/thebishop/nomadfix/

The above link is for an older model so the layout of your board will obviously be different but the principle is the same.

A couple of caveats: the screws holding the case (At least of the older zens, one of which I have performed this fix on) are very delicate and extremely easy to strip. Once your at the circuit board the fix is quite easy (Once you have a steady hand).

also it might be advisable to use a bit of epoxy to resecure the jack to the board when you are soldering the junction. otherwise the problem will probably re-occur after a while.


If you do try it yourself: good luck (and remember cut the blue wire, the BLUE wire... or is it the red one.)

Makaveli

I used that guide by thebishop to fix my one too. Some of those screws are absolute bastards to get out.

The most daunting part of it is that it's so close to the lcd that you could very easily take out the backlight.

Brerrabbit

Posted by Makaveli: "Some of those screws are absolute bastards to get out"

aye mate , I'm living proof . I used the bishops guide to repair the jack, easy peasy, worked like a charm.

Then a couple of weeks later it came loose again (cause I didn't epoxy the jack to the board).
When I tryed to open her up again for more surgery I stripped the screws and am now unable to get at the board. Then I kind of, er lost the rag a bit, things went a bit dark, a hammer was involved and now my creative is held together by duct tape. (I really wish this was a joke)
the fix itself is easy enough (If a bit nerve wracking around the lcd thingamajig), it's getting to the board that takes delicacy

a delicacy I lacked
I needed that; better than a confessional.

In any case this time next week I'm buying me a cowon x5L, I've been turned off of creatives players for good (A shame really, cause headphone jacks aside, zens are really nifty pieces of kit).

If you try the fix, let us know how it turns out will you?

secret_squirrel

Im on my 2nd 5gb Zen micro thats got this problem, unfortunately its out of warrantee now.

Time to go mental with the soldering iron....

Next mp3 wont be from creative...