Hello Matt. I don't know if it is exactly proprietary but due to many different sizes & shapes of jack parts suggest that you only use one from another E5440 motherboard -- like a salvaged board.
If you don't want to replace the circuit board an easy workaround is to get a usb audio jack. They only cost a few dollars on amazon and elsewhere. Using the usb jack for headphones wouldn't preclude using the laptop's speakers when you want to. You would just change which device is the default playback device in the Windows Sound dialog.
Hey Jim, thanks for the reply! I was lucky enough to find the whole module for less than $10 on eBay. In the meantime, I just ordered a set of Bluetooth headphones. Unrelated, would you know if soldering a right angled plug is possible on the AC adapter? As careful as I am with my laptop, I still find myself knocking it and I'm afraid one of these times it's going to damage the jack. I know a 90 degree isn't fool-proof but it will at least lessen the chance.
Jim Coates
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February 25th, 2018 05:00
Hello Matt. I don't know if it is exactly proprietary but due to many different sizes & shapes of jack parts suggest that you only use one from another E5440 motherboard -- like a salvaged board.
If you don't want to replace the circuit board an easy workaround is to get a usb audio jack. They only cost a few dollars on amazon and elsewhere. Using the usb jack for headphones wouldn't preclude using the laptop's speakers when you want to. You would just change which device is the default playback device in the Windows Sound dialog.
nepaMatt
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February 25th, 2018 09:00
Hey Jim, thanks for the reply! I was lucky enough to find the whole module for less than $10 on eBay. In the meantime, I just ordered a set of Bluetooth headphones. Unrelated, would you know if soldering a right angled plug is possible on the AC adapter? As careful as I am with my laptop, I still find myself knocking it and I'm afraid one of these times it's going to damage the jack. I know a 90 degree isn't fool-proof but it will at least lessen the chance.
Jim Coates
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February 26th, 2018 05:00
Matt, I don't see why you couldn't change the power cord plug but that is out of my area so I don't actually know.