I believe i was having the extact problem you just described today. I did what you suggested. I was wiggling my headphone jack around abit and when i press DOWN on the headphone jack it must have reseated or pressed something together on the hardware, and the sound has returned to normal.
It certainly seems that there was some sort of factory defect if the headphone jack is prone to failure after a while.
Oh I forgot to mention that if I push my laptop headphone jack up I get garbled noises (mainly voices), and while the sound is playing I press it down and the sound instantly clears up so this definantly confirms a hardware fault (possible chanels mixing like suggested).
PS: Sorry for the double post I just found the edit post options a few min ago.
I guess I didn't fix it as permanent as I thought I did :(
I found out I have to have the audio caseing sticking out a bit (not snapped in place) for it to play sound properly. I am afraid to mess with it more :( I don't want to break it completely.
It would be nice if we could purchase a new F2 fan assembly, since it comes out all in one piece. I accidentally pulled mine out with my headphone cord and something detached inside, and now the voices in my headphones sound garbled. I hope dell will offer chassis parts for us to fix something like this.
I had the exact problem as you icefreez.
I contacted dell and they sent me a new f2 fan unit; it is a different brand than the old one, and it works flawlessly.
I am guessing they just installed a bad batch of fan units.
If you have the problem just contact dell and they should have it shipped airborne express. Say your f2 fan/audio jack is faulty and theyll send you the new one and it is just a couple of screws and it presses in place.
Natedog, dont worry, dell usually sells parts for all of its laptops, but they are not the quickest on getting them available.
it seems there is no permanent fix except for a new unit...
I don't know if this may help any but today I noticed that when using headphones I notice the distortion but when sending the audio to my TV there is no distortion.
Thanks for the replacement info. Mine has died twice!!! and unfortionatly both times the customer service and support I got from dell was nothing short of horrible, even now i'm thanking the heavens that i may be able to avoid sending my unit back for another week while they fix it again. Hopefully i'll get the box back again as now they have changed my name 3 times, and address twice. I don't know if it's the fact they can't understand what i'm saying or i can't understand what they're saying, either way it's not good:( I'll gladly go through the pain of having to call one more time however it means i can save my self time and stress by fixing this problem my self:)
I just got off the phone with dell (not a fun experience) after several misdirects I was able to get though to a tech support lady. She said it was my motherboard problem even though I insisted it was not, and that I just needed my F2 fan replaced. She transferred me to their onsite tech department to get my motherboard replaced. Upon talking to him he knew exactly what the problem was (The F2 fan) and is currently sending a F2 fan replacement to me.
So just as a tip if you get to tech support and they claim its something else just agree and get redirected to their onsite techs ;) they know what they are talking about and will hopefully straiten things out.
When replacing the F2 fan just unscrew the two external screws on the bottom of your laptop. Once you have that removed you have one more screw to remove It is located in the bottom right corner.
Once you have that removed just pry the fan out (it comes out easy) and palce the new one in. Press down where it says "Press Here" to make sure the connection between the fan and the laptop is solid. Then put all the screws in and thats it your headphone jack should work again.
DELL-BobT
3.1K Posts
0
August 17th, 2004 17:00
juggern4ut,
Thank you for posting this information. It will be considered when testing begins.
Icefreez
20 Posts
0
August 18th, 2004 05:00
I believe i was having the extact problem you just described today. I did what you suggested. I was wiggling my headphone jack around abit and when i press DOWN on the headphone jack it must have reseated or pressed something together on the hardware, and the sound has returned to normal.
It certainly seems that there was some sort of factory defect if the headphone jack is prone to failure after a while.
juggern4ut
9 Posts
0
August 18th, 2004 22:00
If I were you id ask for a whole new audio jack because chances are if it went out so easily, it will do it again like mine did.
Happy to hear you fixed your problem though, and I guess Dell must have had a bad batch of connectors.
Icefreez
20 Posts
0
August 18th, 2004 23:00
PS: Sorry for the double post I just found the edit post options a few min ago.
Message Edited by Icefreez on 08-18-2004 07:36 PM
Trippee
6 Posts
0
August 18th, 2004 23:00
that's not very pretty at all ice..
So is that the only fix we've found so far? Is there any ways to get these things replaced while under warranty?
*edit* Exact same for me.....it's ugly but it works....just pull it down a little bit....VERY GENTLY
Message Edited by Trippee on 08-18-2004 07:50 PM
Icefreez
20 Posts
0
August 18th, 2004 23:00
I guess I didn't fix it as permanent as I thought I did :(
I found out I have to have the audio caseing sticking out a bit (not snapped in place) for it to play sound properly. I am afraid to mess with it more :( I don't want to break it completely.
Trippee
6 Posts
0
August 18th, 2004 23:00
Icefreez
20 Posts
0
August 18th, 2004 23:00
Here is a picture of how I have had to place mine to make it function properly.
natedogsworld
104 Posts
0
August 19th, 2004 01:00
juggern4ut
9 Posts
0
August 20th, 2004 00:00
I contacted dell and they sent me a new f2 fan unit; it is a different brand than the old one, and it works flawlessly.
I am guessing they just installed a bad batch of fan units.
If you have the problem just contact dell and they should have it shipped airborne express. Say your f2 fan/audio jack is faulty and theyll send you the new one and it is just a couple of screws and it presses in place.
Natedog, dont worry, dell usually sells parts for all of its laptops, but they are not the quickest on getting them available.
it seems there is no permanent fix except for a new unit...
ty
Icefreez
20 Posts
0
August 20th, 2004 03:00
Thx thats great news. I will give them a call tomorrow.
I just hope the replacement doesn't have the same thing happen to it in a couple of months. :-\
Icefreez
20 Posts
0
August 21st, 2004 03:00
stupidel
1 Message
0
August 25th, 2004 01:00
Thanks for the replacement info. Mine has died twice!!! and unfortionatly both times the customer service and support I got from dell was nothing short of horrible, even now i'm thanking the heavens that i may be able to avoid sending my unit back for another week while they fix it again. Hopefully i'll get the box back again as now they have changed my name 3 times, and address twice. I don't know if it's the fact they can't understand what i'm saying or i can't understand what they're saying, either way it's not good:( I'll gladly go through the pain of having to call one more time however it means i can save my self time and stress by fixing this problem my self:)
Thanks again.
Icefreez
20 Posts
0
August 25th, 2004 01:00
I just got off the phone with dell (not a fun experience) after several misdirects I was able to get though to a tech support lady. She said it was my motherboard problem even though I insisted it was not, and that I just needed my F2 fan replaced. She transferred me to their onsite tech department to get my motherboard replaced. Upon talking to him he knew exactly what the problem was (The F2 fan) and is currently sending a F2 fan replacement to me.
So just as a tip if you get to tech support and they claim its something else just agree and get redirected to their onsite techs ;) they know what they are talking about and will hopefully straiten things out.
Icefreez
20 Posts
0
August 27th, 2004 19:00
When replacing the F2 fan just unscrew the two external screws on the bottom of your laptop. Once you have that removed you have one more screw to remove It is located in the bottom right corner.
Once you have that removed just pry the fan out (it comes out easy) and palce the new one in. Press down where it says "Press Here" to make sure the connection between the fan and the laptop is solid. Then put all the screws in and thats it your headphone jack should work again.