I still love the Internet. It/We collectively fix broken things. There’s so much knowledge/assets/help that virtually no technical problem (I don’t know about the other stuff) can’t be solved.
My 3.5 mm audio connector broke (again), it is located upside down on a part of the motherboard inside my lappi-loppi-top computer. In order to reach it (the broken off half of the 3.5 mm connector) I would have to disassemble the entire thing.
– It is a DELL Latitude 5400.
– Is it special?
– No, it’s a refurbished (I belive of French origin) computer.
– Why French and you can’t take it apart?
– The keyboard and the thing is, I can but there are so many parts that could possibly break. No matter how careful I am. There are so many connectors. If one breaks it will make the whole thing useless. It is failure by design. It’s simply not worth the risk even to disconnect the battery. Because if the connector breaks then… and I do not have the possibility to replace it at the moment.
– Get to the point!
– The 3,5 mm port is blocked and “engaged”. My computer “thinks” there is an audio device connected. Rightfully so, it would have been if it did not snap in half. And is impossible the retract without a complete dissemble.
– I did buy a 3,5 mm to USB-C dongle, because the 3.5 mm connector to my phone broke as well…
– Yesterday, I started thinking. How come I can’t route the audio from my computer to the USB-C port instead of the clogged/broken misery not mystery 3,5 mm connector? It worked on the phone? What is involved here? DAC (Digital Analogue Converter) enabled dongle. Is it? It must be because it works on the phone.
– Why is there no SOUND!
– It is non-descriptive South Korean tech. It is identified as a device… is there a firmware upgrade online?
– Yes. This FW is corresponding to the HW. Will it work? There’s only one way to find out.
– There must be and active DAC-chip otherwise it could not bridge USB-C to 3,5 mm. The headphones are “almost” analogue.
– So, there should be at least two DAC-chips?
– Yes, the headphones has some inbuilt electronics, they’re amplified.
– Did you open them?
– Can’t recall or I would rather not say.
– I found a Firmware update. Flashed it. And now… I can connect anything to my USB-C port via 3,5 mm audio connector.
– And even bought a new pair of Bluetooth headphones (that broke and I really can’t stand mono, drives me crazy), when I already had the USB-C -> 3.5 mm connector in my possession for quite a while… way back when the 3,5 mm connector broke in my phone.
– And now it is actually working!
Please see: The 3,5 mm Audio Connector Conspiracy and The 3,5 mm Audio Connector Conspiracy II.