I broke my front panel audio jack

itsthesebbe

Honorable
Dec 17, 2012
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10,510
So, I wanted to go to the kitchen to get myself a drink, but I didn't see that the cable of my headphones was stuck around my foot. I tripped and now my front panel audio jack doens't work anymore, I've tried it with 2 headphones. It won't be a huge problem because I can just use port on my motherboard and when I want to use my speakers I'll just change them.

Anyways, does anyone know how much it costs to repair it, or can I just fix it myself? Any help is appreciated! God, I'm such an idiot sometimes...

EDIT: Oh yeah, I've got a Zalman Z11 Plus case and I just found out it only makes contact when I bend it to the right.
 
If you can still get sound while pushing it to the right, you probably didn't permanently break anything. You probably just ripped the solder joints off the jack. If you're handy with a solder gun, you should be able to re-solder the wires to the 3.5mm jack. Or if it's a surface mount doohickey, re-solder the 3.5mm jack to the board.

If the jack is cracked, a replacement shouldn't be too expensive. You'll have to solder the new piece in place, but an exact fit shouldn't be that important since it's just a front panel connector (laptops have much tighter tolerances).
http://www.jdslabs.com/item.php?fetchitem=45
http://www.sears.com/shc/s/p_10153_12605_SPM6648538007P?ci_src=184425893&ci_sku=SPM6648538007

If soldering is beyond your abilities, ask Zalman about the cost of a replacement top panel headphone/mic I/O board for your case model. They're usually a single board which snaps into place, with one set of wires (or two if it has USB sockets) which plugs into pins on the motherboard. Trivial to swap out. You might even be able to salvage a different one from an old case and make it fit.