So I'm supposed to fix or replace the headphone jack on my Galaxy S5? Seriously? (RESOLVED)

[Dark Penguin]

ETA: Problem resolved, but new owners of the Galaxy S5 might want to read the thread anyway.

Just this very morning I got my Samsung Galaxy S5. I'd been using my previous Samsung model, the E4GT, for two years, and while it has been a very good daily driver in many ways, I'd been counting the days until I could upgrade to a newer and more powerful model. I ordered the S5 and eagerly awaited its arrival.

So it was supposed to arrive today, and I made plans not to go out, because you do need to pick up UPS shipments of this type immediately. After all, my wife was getting her new phone, an S4, as well, so that was some $1200 worth of phone hardware that was going to be left on our doorstep.

So I picked up the package.

I charged up the battery to 100%

I went through the activation steps....

And everything works except the headphone jack. The device recognizes that the headphones have been plugged in, but no sound will come though them; instead it all comes through the speakers. As much as I use the headset jack, which is about 90% of the time I use the phone, that means it's basically useless. The end of the headphone cord doesn't seem to fit properly into the jack, which is way too loose and doesn't seem to really hold it in place.

Is this something I can easily fix? I've seen websites where they talk you through it, but I the part where they talk about "removing the screen" makes me very nervous. Is this really doable? There's more than one hit when I google for this, so it seems like it's a thing, as they say. I never thought to check up on this before choosing the device, because who the heck sells phones with non-functioning headphone jacks? (My service provider, apparently!)

Or do I have to send it back for a replacement?

Or should I just demand a $100 check from my service provider, so I can buy a bluetooth headset?

 

[sweetypie31]

Re: So I'm supposed to fix or replace the headphone jack on my Galaxy S5? Seriously?

Take it to your service provider and see if they can just switch out the phone.

Posted via the Android Central App

 

[AZgl1500]

Re: So I'm supposed to fix or replace the headphone jack on my Galaxy S5? Seriously?

yes, just take it to your nearest Retail store for your carrier. It is their problem, not yours.

 

[Dark Penguin]

Re: So I'm supposed to fix or replace the headphone jack on my Galaxy S5? Seriously?

Sadly, my SP is a Sprint reseller which had no stores of its own, so it's likely this will all have to be done by U.S. mail or UPS. Though of course I'll try the local Sprint store first.

 

[Dark Penguin]

UPDATE: Replacement S5, same problem!

As it turned out it was remarkably easy to get a replacement shipped out to me, and I didn't have to return the original one for a month yet So fortunately I didn't need to spend any time without having a phone. But when the replacement arrived, it had the same problem. WTH is going on with Samsung's quality control? Samsung's line of smartphones is supposed to be among the quality leaders, but I'm no longer convinced of that. Their compatriots at Hyundai have improved the quality and reliability of their cars immensely since the days of the horrible Excel back in the 1980s, so are these phones like 1986 Excels or 2015 Genesises?

Now I've got two defective S5s in my possession and a third unit is on its way--second day air even though they promised to overnight it. Since they use UPS, this means I'm most likely not going to get it until Monday. But perhaps that's just as well, since I can have a few days of not having to wait for a small and valuable package to be dumped at my doorstep without anyone letting us know it's there. When it finally does get here, the headset jack still might not work, and I'll have to shell out for a Bluetooth stereo headset.

 

[vjh425]

Re: So I'm supposed to fix or replace the headphone jack on my Galaxy S5? Seriously?

Are you sure the issue is not the headphones?

 

[Detectionable]

Re: So I'm supposed to fix or replace the headphone jack on my Galaxy S5? Seriously?

^^ Sounds much more likely than 2 dud phones with the same issue - headphones work fine on my S5

 

[Dark Penguin]

Re: So I'm supposed to fix or replace the headphone jack on my Galaxy S5? Seriously?

It definitely isn't the headphones. All the ones that we have in the house work fine in every other device we own, but not in this phone. Whether they have 3 or 2 "bands" on the tip, they don't make the necessary contact with the receptacle and are really loose in the jack.

 

[Detectionable]

Re: So I'm supposed to fix or replace the headphone jack on my Galaxy S5? Seriously?

I remember the first time plugging in my headphones to my S5, they were stiff to get to push fully in, got to give it a good hard push to get the last few mm to click in

That would result in your speakers still playing the music and nothing from headphones - make sure they really are pushed fully into the socket

 

[StretchMaK]

Re: So I'm supposed to fix or replace the headphone jack on my Galaxy S5? Seriously?

I remember the first time plugging in my headphones to my S5, they were stiff to get to push fully in, got to give it a good hard push to get the last few mm to click in

That would result in your speakers still playing the music and nothing from headphones - make sure they really are pushed fully into the socket

My S5 is the same way.

 

[Dark Penguin]

Re: So I'm supposed to fix or replace the headphone jack on my Galaxy S5? Seriously?

OK, well, now it's time for me to be slapped, because now I just tried forcing in the headset plug just a bit harder, and it went in with that satisfying click, as it's supposed to. The headphone jack is working fine, and I now know the same was almost certainly true of the first S5, and of the third one which I'm expecting to arrive on Monday and will send back unopened.

Using a small LED flashlight to peer into the jack in my previous phone, as well as the S4 my wife just got, I can see what looks like a thin flat piece of metal about a centimeter down. I see the same thing in my S5, but it seems to be a bit farther down the "hole". I couldn't find a diagram to confirm this, but I believe that flat piece of metal gives way when you press the plug into the pole, and then "grips" to hold it securely in place. In the S5, evidently, we need to press a little harder than with other phones to make sure we get proper contact between the headset and the jack.

At least I'm not the only one, though, and they might have warned us about this. Many of us who have spent decades around consumer electronics tend to treat them with consideration and care, and this includes not "forcing" or otherwise using any real hand or grip strength in connecting or disconnecting components. OTOH, I also know that smartphones, or at least the ones I've had, do tend to be reasonably tough, having occasionally dropped them on pavement or hard floors without mishap.

 

[Dark Penguin]

ETA I described this experience to a mobile phone salesperson today and was told the modified jack contributes to the unusually high water resistance capabilty of this phone. From reviews I 've seen it will survive a dunking in a few feet of water.

But you didn't hear that from me.

 

[Dark Penguin]

I'm not saying the physical layout or functional design of the jack has changed, but rather only that it seems to have been engineered to be a lot tighter around the plug as you push it in that last millimeter or two. As a result, my headset plug wasn't quite fully inserted though I thought it was.

 

[Detectionable]

Re: So I'm supposed to fix or replace the headphone jack on my Galaxy S5? Seriously?

OK, well, now it's time for me to be slapped, because now I just tried forcing in the headset plug just a bit harder, and it went in with the satisfying click. The headphone jack is working fine, and I now know the same was almost certainly true of the first S5, and of the third one which I'm expecting to arrive on Monday and will send back unopened.

Using a small LED flashlight to peer into the jack in my previous phone, as well as the S4 my wife just got, I can see what looks like a thin flat piece of metal about a centimeter down. I see the same thing in my S5, but it seems to be a bit farther down the "hole". I couldn't find a diagram to confirm this, but I believe that flat piece of metal gives way when you press the plug into the pole, and then "grips" to hold it securely in place. In the S5, evidently, we need to press a little harder than with other phones to make sure we get proper contact between the headset and the jack.

At least I'm not the only one, though, and they might have warned us about this. Many of us who have spent decades around consumer electronics tend to treat them with consideration and care, and this includes not "forcing" or otherwise using any real hand or grip strength in connecting or disconnecting components. OTOH, I also know that smartphones, or at least the ones I've had, do tend to be reasonably tough, having occasionally dropped them on pavement or hard floors without mishap.

Well, at least it saved you from yet another frustrating moment when the next one turned up with the same problem

And yea, these phones are rated to something like 0.5m water for 30 mins and will be fine, although Ive watched videos of people putting them in about 2m swimming pools for over and hour and then through a full wash in the washing machine, and both also came out fine

I`ll save mine for that day I drop it in a puddle by mistake

 

[Paulieh01]

...a very helpful tip! Thanks

 

[TREVOR BIDDLE]

Re: So I'm supposed to fix or replace the headphone jack on my Galaxy S5? Seriously?

OK, well, now it's time for me to be slapped, because now I just tried forcing in the headset plug just a bit harder, and it went in with that satisfying click, as it's supposed to. The headphone jack is working fine, and I now know the same was almost certainly true of the first S5, and of the third one which I'm expecting to arrive on Monday and will send back unopened.

Using a small LED flashlight to peer into the jack in my previous phone, as well as the S4 my wife just got, I can see what looks like a thin flat piece of metal about a centimeter down. I see the same thing in my S5, but it seems to be a bit farther down the "hole". I couldn't find a diagram to confirm this, but I believe that flat piece of metal gives way when you press the plug into the pole, and then "grips" to hold it securely in place. In the S5, evidently, we need to press a little harder than with other phones to make sure we get proper contact between the headset and the jack.

At least I'm not the only one, though, and they might have warned us about this. Many of us who have spent decades around consumer electronics tend to treat them with consideration and care, and this includes not "forcing" or otherwise using any real hand or grip strength in connecting or disconnecting components. OTOH, I also know that smartphones, or at least the ones I've had, do tend to be reasonably tough, having occasionally dropped them on pavement or hard floors without mishap.

 

[TREVOR BIDDLE]

I was having trouble getting headphone to stay in simple fix took off back cover headphone fits perfectly maybe hole needs to bigger in phone case cover