Trying to fix broken audio jack, MSI GE70 laptop

[kkoves]

Hello Tom's Hardware,

I have an MSI GE70 0ND-032US gaming laptop, purchased on Amazon last October, refurbished. I've had it almost a year now, so the warranty is almost up, but I voided the warranty when I opened the back cover, which had the usual "warranty void if tampered" sticker on it.

But anyway, cutting to the chase: recently the headphone jack on the laptop has almost completely stopped functioning, which makes me think that when a headphone is inserted into the jack, it is not making proper contact with the inside of the audio jack. A friend of mine helped me disassemble the laptop to take a look at it (it was not fun, had to take almost everything out of the laptop to get to the motherboard), but we could not get much farther than isolating the daughterboard with the audio jack on it, since the jack was enclosed in a small casing... (see pictures in Dropbox folder)

Is there a semi-easy way to fix the audio jack, or do I just need to buy a new jack or daughterboard from the manufacturer?

Note about the pictures: the headphone jack is the one right next to the SD card reader slot.

 

[getochkn]

You can

A) Try to find another daughterboard
B) If you're good at soldering, desolder the jack and the mounts and solder a new one. It may not line up so you'll have to get tricky with rewiring or cutting traces and note that the posts that hold the jack in place are soldered good and usually need more heat than the pins for the jack.
C) Buy a small, cheap, USB audio device for like $10-15 and call it a day.

I do all kinds of soldering daily and could replace the jack, but even I'd probably just go USB audio device and call it a day. lol. They're not the easiest to solder cleanly.

 

[kkoves]

You can

A) Try to find another daughterboard
B) If you're good at soldering, desolder the jack and the mounts and solder a new one. It may not line up so you'll have to get tricky with rewiring or cutting traces and note that the posts that hold the jack in place are soldered good and usually need more heat than the pins for the jack.
C) Buy a small, cheap, USB audio device for like $10-15 and call it a day.

I do all kinds of soldering daily and could replace the jack, but even I'd probably just go USB audio device and call it a day. lol. They're not the easiest to solder cleanly.

Thanks for the super-fast reply! I heard similar suggestions from my friend, but I was wondering if it would be at all possible to fix the actual connectors inside the jack so they can once again make contact with headphones I plug in there.

 

[vrumor]

Not sure how good you are at soldering, but the advice given above is the best you are gonna get. Get a pair of headphones with a USB connector and enjoy it. If you mess up bad you could be out an entire laptop. But the choice is yours of course.