Wow, only been on here for 2 days and already broke something 
I use my laptop on my lap (duh!). The pressure of my leg pushing up on the headphone plug created a short where I would only hear sound out of the right headphone (similar to this). I thought it was a short in the headphone plug, so I probly helped the problem by sharply bending the cord. After a month or so of that, I realized it was the jack itself. Then I got the idea of getting a small object to go in there (in my case a piece of wood) so I wouldn't have to force it anymore.
Well, today it went back to just the right headphone, so I wiggled the jack and it gave way. Now my jack moves almost freely.
Which leads to my next problem: I have to have the headphones plugged in and just in the right spot to be able to hear the regular speakers! Wiggling it more, it will go into headphone mode and play mono, pushing down on it (a LOT harder than before) gets stereo.
I wouldn't have a problem sending it in to Dell for repair, BUT... I'm about 6,000 miles away.
Well, I was hoping the jack wasn't soldered on the mboard. Guess it sucks to be me:
So now, I'm looking at picking up these, which bypass my problem by using the USB port. Seem to be highly rated.
Any other ideas?
I use my laptop on my lap (duh!). The pressure of my leg pushing up on the headphone plug created a short where I would only hear sound out of the right headphone (similar to this). I thought it was a short in the headphone plug, so I probly helped the problem by sharply bending the cord. After a month or so of that, I realized it was the jack itself. Then I got the idea of getting a small object to go in there (in my case a piece of wood) so I wouldn't have to force it anymore.
Well, today it went back to just the right headphone, so I wiggled the jack and it gave way. Now my jack moves almost freely.
Which leads to my next problem: I have to have the headphones plugged in and just in the right spot to be able to hear the regular speakers! Wiggling it more, it will go into headphone mode and play mono, pushing down on it (a LOT harder than before) gets stereo.
I wouldn't have a problem sending it in to Dell for repair, BUT... I'm about 6,000 miles away.
Well, I was hoping the jack wasn't soldered on the mboard. Guess it sucks to be me:
So now, I'm looking at picking up these, which bypass my problem by using the USB port. Seem to be highly rated.
Any other ideas?
Go find your local Aviation Unit(Chinook, or Blackhawk, apache guys are pricks 
) Talk to the Avionics guys, they should be able to solder it up for you, I could have started a business with all the laptops and xbox's I had to fix for people while I was there.
You're right about the AF guys, they think the 4 month (normal length) is really long. I'll be here till around my 6 month mark, hopefully a little more to get the short tour out of it (so I don't have to go to Korea any time soon).
