[sclug] Headphone socket on laptop

[John Stumbles]

The headphone socket on my HP laptop doesn't work. It doesn't play 
through headphones or active speakers (I've tried both) nor does 
plugging in the headphone jack cut out the internal speakers.

Now what's this got to do with Linux I hear you ask? (Oh yes you do! Oh 
no we don't? ... sorry, it's panto season out there :-))

Well back in Ye Goode Olde Dayes there was an arrangement of contacts 
which cut out the speakers when you plugged in a jack, and it even 
worked quite well with half decent components. However I'm a bit out of 
the loop on electronics and since my lappy doesn't even make any hint of 
making contact with the inserted jack or cutting out the speakers even 
if I wiggle the plug around I'm wondering if nowadays there's a cunning 
arrangement which senses the load presented by the inserted connector 
and does the switching in electronics driven by software. In which case 
it could be a s/w problem.

I haven't phoned up HP support yet, in anticipation of the IT 
crowd-style scripted response:
	Have yer tried switchin it off and on?
	Are you sure it's plugged in?
	Have you tried reinstalling windows?

- which of course I haven't, just because I'm too bone idle to back up 
120G of Linux installation, go through HP's Vista reinstall and back 
again to test it unless I'm sure that *could* be the problem.

Debian Etch with 'laptop' options on the box.


Any clue out there?

-- 
John Stumbles