3.5mm Audio jack no output

[ghboard2010]

2015 iMac 17,1 3.2 GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i5; AMD Radeon R9 M380 2 GB; 32 GB 1867 MHz DDR3; macOS Sonoma 14.0

The 3.5mm Audio jack has 'died'; no output. How involved is the repair? The machine is perfectly functional other wise, no problems

 

[HobeSoundDarryl]

You've tried more than one cord in that jack to be sure it's the jack and not cord?

You've shined a bright light into the hole to see if there is any lint in there? Remove the lint and retry the port?

Any part of it work? Plug in a Mic and see if it can pick up sounds?

When you've plugged something into it, you've checked to be sure that it is the audio-out option selected in settings? Maybe it is not getting selected and you need to manually select it?

In other words, how confident are you that the port is dead? You might want to work through as much testing as you can to be sure before you want to seek out a repair.

If definitely dead, Apple or Apple service center will know much better than anyone here. But again, that's a port that is nearly bullet proof, refined towards perfection over decades. Odds of it being dead are not very high, so put it through the paces to confirm if you have not already.

 

[ghboard2010]

Thank You for your reply; many good points to consider; however gotta' say 'been there, done that, bought the T-shirt'; no joy. I am considering a USB to 3.5mm Audio Jack Adapter, cheap if it works; sad if it doesn't.

Kinda' wanna' avoid breaking into the damn thing if possible. That's why your's and my first thoughts were as you listed and executed.

Hmmmm. . ., guess it's a USB dongle easy button, cross my eyes, hope it flies.

Thank You again for your considerations

 

[ghboard2010]

You've tried more than one cord in that jack to be sure it's the jack and not cord?

You've shined a bright light into the hole to see if there is any lint in there? Remove the lint and retry the port?

Any part of it work? Plug in a Mic and see if it can pick up sounds?

When you've plugged something into it, you've checked to be sure that it is the audio-out option selected in settings? Maybe it is not getting selected and you need to manually select it?

In other words, how confident are you that the port is dead? You might want to work through as much testing as you can to be sure before you want to seek out a repair.

If definitely dead, Apple or Apple service center will know much better than anyone here. But again, that's a port that is nearly bullet proof, refined towards perfection over decades. Odds of it being dead are not very high, so put it through the paces to confirm if you have not already.

Thank You for your reply; many good points to consider; however gotta' say 'been there, done that, bought the T-shirt'; no joy. I am considering a USB to 3.5mm Audio Jack Adapter, cheap if it works; sad if it doesn't.

Kinda' wanna' avoid breaking into the damn thing if possible. That's why your's and my first thoughts were as you listed and executed.

Hmmmm. . ., guess it's a USB dongle easy button, cross my eyes, hope it flies.

Thank You again for your considerations

 

[arw]

For a USB dongle, consider the official Apple USB-C to 3.5 mm Headphone Jack Adapter.
Not only does it support headphones with microphone (4-pin) but with less then 10$ it is extremely well priced for its sound quality.

In other words, excellent transparent performance regardless of price. There is absolutely no reason at all to pay more for a USB DAC, at least when it comes to pure sound quality with headphones. [head-fi.org]

You do need an inexpensive USB-A to USB-C adapter to connect it to your iMac.
The headphone adapter can also be used for all of Apple's (future) USB-C iDevices, so it's money well spent.

 

[HobeSoundDarryl]

The obvious option is a cheap, single purpose dongle. However, one other thing to consider which might give you much expanded utility would be a hub that includes this port. Many of them do and a good hub is useful in many ways beyond this one need too. If you already have a hub, you may want to give it a fresh look (both sides/ends) as it may already have this port in some forgotten spot.

A friend of mine just picked up this one for about $100 and it is working fine. Besides including the port you need, in has many other commonly-used ports as well as room for a full stick of m.2 inside to expand storage (up to 8TB) too. Works great and compact for on-the-go. Use it with or without the m.2... but the port is there whenever you might want more, fast storage.

 

[MacsRgr8]

Sure it can't be the consequence if installing macOS Sonoma on that iMac?
It is unsupported on iMacs older than 2019.

 

[ghboard2010]

Sure it can't be the consequence if installing macOS Sonoma on that iMac?
It is unsupported on iMacs older than 2019.

Well, everything was copacetic until yesterday{Oct. 18th}. The port just went silent right before my very ears, was fine day in day out from El Capitan 1011 through Sonoma 1400.