Chosen Solution
I have a 15" mid-2009 Macbook Pro. The tip of a pair of headphones broke off in the microphone jack and now I have no audio. With the MB Pro turned on, a small red light comes from the jack, but I assume this is the jack trying to “connect” to an external device. I assume I’d have to open up the MB Pro as per instructions here and remove the microphone, then either try to dislodge the tip or else replace the part itself. Any other ideas? Would it be too risky to try to dislodge the tip from the mike jack from the outside, without opening the computer?
Matt, I am NOT an Mac person at all, but this one might work for you anyway. Try to get a hold of the part that is broken off with a small set of “alligator hemostats”, fancy word for fancy tweezers. I use mine to pull out all kinds of stuff :-) If you do not have any or can’t get those, you might want to consider using a piece of round stock smaller then the 3.5mm? jack part and put some crazy glue (or other really sticky, fast curing substance)on the end. Then you insert it into the jack and hold it tightly against the broken part. Place the computer so that the head phone jack is vertical pointing downward. That way if you have any glue dripping it will not drip into the jack. After it set, gently try and remove it and it should, or could pull out the broken part. I know this sounds really weird, but worked for me a couple of times. Not much to lose at this time….good luck
You could also go into “system preferences” and click audio. Then select the input function for the jack and your audio will work. The other dude’s (or dudette’s) answer is great though. The main thing is to get it out of there.
