Mr Scorcex

Here's the story: My roommate and I, having just moved in and not unpacked a TV, decide to watch a DVD on my laptop. Naturally, we have to use his fancy ass 5.1 speaker system to listen to it. Fine. Problem is, about half of the audio input breaks off in the audio in slot. Shit. Now my onboard speakers read an input, so won't play, and my desktop speakers won't go in, because there's a hunk of metal stuck in the input. Nothing can get it out, but I discover I can use my audio drivers to reroute my microphone input to serve as the audio output. It's slightly inconvenient, but this works beautifully, for the moment.

Now here's where my school comes in: they mandate that everyone with windows use windows update. Again, fine. Until last night, after watching south park, I shut down my computer and some updates install. Nothing new, no big deal. I start up my computer today after class, and boom, I get an error message saying that a certain .dll (the one that presumable controls my audio) won't work because it is now a windows only .dll area, whatever that means.

Long story short, the program I was using to reroute my audio out through my mic jack now won't load, and I can't hear a damn thing out of my computer. Tried updating/reinstalling drivers, no dice. Tried a system restore to before the updates, no dice.

Does anyone know of a program that could allow me to continue to reroute my audio out through my mic jack?

Edit: Heres the error message: The system DLL user32.dll was relocated in memory. The application will not run properly. The relocation occurred because the DLL C:\Windows\system32\HHCTRL.OCX occupied an address range reserved for Windows system DLLS. The vendor supplying the DLL should be contacted for a new DLL.

MikeSty

Have you tried sucking the connector out?

Mr Scorcex

Yes, to no avail. If you look at a headphone jack, it broke off right at the second black line, so that the connectors are holding it it. I also tried to superglue a toothpick, the original broken connector, and a paper clip to it at different times, and I'm convinced God himself couldn't get that connector out of there.

The_Jazz

Yeah, the simple solution seems to be to get the connector out. Can't you use needlenose pliers to work it out? I've done that in the past, although not on a laptop.

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Dilbert1234567

toothpick and super glue.

tap a dab of glue in the tip of the toothpick and stick it to the connector, let it dry, then pull it out.

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ShaniFaye

you know what? I started getting that exact same error the other day after an update and I dont have anything stuck in my pc lol

I've been trying to get time to figure out what it means

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Mr Scorcex

No dice on the pliers, there's nothing to grab onto. The remaining broken portion of the connector is flat, and fills up the output.

Dilbert, I've already gone that route, even with Gorilla glue. It inevitably just breaks away from the input, without moving it whatsoever.

ShaniFaye

I just googled the error since you were so nice to paste it....here is the explanation and fix

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx/kb/935448/

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Dilbert1234567

what kind of connector is it?

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Mr Scorcex

Glorious! Thank you all so much. I can hear music again!

Dilbert: The connector was a little device, which on one end looked like your average headphone connector, and on the other split the audio out into two channels so my bastard roommate could hook up his fancy audio.

MikeSty

Hmmm. There must be a way to get that thing out of there!!!

JStrider

get an itty bitty drill bit and drill into the stuck connector then just pull it out without running the drill... least it might be worth a try...

or if your laptop is out of warranty you can pull it apart and see if you can push out the broken piece from the inside. or desolder the plug and solder a new one in its place...

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tenchi069

fixing that error is a problem with realtek onboard audio. disabling the startup with msconfig gets rid of that error without affecting sound. if you want to actually "fix" the problem, you have to uninstall the latest 2 or 3 MS updates, uninstall your sound driver, and reinstall your sound driver.


Ive fixed about 1/2 dozen of these problems so far....ugh.

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ShaniFaye

really? I installed the fix I posted above and everything is working right again...as near as I can tell

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Anexkahn

most of those 1/8" connectors you can push stuff out fron inside. There will usually be a hole at the end that you can force the piece backwards, or sometimes the whole clip is visible and you can just pop it out. Go to your laptop manufacturer website and look for teardown instructions to get a detailed step-by-step way of correctly getting your laptop broken down to where you can get inside.

You might also try a dental pick, you can work your way in beside the broken off piece an the clip that is holding it in, and once behind it, pop it out.

Mr Scorcex

I don't doubt that I could get inside my laptop myself and take care of bidness, Anexkahn, but as JStrider rightly assumed, it's under warranty for another two years, and unfortunately I don't want to void it by taking it apart. Also, the idea of drilling into my computer is something I just don't think I could get comfy with, thanks anyway JStrider. I might take a stab at it with that dental pick, Anexkahn, as soon as I can get my hands on it.
And Tenchi, 2 things. One: The fix ShaniFaye posted is working beautifully as near as I can tell, and Two: My school requires the windows auto-update to get on their network. It used to be that you could get around that by disabling auto-update, but now those options are not available to us.

Rekna

If it is under warranty why not have the manufacture fix it.

MikeSty

Well, send it back for repairs if it's still under warranty, but try getting an application that blocks windows update from connecting. The application runs, but it won't connect Update month-to-month with Autopatcher.