Physical Hardware Problem.
 

Hey guys,
Been a while since I've been on and now I have a hardware issue. I have a Creative Sound Blaster Live! 5.1 Digital. I used it to connect my stereo speakers to the computer through a xandy cable. Today, I had to open the computer for maintainence and I pulled the case. I had forgot to take out that audio cable and it snapped. This is on my FC3 system and I only get half-sound now; meaning on the left side I get full sound and right side, a low and dull noise. Now I need opinions on what to do to get that little peice out. THERE IS A PEICE OF THE END CABLE STUCK IN THE SOUND JACK!

--Abid Kazmi

My recommendation is a small pair of needle noise pliers .

That won't work. The smallest ones single blade doesn't fit in the jack. The peice stuck is stuck in their horizontally instead of vertically making it impossible to take it out. I have even tried tweezers and still aren't small enough. Maybe a jeweler's kit may have something small enough to work in the sound jack?

--Abid Kazmi

Not to be pessimistic but I think your options are pretty limited, and realistically I think your only choices are to either accept things as they are and deal with reduced sound capability, or you'll need to buy a new sound card. As I see it there are only 5 possibilities:

1. Physically grasp the stuck piece and remove it, as jtshaw already indicated. (Presumably you've already tried this.)
2. Dab some adhesive on the end of the other part of the cable, then re-insert it into the jack. The idea here would be to try to glue the pieces back together so that you can remove them both; the risk of course is that you could end up making things worse by mucking up the jack with glue, or that you'd end up with both pieces of the plug glued into the jack. (Not recommended.)
3. Presumably you could try to slam the card onto a table hard enough to cause the stuck piece to fall out, but obviously this would probably end up cracking or breaking your card. (Not recommended, obviously)
4. Buy a new one.
5. Do nothing

Good luck with it -- J.W.

Currently can't find anything small enough to take it out. When the cable is inserted, it is straight it, but when the cable snapped, it got stuck sideways.
I don't think so :p
Yes, I tried that already but there is a little peice of spring, which is in every sound card, that has to be held down. That's the little "click" when you push a cable in all the way.
Out of the question. I love my card :tisk:. And if I do need to buy a new card, then I will de-solder the card and try horrendous stuff :p

--Abid Kazmi

break out the soldering iron........you need access from the other end of the jack to push the piece out.
while you're at it,some uv paint or liquid tide would look great on the edges under a uv ccfl..........

I will be de-soldering in a few days after I get the jewelers kit (if that fails.) And there is no other end of the jack; I will have to push it from the bottom because the tops and sides are closed =/. Anyways, I'm not much of a uv ccfl guy. My system is plain although some lighting would look good. And btw, now that we're on the topic of colors, I'm going to use some car paint and give my system some red color. Case is all black, heh.

--Abid Kazmi

suits me.......i don't do beige.have a look around pimprig.com for a few ideas.