Zen Micro Headphone Jack Fix

by GreenDay in Circuits > Audio

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Zen Micro Headphone Jack Fix

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The Zen Micro is a great MP3 player. Sadly, the headphone jack assembly wasn't engineered as well as the rest of the player. It's design causes the contacts to losen from the board. There is a simple fix for this....read on young grasshopper...
This is my first instructable, so I demand lots of constructive critism

Required Tools

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For this instructable, you will need:
1) A philips jewlers screw driver (I'm not too sure of the size, if anyone knows, its really small though)
2) A slot jewlers screw driver (this ones size doesn't matter as much, but it has to small enough)
3) Scissors (and paper, but it's not really a tool)
4) A bottle opener and a beer (to congratulate yourself upon completion)
5) A Zen micro, THAT'S A GIVEN!

Simple enough, so lets move to step two

Remove the Battery

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Easy enough, three steps to this:
1) Remove the zen from whatever case you have it in (do not attempt this if it is not in a case)
2)Slide the back panel off
3) Remove the battery
Now, if you try and power the zen on, and it turns on, repeat steps 1-3. If it doesn't turn on, proceed.

Remove the Top Panel and Screws

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This where things get complicated... For this step, you need both screw drivers, here's the steps to this step:
1)Place the zen on hold (this is required to remove the panel)
2)Take your slot screw driver and push it into the side opposite the hold switch (regard the picture)
3) Once in place, lever the panel off
4) Put the panel and hold switch in a safe place
5) Remove the two screws and place them in a safe place (but you were already going to do that weren't you?)
Once this is completed, you may move on to the next step.

Prepare to Void Your Warranty

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By doing the next steps, you void your warranty. If you don't want to void your warranty, then please read the previous steps in reverse order, and put your player back together. As for a disclaimer:
I am not responsible for you messing up your creative, if you deside to continue with this, you do it at your own risk. YOUR OWN RISK!
After reading that, if you decided that you would like to continue, please do so.

Push the Plate Forward

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This is the step that will void your warranty:
1) Take the metal plate in the battery compartment and grip it like in the first picture
2) Push it towards the warranty sticker with your thumbs, it should move slightly, and rip the warranty sticker
That wasn't too bad was it? Well, now that your warranties voided, might as well continue...

Remove the Main Electronics From the Case

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This step requires some skill, do it slowly, and nothing should go wrong, here we go:
1)Basicly, you want to pull on the bottom front lip, and push from the back
2)If done properly, the main electronics should just come out
3)Place the main electronics in a safe place
*Optional* Take a soft brush (like a camera lens brush) and dust everything off
When this step is done, you should have a board on the case. This is what you're interested in.

Unscrew the Metal Casing

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This part is easy, two steps:
1) Unscrew it from the board (there are two screws, remove them, and put them in your safe spot)
2) Now remove the metal casing, and keep it handy

Warm Up Those Scissors

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This is in my opinion the hardest step, here's what you need to do:
1)Take a piece of paper
2)Cut and fold it, so it's about six pieces thick, and fits above the headphone jack
3)The pictures should help clear this up
4)It is easiest is you use the metal casing as a template

Place the Paper, and Resecure the Metal Casing

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The title is self explanitory, but here are the steps:
1)Place the folded paper in the metal casing
2)Put the metal casing back into its original position, but now it should have the paper in between it and the headphone jack
3) Resecure it with those screws which you removed and put in a safe location

Replace the Main Electronics

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This is realitivly simple, do the exact opposite of what you did to take them out, incase you've forgotten:
*make sure the metal slidey part on the back is down*
1)Take the top part (the part with the screen) and place it in so the contacts align
2)Push down on the top part so the contacts connect
3)Then push down on the bottom, and it should click in. If it's giving you problems (more like if you're weak, but...), try pushing on the sides.
The zen is now mainly back together, just a few more things.

Push the Plate Back Up

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Very simple, but because I like you, I'll give you the step
1)Place your thumbs in the same place they were before, and do the opposite motion of when you were pushing it down
Oh look, it's the same picture as before

Replace Screws and Cap

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Again, the exact opposite as before, but you can have these steps:
1)Take the screws (you stored them away safely didn't you?) and rotate them clockwise in the holes until they're tight (may I suggest a screwdriver for this?)
2)Put the hold switch in place
3)Replace the cap (it should stick on its own, but one could use double sided tape to hold it)
Yes, you're almost done!

Replace the Battery, Battery Cover, and Case

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Self explanitory, but:
1)Put the battery in in such a way that the contacts line up
2)Put the Batter cover back on
3)Place any case you may have back on
4)Test to make sure to unit powers on
5)Drink the beer you put aside
You're done now, yippie! Now you can go back to listening to your zen at un-zenly volume levels.