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sbs8331 · 03-20-2009, 09:44 AM

I've encountered a recent issue with my Bold. Though I can play audio through my headset, when I connect the device to my car stereo, it doesn't seem to recognize that the jack is active. The audio still comes through the speaker. I've had my Bold since December and have had no trouble until the last couple of weeks. I have an older car with no audio input jack but have a device that connects to the radio through the old cigarette lighter jack. I do have a normal cable for cars that I rent (I travel full time), but neither one works.

At first I thought it might be a hardware issue, but, if that's the case, why does it work with my BB-supplied ear plugs? I then deleted some recently loaded software (Battery Booster, WorldMate Live, Easy Standby, BBSmart Alarms Pro, etc.), thinking that there might be some sort of conflict, but to no avail.

I do have an old iPod Nano I can use, so it's not a showstopper, but I'd like to just use my BB for my simple audio requirements.

Any assistance would be appreciated. Thanks.

Caspan · 03-20-2009, 11:32 AM

For some reason the Bold uses a grounding technique or something like that to tell if something is plugged in the headphone jack. I'm not sure why they do this or what the purpose is. Worse part is you don't have the option when in your music player to switch to headphone jack, you get Bluetooth (if available), ear peace, or hands free speakers. The same thing happens all the time at home, I have a 3.5mm to RCA to my AUX in and sometimes I need to plug the jack in up to 15 times before it sees that I have it plugged in a switches to the headphone jack.

No idea why it does that but it is a known issue for me. would like to know why it does it to be honest.

sbs8331 · 03-22-2009, 05:19 PM

As a follow-up, I had an on-line chat with AT&T tech support. They said that only Blackberry or AT&T cables should be used. Sounds like the company line to me, i.e. bogus. Anyway, the only suggestion I received was to do a master reset. I backed up the device, performed the master reset, and restored. The problem still occurs. I guess I'll just learn to live with it.

PapiPabs · 03-22-2009, 07:55 PM

A friend of mine has a 3.5MM to USB adapter (IIRC) that we used to connect my Bold to his car stereo for a trip up to VT to go skiing. It worked okay. I did notice that the headphone jack on the Bold was finicky. I rotated the cable the slightest bit, and there was some high pitched feedback until I pushed the cable in as far as it would go. It seems like using any kind of aftermarket adapter cable is going to be hit or miss at best.

Caspan · 03-23-2009, 07:57 AM

See the thing is they made a 2 in 1 kind of plug that would accept a headphone jack as well as their 4 pole handfree head set. I have never had an issue with a pair of headphones ever, I have only had issues with my home stereo.

Caspan · 04-17-2009, 09:53 AM

I think I have found a solution to the problem, not exactly nice but it works.. I attach my Bold to my home stereo using the 3.5 MM jack to RCA and it never detects that I'm connected to headphones. So you unplug re-plug 10-20 times and eventually it detects it and pipes music out the headphone jack.

I found that after you plug your headphone jack in (make sure its all the way in) if you take the extruding part of the connector and pry up slightly so the tip is forced down toward the back of the Bold (do it very gently and don't use a lot of force) it will detect that the ear phone is connected.

It works every time for me now, even my external speakers at work did the same and now works 100% when I do that.

Seems to me that their must be a connector that just doesn't go far enough and you need to do that to get it to work. I'm wondering though by doing this if I am making the problem worse down the road or making the connector looser from the internal board.

Let me know if this works for you or not.

Doctino · 08-30-2009, 12:06 PM

I've had the same problem but thought it was because I dropped the bold too many time. Now, reading this thread I realize it is likely the jack. I solve the issue using the Blackberry Stereo Gateway with the enclosed jack. A third party jack does not work with the Gateway as well. An added expense, but an option.

Caspan · 08-30-2009, 12:39 PM

Wirelessly posted

I was thinking of getting one of them to plug into my stereo. Can you let me know with your Bold how far can you be from the puck before it diconnects if I only get 10 feet I might as well plug in but if I can walk around the house I'm at the poker table can just change songs from upthe stairs would be neat.

JayC33 · 09-14-2009, 07:13 PM

I know this thread is getting a bit old now, but I bought a headphone adapter cable, (to allow you to use regular headphones with your bb (I actually bought mine in the apple store across the street from work) I plug my 3.5mm auxiliary cable into this, and connect to my car/ home stereo. Since this adapter also has a mic built into it, it also gives me the added option of speaker phone through the car stereo speakers.

Caspan · 09-14-2009, 08:29 PM

Wirelessly posted

Cool thanks for the post. Its never to old to post. Other peoples views and opinions are what forums are built for.

JayC33 · 09-14-2009, 11:11 PM

Glad I could be of help. I assume the reason this works and the regular 3.5 doesn't would be the extra conductors in the plug. Apparently the BB and the iphone jacks are the same because as I said I ought my adapter from the apple store oviously intended for iphone. If I recall I belive mins was made by Belkin, ut I would have to try to remember to check it when I am in the car.

Caspan · 09-15-2009, 05:47 AM

Wirelessly posted

For sure! I'm not sure if it is a standard or not but most phones have the same. Prong 3.5mm jack.

JayC33 · 09-15-2009, 07:44 AM

I know a lot of them have the same size jack, but I have seen in the past, some manufacturers have wired them differently.

TTsoldier · 10-04-2009, 07:45 PM

So I'm pretty much in the same predicament. I use a cassette adapter to my 3.5mm jack as my truck does not have an aux port.

It used to work fine at first then my truck went into the shop and was out for a month. During that time I used to use an aux cable in my friends card and from the first time I tried I noticed a high pitched sound and after alot of playing around with it, it eventually worked. So I got another cable (thinking it was the cable ) but the same thing occurred. I lived with it, thinking something was wrong with her car. ( >.> )

So I got my truck back the other day and from the get-go i noticed that the high pitched song was occurring with my cassette adapter. It was also playing music on the left speakers alone (unless I played around with it enough). Thinking it was the adapter, I bought a new one. Instantly, it worked perfectly. Great! A couple hours later, the problem reoccurred (sigh).

Also, before I was able to put the phone on loud speaker when someone called and the sound would come through the van speakers, allowing me excellent hands free driving. This does not happen again.

Today, while coming from the beach, my friend plugged his 8520 into my cassette adapter and it worked perfectly. No high pitched noise. No one sided playing - nothing. Then he laughed at me and told me my Bold is shit :(

I don't know it it's something with the bold, but it is quite annoying.

My headphones work fine.

Is there some way to resolve this rather than me taking 5 - 10minutes of playing with the jack to get it working?

JayC33 · 10-04-2009, 09:26 PM

See my post above (#9) the headpone adapter worked well for me plugged into the Bold, then I plugged an aux cable into that and that plugged into my fm transmitter. (In your case your cassette adapter.) If I recall correctly the one I bought was by Monster cable. Its a bit kluggy but it does work without wiggleing wires around. Of course ymmv. good luck.

TTsoldier · 10-05-2009, 07:57 AM

Ah. Somehow I seemed to miss that post.

Great! So with this headphone adapter, you don't have to "fiddle" around anymore?

By "kluggy", what exactly do you mean?

Thanks alot man

TTsoldier · 10-05-2009, 11:15 AM

So I ran out to a electronic store and bought a 3.5mm adapter or extension or whatever it is.. lol... It does not work. It switches to headset and the song is playing but I don't get any audio...

This sucks so much. I'm waiting till my boss gets back from lunch to try it on his iPhone, just to make sure it's not the cable.

TTsoldier · 10-05-2009, 04:49 PM

Tried on my boss's iPhone and it does not work. Tried with my headphones and it does not work either. Guess the cable is faulty or maybe since it's a kind of generic cable, it won't work?

I was looking at getting this.

BlackBerry Bold 3.5mm Stereo Headset Adaptor with Microphone

Any guarantee it will work? I'll go back to the store tomorrow and get another cable to verify my suspicions about the faulty cable.

miamirulz29 · 10-05-2009, 05:00 PM

There are no guarantees that it will work. But its worth the try. You said the adapter works on your friends phone, but not on your bold nor your boss's iphone?

JayC33 · 10-05-2009, 11:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TTsoldier

Tried on my boss's iPhone and it does not work. Tried with my headphones and it does not work either. Guess the cable is faulty or maybe since it's a kind of generic cable, it won't work?

I was looking at getting this.

BlackBerry Bold 3.5mm Stereo Headset Adaptor with Microphone

Any guarantee it will work? I'll go back to the store tomorrow and get another cable to verify my suspicions about the faulty cable.

I appologize if I was not clear, but that's the kind of adapter that I was refering to. This is the one I use.
Monsterxxx174; iSoniTalkxxx153; Microphone Headphone Adapter for iPhonexxx153;

Again I can't garuntee that it will work for you, but it has been working for me. It also gives you the added benifit of the microphone, which lets you use your car stereo as a speaker phone.

By Kulggy I meant clumbsy.

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Audio Issue with Bold When Connecting to Car Stereo