iPod plays through external speaker when earphones plugged in?

The only way to fix (or even trying) is to disassemble it and check the headphone jack and the surrounding area - if both ar on at the same time and apple said that there is a fluid damage - the you have to look at the headphone jack first.

but be careful - this device is tiny and could be very problematic to handle

the teardown is here

use rubbing alcohol and a soft paintbrush to clean the logicboard, the connectors and the headphone jack, remove the kapton tape before you clean the parts with alcohol, let it dry and then reattach the kapton tape on the parts.

try if it works correctly - if not, look closer for any damages the water could have made

I struggled with the external speaker playing even with the headphones plugged in, too. I just started happening after I had used my Touch 3G for several months with no problems. I was all set to send it to Apple when I just unplugged the Apple headphones that came with it that I'd been using exclusively and plugged in some other earbuds.

Problem solved. All the sound came through the earbuds, none through the speakers. I switched back and forth to be sure. I don't know if it has something to do with the technology that allows the Apple earbuds to work as a microphone as well, but I am now using much cheaper earbuds without annoying other people at the gym. Doesn't sound like this would be the solution to everyone, but it worked for me.

hey, I figured this out: weird magic

Just go to sound settings, and turn down max volume and then lock it with a pass, WITH YOUR EARPHONES/HEADPHONES/EXTERNALSPEAKERS plugged. Turn off any music playing, wait a few secs, then play it, there we go.

Robbi

My son just got his yesterday for Christmas. It did not get wet at all and his was just doing this. I went on itunes and had it restored to factory settings and it fixed it. Hopefully that is all I had to do for it.

I did what the man above (Markus) said to do. I had the same problem with sound coming out of the speakers regardless of whether the earbuds were in or not. I hit the menu button at the same time as the center button for a few seconds and it reset it. When it came back on I could plug in my buds and not have the whole room have to hear my music. Worked perfect for me.

How I fixed this is I just plugged them in and unplugged them really fast, wait a few seconds, then plug them back in. I believe this only works when its playing through the external speakers when the headphones are plugged in but isn't when they're unplugged. Hope this helps someone.

I was just fussing around with my Nano, tried pushing the earphones in hard, holding center button and menu at same time, nothing worked. Finally just started wheeling the sound backwards and pushing center button, sound disappeared, Apple symbol came up, quickly unplugged earbuds and plugged them back in and now it's fine. My advice: keep fussing around, clicking on everything until something works.

Ive had the same problem with no luck of fixing it so i just bought the new version, the touch screen one...

''' i have been having the same exact problem with mine too. I got it for christmas 3 years ago and like a month later i had dropped it in the snow and it got a dent on it and it was there over night and when i plug the head phones in it is like i cant turn the volume up at all or else it goes into the external speaker and it seems like there is no bass coming out of it either so yea it really bugs me but wht seems to work is if u #1)push the headphones in all the way

#2) then push them twards the screen then it sound fine so yea that is all i know i need to get it checked out!!! '''

Take a small piece of tin foil and put it at the top of your headphones silvery part. Insert it into the iPod jack and it should be fine :) You may have to play with it a little bit, but don't turn it too roughly or the tin foil might break.

Hope it works for your iPod too :)

I unplugged my iPod from my computer without ejecting it - had the same issue - speaker only playback.

I plugged it back in..Ejected it correctly (right click eject) from the computer interface and it worked fine......

When you unplug the iPod (without ejecting it correctly with your mouse or drag on a mac)I believe it gets set internally set/stuck in speaker only mode

Thank you sooooo much, i cant live without my ipod!! i held down the menu button at the same time as the centre button and its working perfectly again, thank you.

Tracey

I had this exact problem. went to apple store and was given exactly same answer. rain damage blah blah blah.

did what u guys suggested, rebooted by pressing menu and centre simultaneously for a few seconds. Hey Presto! Problem sorted!! Thanks a million guys :)

Because mine got stuck on headphones mode (even though I didn't have my headphones on), all I did was just suck into the input really hard and it worked! Simple as that.

I've had this problem too. For me, the reset didn't work, but cleaning the jack solved the problem. I didn't have to open the Ipod to do what I did - it's a non-invasive procedure, won't hurt anything.

In many devices, the input jack where you plug in your headphones is called a switching jack. There are metal contacts inside that normally touch each other, completing the connection that makes the internal speaker play. Plug in your headphones, and those contacts open, disabling the internal speaker.

These type of contacts get dirty or corroded over time, and can act intermittently or fail.

Frankly, I'm not sure if this device uses this type of jack - usually the symptom is that the internal speaker won't come back on when you unplug the phones from this type of jack, because the contacts aren't making clean contact. This is the opposite problem - the speaker stays on when you plug in headphones. The headphones may be sensed electronically in the Ipod, but this still requires solid electric contact between the jack and the headphone plug. Anyway, the following cleaning worked for me when a reset didn't:

Dip your headphone's plug into some rubbing alcohol and insert and remove it from the jack several times. You might try sucking on the input jack, or blowing some compressed air from a can in there (available at a computer store). You might try these techniques several times. The canned air is also good for drying out the jack after alcoholing it.

The other thing is to frequently wipe off your headphone plug before you insert it in the jack. Hand oils can make for poor electrical contact and dirt buildup on the jack contacts over time.

DON'T spray electronics cleaners or WD-40 in the jack - some of this stuff has solvents that can destroy certain plastics.

It's not a bad idea to do this every few months as protective maintenance. It takes 10 seconds.

Did all of these for Ipod Nano wheel type with no change in behavior (internal device-mounted speakers play whether headphones are connected or not, and when connected, headphones ALSO carry sound in addition to internal speakers). Replaced and changed out multiple headphone and earbud units, all that seem to work with everything else I have, and I am getting at the short end of my rope at this point. Not sure what to do, but I surely am not paying someone 40 bucks or more to toy with ideas on it. I need some information to be sure, because I also know this one has not ever been wet, has been ejected properly, and has not been banged around (and in fact is in an armored case its entire after-purchase life). This has been a recent development that started suddenly with no warning, and the unit functions correctly in all other respects.

I have an iPad mini with and recently, I was watching a video with my headphones plugged in and the sound came out only through the speakers. I see that many people had success holding the home and center bûtt one, but the iPad only has a home button. Pleeeeeeaaaaaaaase any suggestions?

I read another thread (link here) and it said to turn the iPod off and turn it back on to fix this. I know you probably tried this and I also realize that this post is like 5 years old, but for anybody else with this problem, this is how i fixed mine.