Headphones and Earbuds

Assuming you have tried to pull it out with needle nose plyers and could not, take an ordinary drinking straw, the skiny kind, and cut 1 1/2 inch off the end. Take this short piece and put it in the hole over top and around, the broken off part. Do not force it. It will go in about 1/8 inch to 1/2 inch or so, depending on your computer. If the straw is too big around to fit in the hole split it along it's length and roll it up again overlapping the edges to make it smaller. Take the plastic tube that comes taped to the side of many spray cans and slide it inside the straw in the hole, till it stops at the broken part. Mix up a small amount of 2 part epoxy on a piece of foil. Take the plastic tube out of the straw and dip one end of it into the epoxy and then while holding the straw in the hole place the epoxy coated tube back inside straw until it stops at broken part. The idea is to get epoxy on the tube and the broken part while the straw keeps it off other parts. When the epoxy sets you should be able to pull the broken part out by pulling out on the straw and tube. Be patient and give the epoxy lots of time (up to 24 hrs.) to set.

If you can get warranty service, do that. If you can't get service and the straw trick above did not work, one other technique is to use a refill from a standard bic pen. First, with a flashlight check to see if the broken headphone piece has a metal post or protrusion on the end. If it does, gently insert the hollow end of the pen refill into the jack and gently work it around until it slides over the metal protrusion. You'll feel it if it does. If the refill doesn't easily go into the jack, you're using the wrong size refill. Find some superglue that will bond metal to the refill. Test this first since not all superglues work on the plastic used in refills. If this test works, then wrap a piece of tape around the end of the refill, leaving just about 1mm excess tape extending beyond the hollow end of the refill. This excess bit should help protect the internal components from the glue. Then drop a small amount of superglue into the hollow end of the refill. Use a pin to pop any air bubble that forms and make sure the glue went into the hollow part and not around the refill or on the protective tape. Gently insert the hollow end into the jack and, keeping it straight, carefully work it around until the hollow end slides over the metal protrusion of the broken bit of the plug. Hold it in place for a few minutes, then wait until the glue sets (about an hour). Slowly pull the refill straight out and hopefully it brought the broken bit with it.