interesting ipod problem

[metamorphoise]

Hi all, i have a very weird problem here:
i have had a 5g ipod video sitting in my room for maybe 6months with a broken LCD.
i finally got an LCD, opened it up and carefully replaced it. the problem is that now the headphone output usually dosen't work but SOMETIMES works

the weird thing is, the select button has something to do with it.
output will sometimes work if i half depress the select button, sometimes if i press the button to choose a different song it stops/starts working....
it also sometimes changes at random even without pressing the button...

it a makes no difference if i touch the button with my finger or another object, so i dont think its static electricity or whatever....

i have rockbox on there but the ipod has the same problem when running the original apple firmware

does anyone have any experience or advice?? i really want to fix this!

[BCNZ]

Sounds like your socket has an intermittent connection - and pressure on that button is causing it to make/break contact through mechanical interaction with the PCB.
You will need to open the unit up and carefully check for broken solder joints around the socket or perhaps hairline fractures in the PCB tracks.

I personally hate anything like this that has an audio socket soldered to a PCB. They get a real hammering and always become intermittent / dead.
Usually because people are forever plugging or unplugging the headphones and this constant in / out eventually causes mechanical damage to either the socket, the soldering, the PCB tracks or all three.