I just tested it after installing PR1.2, IT STILL DIDNT WORK!!! :@

this would be a long shot..

1. backup all your data/map/mp3/contacts etc to a sd card or onto your pc
2. take out the battery/sim card/sd card(if you have it)
3. leave the unit alone for 1/2 hour.
4. flash the unit with the original stock firmware(the very 1st one for your region).

good luck

if i downgrade, would'nt I face more problems? Im just saying because when i downgraded from my PR1.2 to PR1.1.1, the phone stopped detecting my sim card.

If its not getting good electrical contact, flashing the firmware won't make a difference.

I still haven't heard if you've tried other headsets. Did you?

Have you shut down the phone, removed the battery, waited a bit, and then reinserted battery/rebooted? Might as well give that a go first.

The jack on these phones is like every other one I've seen - it has a small switch inside that is depressed when the headset is inserted. That switch is what tells the phone to enable/disable the port. If the switch is bad, loaded with lint, or has otherwise failed, it won't work. You'd need to get the jack fixed. Usually the failure mode is "stuck on" not "stuck off", so its a little unusual - but not impossible.

Take a look in the hole, does everything seem ok? You should see *two* copper contacts. One on the top, one on the right, when looking "side on" at the n900 face up. If you only see one contact, then it's broken for sure.

@schettj: I dont have any other headset so i cannot test with any other.

just now, I switched off my phone and took out my battery and followed your instructions but still it didnt work.

I checked the jack. i can see the two copper contacts and everything seems fine in there.

If there was anything wrong with the jack, wouldnt it not detect any other headphones aswell? why is it just not detecting the headset but is detecting the headphone?

thanks a lot for continuously helping me schettj have you got any other ideas? is there anyway i can enable headset manually? i mean what if it doesnt detect it itself but only when i force it (somehow)!

I have the same problem, I've flashed the firmware (including eMMC) and tried most of the solutions I could find (less the alcohol Qtip). If i plug any headset or headphones in, they aren't detected at all, even if i run dmesg | tail. I bought the phone 3 days ago, and am saddened that this isn't working at all.

Headphone - plain stereo headphone? -> 2 contacts
Headset -> three contacts (one for mic)

I'm stumped, but it sounds like a mechanical failure of the jack on the n900 itself. You should be able to plug *any* three prong headset in, surely you know someone with a headset. If not, go to any phone store there in bristol and ask if you can try out a headset.

sorry to double post, but for the people having problems with headsets, but not headphones, wouldn't it be possible to check if the third prong in the port is defective by trying the TV-out cable? It also is a TRRS connector (has three contacts) and should be useful in figuring out what the exact problem is.

My TV-out works just fine, also older nokia headset and other headphones work fine.
Only thing not working is the N900 original headset.

Same problem here
My original headset didnt work but dmesg:

headphone (GPIO 177) is now connected <-when i conect original headset
headphone (GPIO 177) is now disconnected <- when i disconnect headset

but i dont see icon in systray and no soudn or working buttons on headset

When i connect headphones alone i got same mesage + icon in systray
and sound works

So where is problem ? i think is SW
BTW: i can give ssh or vnc acces to maemo developers who would want to find out what it is and how to fix it
PS:My tv-out cable works fine