Difficulty

Moderate

Steps

6

Time Required

                          15 - 45 minutes

Sections

1

  • How to Monster iBeats
  • 6 steps

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3

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Introduction

Or sometimes you hear the music and sometime you don’t, it is sure that the headphones are defective majorly getting the wires broken either at jack spot or at the spot around ControlTalk or divider.

Or you see the wires off the shape or kind of gap just above the headphones jack spot or you can’t answer the call or can’t raise the volume neither can stop the music or start, then this guide may help you resolve the issue with your iBeats.

Before diving into this guide, make sure that you have checked your device with a usable another brink or kind of headphones for similar purpose which will help make sure that iBeats are faulty not the device itself.

This is my first guide I have been preparing in about 2 hrs so expect errors. But the process of this repair has been refined carefully. Your suggestion is highly appreciated. I’m a Mac technician and my own iBeats demonstrated defects hence I decided to correct it and thought it would be much helpful if I published a self-repair guide. Thanks to iFixit for providing a platform to share ideas.

What you need

Step 1

              How to Monster iBeats
  • Pull the cable off from the 3.5mm headphone jack. You may use heat-gun to make it warm. Be careful not to make it too hot. Keep focusing to make the base of the jack warmer not the divided end or the nose of the jack.
  • If you headphone cable and wires are already pulled off, warm up longer to the base of the jack and then using pointer pliers, try to pull off gently without tearing the cable/wire support rubber stuff apart. This is the thing that enhances the look and support of the cable to the iBeats metal exterior for 3.5mm jack.

Pull the cable off from the 3.5mm headphone jack. You may use heat-gun to make it warm. Be careful not to make it too hot. Keep focusing to make the base of the jack warmer not the divided end or the nose of the jack.

If you headphone cable and wires are already pulled off, warm up longer to the base of the jack and then using pointer pliers, try to pull off gently without tearing the cable/wire support rubber stuff apart. This is the thing that enhances the look and support of the cable to the iBeats metal exterior for 3.5mm jack.

1024

Step 2

  • Cut the White wire at 2cm, Green wire at 3cm, Red wire at 4cm and Yellow wire at 5cm length respectively from the edge of the cable.
  • Then, pre-solder the wire to get it ready to solder to the 3.5mm jack’s required 4 apparent spots. Place the jack as trapped between the jaws of the flat pliers securely. You may hold the hands of the pliers simply by rubber band or a peace of nylon or clothes.
  • Then solder the shortest wire to the finish end of the jack (the thinnest soldering end), which is the White wire. And so on until the Yellow wire being soldered to the wider edge of the jack. Remember, you should solder just a tiny bit, not much, and the best way possible. Do it as much polished way as possible since the iBeats metal exterior is not flexible and has a very limited space. Examine it before soldering closely.

Cut the White wire at 2cm, Green wire at 3cm, Red wire at 4cm and Yellow wire at 5cm length respectively from the edge of the cable.

Then, pre-solder the wire to get it ready to solder to the 3.5mm jack’s required 4 apparent spots. Place the jack as trapped between the jaws of the flat pliers securely. You may hold the hands of the pliers simply by rubber band or a peace of nylon or clothes.

Then solder the shortest wire to the finish end of the jack (the thinnest soldering end), which is the White wire. And so on until the Yellow wire being soldered to the wider edge of the jack. Remember, you should solder just a tiny bit, not much, and the best way possible. Do it as much polished way as possible since the iBeats metal exterior is not flexible and has a very limited space. Examine it before soldering closely.

Step 3

  • Once, the wires are finely soldered getting support of the flat jawed pillars, carefully inspect if any of the two wires are interconnected while soldering. If you find any of two wires are soldered together, make sure to wipe the connected solder line off carefully and at the minimum attempt possible. More attempt means weakening the rubber divider between jack compartments and exposing more to internal short-circuit.
  • Once done, make sure that exposed wire will be covered by squeezing the cable towards the edge of the jack. This is a fine trick but do not squeeze too hard since you may break the wire itself.
  • It’s very insightful to spray non conductor element or just simply use clear tape to avoid short circuit between exposed and soldered wire-spots. Usually, if you are 100% sure about your fine work, you can simply drop a tinny bit of superglue over the soldered spots. But it may take unto 10 minutes to dry up completely. If you have non-conductor spray or tape, you may spray or affix it to secure your work.
  • Now push the jack into the iBeats metal exterior spraying quick dry fixer inside the metal exterior so that once the jack is inserted, it resides there firmly. Then push the Rubber Cable Support piece into the other end of the metal exterior the same way.
  • If you observe the picture closely, you may see a little gap between the cable holder and iBeats metal exterior. If you spray quick fixer well and pushed hart, you not gonna see that gap any more and your iBeats will look seamed properly. This will give your work a professional or refined look and feel.

Once, the wires are finely soldered getting support of the flat jawed pillars, carefully inspect if any of the two wires are interconnected while soldering. If you find any of two wires are soldered together, make sure to wipe the connected solder line off carefully and at the minimum attempt possible. More attempt means weakening the rubber divider between jack compartments and exposing more to internal short-circuit.

Once done, make sure that exposed wire will be covered by squeezing the cable towards the edge of the jack. This is a fine trick but do not squeeze too hard since you may break the wire itself.

It’s very insightful to spray non conductor element or just simply use clear tape to avoid short circuit between exposed and soldered wire-spots. Usually, if you are 100% sure about your fine work, you can simply drop a tinny bit of superglue over the soldered spots. But it may take unto 10 minutes to dry up completely. If you have non-conductor spray or tape, you may spray or affix it to secure your work.

Now push the jack into the iBeats metal exterior spraying quick dry fixer inside the metal exterior so that once the jack is inserted, it resides there firmly. Then push the Rubber Cable Support piece into the other end of the metal exterior the same way.

If you observe the picture closely, you may see a little gap between the cable holder and iBeats metal exterior. If you spray quick fixer well and pushed hart, you not gonna see that gap any more and your iBeats will look seamed properly. This will give your work a professional or refined look and feel.

Step 4

  • We just finished repairing, the defective 3.5mm headphone jack part. Now we are repairing the ControlTalk button that has malfunctioned due to broken circuit or broken one of the wires inside the ControlTalk compartment.
  • Let’s begin. Pull of the Talk pane off using a plastic spade or opening tool by lifting it gently up. Then pull off the middle part carefully. You should be very careful here because ControlTalk compartment doesn’t have any external screws or binders to hold this thing. Only the inbuilt tinny aligns that hold it together. They are really fragile and break easily.
  • Once you reach the base where you will see the circuit board, examine if there is a broken circuit. Look carefully. Take your time. Don’t just jump to the conclusion. It may just have circuit broken or just the wire come off or both. Or just the talk responser is stiffen with excess moisture and dust. Diagnose the case and do accordingly.
  • Common scenario is either broken circuit or wire. Solder the circuit carefully if such is the case. If White wire or any of the wires is apart from the designated points, solder it carefully. A little excess soldering will melt the neighboring elements. If you accidentally dropped or soldered on the plate and incorrectly, be very patient to take it apart securely. A little shake may destroy the whole plate or pull off the elements. Stay focused during this process.

We just finished repairing, the defective 3.5mm headphone jack part. Now we are repairing the ControlTalk button that has malfunctioned due to broken circuit or broken one of the wires inside the ControlTalk compartment.

Let’s begin. Pull of the Talk pane off using a plastic spade or opening tool by lifting it gently up. Then pull off the middle part carefully. You should be very careful here because ControlTalk compartment doesn’t have any external screws or binders to hold this thing. Only the inbuilt tinny aligns that hold it together. They are really fragile and break easily.

Once you reach the base where you will see the circuit board, examine if there is a broken circuit. Look carefully. Take your time. Don’t just jump to the conclusion. It may just have circuit broken or just the wire come off or both. Or just the talk responser is stiffen with excess moisture and dust. Diagnose the case and do accordingly.

Common scenario is either broken circuit or wire. Solder the circuit carefully if such is the case. If White wire or any of the wires is apart from the designated points, solder it carefully. A little excess soldering will melt the neighboring elements. If you accidentally dropped or soldered on the plate and incorrectly, be very patient to take it apart securely. A little shake may destroy the whole plate or pull off the elements. Stay focused during this process.

Step 5

  • Seems like you have already done a lot by now. It’s time to get rewarded. Put back the opened pieces after a successful repair of the ControlTalk. Do not rush. You must align the tabs appropriately and as exact as it was otherwise the ControlTalk will keep falling apart or will stay half open to one end all the time. It’s because it lost one of the tab or alignment got broken during your adjustments.
  • Remember, there’s no screw or any metal binding here. Only the plastic alignments that keep the tabs stay fit and secure even though they are fragile. Lack of thoughtfulness or little carelessness is enough to see them falling down in no time. They may break off on any small stressful push or pull. So handle carefully.

Seems like you have already done a lot by now. It’s time to get rewarded. Put back the opened pieces after a successful repair of the ControlTalk. Do not rush. You must align the tabs appropriately and as exact as it was otherwise the ControlTalk will keep falling apart or will stay half open to one end all the time. It’s because it lost one of the tab or alignment got broken during your adjustments.

Remember, there’s no screw or any metal binding here. Only the plastic alignments that keep the tabs stay fit and secure even though they are fragile. Lack of thoughtfulness or little carelessness is enough to see them falling down in no time. They may break off on any small stressful push or pull. So handle carefully.

Step 6

  • Once you align the middle cover on top of the ControlTalk board, you are almost done. Simply put the last piece of top of it and press gently to hear the light clip sound. That is it. Careful alignment gives the same feel and look of your ControlTalk as was before. Nobody will notice that you operated this little thing for repair purpose.
  • Once you place the top tab on, it should look comfortably aligned to the base. A little wider opening is an error or the setup is not 100% well done. This is critical. But it can be fixed. Open the first cover on top, and then see if its tinny tabs of the base are standing properly. If not, you have to try to straighten it. You can use crazy glue kind of stuff to affix it back. But do not use such material directly to the shell. Only the tabs should hold and align the exterior.
  • If you have Monster iBeats ControlTalk headphones defective that doesn’t respond the press of the talk or mute/play button, you have just solved this issue. Enjoy.

Once you align the middle cover on top of the ControlTalk board, you are almost done. Simply put the last piece of top of it and press gently to hear the light clip sound. That is it. Careful alignment gives the same feel and look of your ControlTalk as was before. Nobody will notice that you operated this little thing for repair purpose.

Once you place the top tab on, it should look comfortably aligned to the base. A little wider opening is an error or the setup is not 100% well done. This is critical. But it can be fixed. Open the first cover on top, and then see if its tinny tabs of the base are standing properly. If not, you have to try to straighten it. You can use crazy glue kind of stuff to affix it back. But do not use such material directly to the shell. Only the tabs should hold and align the exterior.

If you have Monster iBeats ControlTalk headphones defective that doesn’t respond the press of the talk or mute/play button, you have just solved this issue. Enjoy.

Set the circuit board on its base securely. Put the middle tab of the ControlTalk on top of the base. Carefully place the top tab of the ControlTalk on top of the middle tab aligning properly. ControlTalk reassembled.

To reassemble the 3.5mm headphone jack, cut the colorful wires at 2cm, 3cm, 4cm and 5cm length, soldier it to the jack’s 4 apparent spots. Insert the 3.5mm jack into the iBeats metal compartment firmly after securing it from short-circuit and then applying quick fixer solution. And finally, place the cable support tab (rubber) into the iBeats metal compartment firmly by spraying quick fixer on it.

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                    Puru

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rhalfik - Apr 16, 2013

Reply

Hi,

I’m a professionalist and I want to say that at least two steps of this article are completely wrong.

The wire that is insulated in white is connected to a microphone which in CTIA standard should be connected to the last port on the plug. The author did it opposite. Then as follows: yellow wire together with mic’s screening are ground, next red wire (right signal) and last is green wire, wich is left signal should be connected to the thinnest pin.

Secondly it is impossible to open the remote without a harm if you follow this guide’s steps. The author clearly damaged the remote while doing so. You need to simultanously pry and gently push certain parts of the the remote.

Joe - Feb 26, 2015

I have a pair of these that have the audio issue. Is there a guide (besides this one) I can follow to repair it, if you’re saying this is wrong?

Thanks

Bob Hurley - Mar 3, 2015

Thanks Rhalfik…top man!