Resolved oh no! Macbook air has something stuck inside it! *solved* :)

[Jemi9OD]

This same thing happened to my coworker's MBP. He even had the headphones that had left their tip in the jack. He ended up using superglue on the very tip of a pen tube - the little thin tube that the ink is in. Used a bit of paper around it to keep it from getting stuck in the jack.

ie: roll the paper up around the pen tip, put it into the headphone port, then push the pen down towards the headphone tip. Let it sit, then pull it all out.

He was much more cavalier about attempting a self-fix though, since he's out of warranty. In your case, i'd probably suggest taking it to Apple first - you never know, they may fix it for you, saving you much anxiety.

Best of luck regardless!

 

[dudeofswim]

If you have an Apple Store nearby, make an appointment and ask them to look at it. If it's a trivial problem, they will probably fix it for you under the warranty. If it's not, you will know how much it will cost to get it fixed right (and ask them how they would do it). There are many things that can go wrong if you start sticking pliers and superglue in there (generally true of many things in life, not just MacBook ports).

I had an internal SuperDrive that was malfunctioning completely through my fault, and I asked them to look at it and let me know how much it would be. And the guy said "hey, you don't ask for a lot of service, i'll give you this one [under warranty]." Can't guarantee that you'll get a nice person like that, of course. My suggestion is to go in there, explain the problem honestly (don't know what happened, keep it in my sleeve, but can't be 100% sure that something didn't fall in there). Just don't act entitled to something for free and demand it. They're people too, and they're given some leeway in how they process warranty treatments. If you treat them with respect, I think they'll take care of you to the extent that they can under Apple's rules.

Absolutely! Thanks for your help (you too Mac Heretic and Jemi9OD and everyone else) . I'm going to book an appointment with the Genius Bar and lets see what happens. The people at the Genius Bar are usually very helpful.

I've tried at times over the past few days to use headphones, and I realize, "Why won't it ... oh right" so, you don't know whatcha got till its gone.

I'll definitely keep you guys posted.

 

[dudeofswim]

Absolutely!
I'll definitely keep you guys posted.

So, I finally went to an Apple Store. The genius looked at it, took out a little small screwdriver or for lack of a better phrase small pointy thing and stabbed at it. He found out that it was soft and can break away. So he kept stabbing and stabbing and it chipped away. It was definitely too small to be a earphone component. Tested it out and it works just fine!

YMMV. but ultimate solution: Take it to an Apple Store.

Out of warranty: Try the above solutions or Chip away at it (YMMV, disclaimers and such)

 

[IngerMan]

Music to my ears