So after having it repaired twice already my mic has broken again, I hardly ever use the mic because I did not want to risk it breaking, but tonight I wanted to use it and it is not working. Super annoying, I am going to contact TE and request a replacement IO board, because it is obviously a component defect.
@darenager Just out of curiosity, you may try prying inside the red connector with a needle or paper clip. There is this theory that the mic failing is actually due to a bad contact in the return line for that connector, i.e., the little spring contact does not properly return to the resting position and keeps the contact disconnected, like when a jack is inserted.
thanks Punji, I already tried that, I ended up buying a new IO board from ifixit because I don’t want to wait for TE to get back from namm and I’m not sure they’d send me one anyway.
BTW for anyone else wanting to buy from ifixit I found a $10/10 Euro discount code, just enter LINUS in the discount code field. Not sure when it expires but it worked for me.
my mic has failed twice. the second time the whole IO board failed. I have since stopped using the MIC to avoid having IO issues again.
I replaced my IOboard recently and am looking into replacing the jacks on the bad one with something of actual quality. I never had problems like this on a five year old MacBook or countless cell phones over the years. Looks to be fairly easy to replace with a regular iron if you use a fine tip.
^ Yes I think the soldering would be simple enough - as you say with a fine tip iron, finding a part with the right size/footprint might be the challenge, once my new board arrives I will take a look around and see if I can find anything, I might also look into a replacement mic, it is a surface mount one so might be tricky and probably need to use a hot air pencil or oven to do it, again though finding a superior compatible replacement might be the tricky part.
It might even be worth looking into getting 3rd party manufactured replacement I/O boards made, using superior connectors and mic - I’m sure some of the small run China based PCB houses would be able to do it, but I suppose it would be a group buy job and I don’t know if there would be enough interest?
But really TE should sort this I suppose, I have no problem paying for an upgraded I/O board should they offer it.
I thought they claimed they were going to make an upgraded IO board? I swear someone said that they’d read that in an email from them.
And shit I’d pay $100 for an io board if I knew I’d very likely not have to replace it ever again.
Let’s hope that is one of the new products then 
Let's hope that is one of the new products then :)
wouldn’t that be like admitting that part of their product is prone to failure?
Yeah probably, but the facts speak for themselves, lots of users on here and the old forum had busted mic or sockets, and they supply ifixit with them, so they as well as most users are aware of the problem.
Thing is I can say for sure it is not due to rough handling or user error, and so can many others.
TE knew the IO board was going to be a weak link, otherwise it wouldn’t be so easy to replace. At least that’s how I see it, but I could just be a cynical asshole hehe. Not necessarily knowingly putting bad parts into it, but 3.5mm jacks aren’t known for supreme durability.
Good point on finding parts the right size to reuse the solder pads. If TE won’t step up how do we go about getting the boards cloned/made? I don’t really even know where to begin or how to find a trusted factory for something like that. I could donate my old io board if needed.
I found what I think is the mic http://www.analog.com/static/imported-files/data_sheets/ADMP401.pdf
But some of the IC’s are so tiny I can’t read the part numbers. Hmm…
I think I found a possible replacement for the jacks, too.
I mean it looks like it, same proportions if it isn’t the same dimensions, and they sell them with switches inside. Same number of contacts.