Sound Skips / Cuts-out

A few days ago my Fuze started cutting out during playback. To give you an idea of what I mean, if I was listening to a podcast, every third would would be replaced by slience. It was either caused by me disconnecting it without doing a safe eject or when my computer went to sleep with it still connected.

I tried reinstalling the firmware, but that didn’t fix it. I thought I fixed it by formating the device, but it only worked for a few days and then came back a few days later when I added some new files.

I have heard that some poeple have a mildly similar problem related to a faulty headphone jack, but this doesn’t seem to be connected to that at all.

Hate to say it, but it’s probably hardware and not software. If the clock keeps going and the sound cuts in and out, more than likely it is a faulty headphone connection. Problems with the file would make it stop or not play at all.

Make sure the plug is all the way in the jack. Twist it and wiggle it (not too forcefully).

But the headphone jack is a weak point on the Fuze, especially if you tend to leave your phones plugged in and wrap the cord around the Fuze, which exerts leverage on the plug. When the internal connection  starts to go…you get the results you are hearing.

Well, I guess it could be a possibility.

I can even reproduce this error when I have the player laying flat on a table with the connected cable well-supported ( I use a small pair of speakers). The sounds cuts out every 1-2 seconds for 0.5-1 second. Can you explain why the sound would cut in an out then nothing is being moved if it is due to a faulty connection? Thanks.

Since reloading the firmware, reformatting, changing the headphone, and trying different music files doesn’t help, it seems most likely that you have a hardware problem. Is the equilizer off? One easy thing to try is to remove part of the cotton on the end of a Qtip, then moisten the remainder with a tiny amount of contact cleaner. insert it slowly and carefully into the headphone jack and rotate it slowly.