Yes Bill, I know exactly what you are talking about, and if you do a Google search on laptop earphone jack, you will see that there is a whole world of people out there that know what you are talking about.

The one on my Compaq laptop gave up completely about 8 or 9 months ago. I guess the problem is not usually with the contact leaves inside the jack itself, but the entire assembly comes unsoldered from the motherboard. It depends on your particular model as to how difficult (read: expensive) the repair is.

So my Compaq now has a Behringer UF-0202 USB-audio interface velcroed to the left back corner of the lid with a shorty USB connector to the laptop. It provides RCA stereo in and outs plus an 1/8 inch headphone jack with volume control. At first, I thought is was going to be a real pain, but now I wouldn't be without it. My problem with the built-in jack was the impedance mismatch and distortion when connecting it to high impedance inputs of an external amp. I think the audio quality of the Behringer is a little better than the laptop's audio circuit. I paid around $25 or $30 USD for it off Amazon.com and it even came with some nice audio software utilities.

Regards,

Ted