No Headphone audio after KitKat upgrade- A1-810 - any solution, or should I go JellyBean?

KenC

I've had my A1-810 for about 6 months, and it has worked well for me. Never had a problem with any of my headphones.

 

I recently updated to KitKat (4.4.2) when I saw the notices. It seemed fine, but later when I tried headphones, it was intermittent on recognizing any of them, and now it never recognizes them. Audio continues through the speaker, and I get clicking noise in the headphone.

 

I've seen other complaints about this, but no real solutions. Going forward, the headphone jack is critical to me (I will be listening to podcasts and audio books in bed).

 

QUESTIONS:

 

1) This seems pretty common - are there any update plans for my tablet and KitKat? I'll contact Acer direct if no one here knows.

 

2) If there are no plans for KitKat fixes, I really need to go back to JellyBean (4.2.2). Can someone point me to a detailed process for this?

 

3) It also seems intermittent about charging. I've been plugging the charger into a Kill-a-watt meter so I can tell that the charger is drawing ~ 2~4 watts. Sometimes it just doesn't draw any power, and plugging-unplugging will get it to charge. This also seems to be related to KitKat.

 

I did a full reset, and these problems persist.

 

TIA - KenC

KenC

An update to my own post:

 

I started a chat session with ACER support. About a half-hour wait, and 15 minutes for a short discussion.

 

Basically, after a long delay, they blame the hardware and ask me to schedule a repair. I don't think so. Here's a portion of the chat (I copied/pasted, they offered to email me, but I have not seen it yet).

 

KenC: While you look - I've seen others complain of this also. Does ACER have this noted as a bug? Is there a planned update? When can I expect a fix?

Amalesh R: Ken, the issue seems to be with the hardware.
Amalesh R: In this case, the tablet needs to be scheduled in for repair.
KenC: I don't think so. These all worked before the upgrade. Others have complained of the same thing.

 

I wish they timestamped these, a few minutes must have passed, I got this:

 

Amalesh R: I do understand your concern, Ken.
Amalesh R: I definitely know that this could be frustrating. I can understand how you feel.

KenC: Don't worry about my feelings - they are fine. But please answer my question:

I've seen others complain of this also. Does ACER have this noted as a bug? Is there a planned update? When can I expect a fix/update to KitKat?

Amalesh R: I'll forward the issue for you personally.
Amalesh R: I see that there is no updates planned yet.
Amalesh R: I also see that the tablet requires physical assistance to get it fixed.

 

So I'm not going to hold my breath.  Here is my plan. I will downgrade to JellyBean. I expect the Headphones will work again. That will verify it is a software problem not a hardware problem.

 

-KenC