Jabra Evolve 65 repair

A couple of weeks ago during what should have been a routine firmware upgrade, my Jabra Evolve 65 simply died. Have no idea what happened and maybe that will make an interesting future project, but because this headphone is my main headset used for teleconferences and other communication required by my job, I was kind of under pressure to get it fixed or replace it. Somehow.

Be careful what you do ! There is a high risk to damage your headset so please don’t blame me for your actions. If you decide to take any actions like below you are on your own here and solely responsible if you damage your Jabra 65 headset and voiding any warranty.

I decided to try to fix it. A matter of saying becase I simply replaced the board inside it with another one, from an older Jabra model. It seems both model were “pin-to-pin compatible” în what regards cables and other electrical wiring, so I decided to take a try. The problem was not the repair itself by mostly how to disassemble the damn thing. All these thingies are built with no repair in mind which is stupid  given the price tag of this headset (which, in my opinion, isn’t justified at all). I, carefully, removed the part with the transducer (the rocking one) by gently pressing one of the hinges and pull it (gently 2) towards the exterior. Once this part was removed, I de-soldered the wires and removed the plastic ring (with markings) that allows access to the board below. The board is kept in place by several plastic nuts (molted down) so those needed to be carefully removed (without damaging the solder mask). Most of the wiring is done on the invisible side so that has to be flipped over. I did the wiring, assembled it back with somesuper glue (for the ring with markings) and, voila, it is working again.

Anyway, I will think twice before buying another Jabra. It is simply unacceptable to have it bricked during a simple firmware update.