3-Pole-Jack Headphone in a 4-Pole Laptop

[Kevin Schmidt]

Hi all,

 

I'm new, please accept my apologies if I'm off topic or broke any rules.

I have a relatively brand-new laptop with 4-pole jacks. For some time, I used older 3-pole-jack headphones with my laptop. Now, I have random fatal crashes of my OS and it occurred to me that maybe it has something to do with my setup. I thought there is sort of a short circuit happening when I plug a 3-pole into a 4-pole. I'm good with software but bad on the hardware side and as hard as I searched I couldn't find a definitive answer.

I'm not sure when these crashes started and whether they are in sync with my usage of 3-pole-jacks but I know that when I bought the laptop these crashes didn't for a few months and I also didn't use such headphones in the beginning.

What are the consequences of this type of setup?

For the time being I've change my headphone to a 4-pole and will see whether the crashes stop or not.

Would appreciate any answer and thanks in advance.

 

Update: I found this which basically says that no short is happening bc the 4th pole is connected to the ground line. But I'm still curious: Could there be a catch?

Edited November 15, 2018 by Kevin Schmidt

[Pixel5]

the difference between a 4 pole and 3 pole is that the 4 pole has a another contact for a microphone.

 

if you plug in a 3 pole into a 4 pole you will short the microphone contact to ground which should usually work fine but you never know how the laptop has it wired internally.

[Kevin Schmidt]

1 minute ago, Pixel5 said:

the difference between a 4 pole and 3 pole is that the 4 pole has a another contact for a microphone.

 

if you plug in a 3 pole into a 4 pole you will short the microphone contact to ground which should usually work fine but you never know how the laptop has it wired internally.

Thanks for the swift answer. I just read that some manufacturers apparently don't abide by cabling standards and this may create difficult situations. I'll go with the current 4-pole to 4-pole and if no crashes happen in the next few days I can assume with a high degree of confidence that 3 to 4 was the problem.